Polybrite: energy saving non toxic lightbulb
November 6, 2007
On the issue of global warming, carbon footprints, energy conservation and eco-friendly living, I have long held the opinion that the every day consumer would gladly make changes in lifestyle that benefit the environment if the products that make a less damaging impact were widely available at an affordable cost.
With increased environmental education raising awareness for the real need to make changes that are beneficial to our planet and to our community and family, more and more products are being developed to do just that, and it is a hopeful sign that it is not an insurmountable premise that the shift to positive change is doable.
In a Yahoo! business press release, it was announced that an indestructible mercury-free LED lightbulb developed by PolyBrite claiming to use 90 percent less energy and last up to 15 years or longer, will be marketed by Commerce Energy.
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Honey Bees: Where have the honey bees gone
November 3, 2007
Commercial beekeepers first reported the alarming disappearance of honey bees in the winter of 2006. The loss of honey bee colonies trend continues, according to information provided by the American Beekeeping Federation.
“Since the beginning of the year, beekeepers from all over the country have been reporting unprecedented losses,” states apiculture extension associate at Penn State University Maryann Frazier.
Termed Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD), the Mid-Atlantic Apiculture Research and Extension Consortium continues to investigate possible causes in the disappearance of honey bees. Some of the causes include:
- Chemical residue/contamination in the wax, food stores and bees
- Known and unknown pathogens in bees and brood
- Parasite load in bees and brood
- Nutritional fitness of the adult bees
- Level of stress in adult bees as indicated by stress induced proteins
- Lack of genetic diversity and lineage of bees
Some possible causes not under investigation?
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Catalog Choice: Go green stop the catalogs
October 27, 2007
The holiday shopping season is upon us. How many unwanted shopping catalogs did you receive in the mail last year? From here on out, you can rid yourself of unwanted catalogs. Catalog Choice is a free service that will help you stop the madness of unwanted catalogs getting stuffed into your mailbox.
Oh sure, we can keep throwing the catalogs that clutter our mailbox into the recycle bin or trash, however stopping the postal mailbox pollution will save millions of trees that are needed to create and publish those catalogs in the first place. It’s alarming to realize that almost half of the the planet’s original forest cover is gone today. According to Catalog Choice, the production and disposal of direct mail alone consumes more energy than three million cars and the manufacturing, distribution, collection and disposal of catalogs generates global warming gases as well as air and water pollution.
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Farmers Markets: How to find local markets
October 10, 2007
Popping open a bright green pea pod, running my finger down the center and crunching on an explosion of deliciously sweet orbs of fresh peas was my first childhood memory from the bounty of Gramie’s backyard vegetable garden.
Gramie grew a garden large and varied enough to stock her cold storage room with year-round fruits and vegetables. What was not eaten fresh during the growing seasons was canned to provide her nutrition through the dormant seasons.
The contrast between Gramie’s time and our modern life is a sharp one.
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Tumbleweed Tiny House Co., Katrina Cottage & Small House Society
October 7, 2007
In addition to our featured posts Blue Ridge Log Cabins: modular log home and Small House Society: McMansion Alternatives, here is a round up of past posts featuring the trend to smaller homes:
Blue Ridge Log Cabins: modular log homes
October 7, 2007
HGTV’s The Amazing Log Home Special recently featured the modular log home company Blue Ridge Log Cabins.
The factory built log homes come in a variety home sizes, beginning under 1,000 square feet and continuing to over 2,000 square feet, and a nice choice of floor plans.
Small House Society: McMansion alternatives
October 7, 2007
Small. Simple. Sustainable. The Small House Society is inspiring!
The Small House Society acts as a voice for the small house movement and advocates for less by maintaining a website of extensive resources for those interested in smaller homes; publishing a monthly email newsletter; hosting a discussion forum; promoting small house designers and builders to national media; maintaining booths at events such as Earth Expo and SEED Iowa; hosting events such as Resources for Life Green Festival 2006; producing videos; and participating in Iowa Energy Summit.
Tiny Tumbleweed House: New designs
October 7, 2007
How much living space do we need to live comfortably?
Not as much as we think, as Jay Shafer is proof positive comfort can be found in a tiny hand-built home.
The growing popularity in his designs of tiny hand-built homes is a testament that others find this an appealing and affordable alternative in housing.
Ranging from 40-square feet to 600-square feet, the Tumbleweed Tiny House Company offers both the option of having a house built and delivered, or the option of purchasing a set of house plans for the more ambitious do-it-yourselfer.
Shafer, who estimates he uses three dollars of energy a month living in his tiny home, explains that,
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Ed Begley: Living with Ed 10 green tips
October 7, 2007
Living with Ed, HGTV’s new reality television show chronicling the life of the Begley family, is as much about green living as it is a voyeuristic view in learning how opposites manage to come together in a marriage without it turning into an uncompromising War of the Roses.
While Ed complains loudly about how loud his wife turns up the answering machine volume, Rachelle rolls her eyes at her husband planning his birthday party by choosing to bake tofu brownies and slurping his solar oven-cooked lentil and vegetable soup at his birthday dinner celebration.
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Katrina Cottages: Tiny cottage gains popularity
October 7, 2007
The Katrina Cottage, a permanent 308 square foot cottage engineered to withstand at least 140 mph winds, was first meant as an attractive alternative to the FEMA trailer being offered to Gulf Coast residents left homeless in the aftermath of hurricane Katrina.
First shown at the 2006 International Builders Show, Katrina Cottage 1, the charming cottage designed by Marianne Cusato of Cusato Cottages, has gone on to win the Cooper-Hewitt People’s Design Award and capture the attention of the American public interested in affordable housing and the simple life.
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