Why rain barrels? Placed under a down spout, rain barrels conveniently collect rainwater that can be used to water gardens and lawns, wash cars or even fill birdbaths and ponds. A 1000 square foot roof yields about 600 gallons per inch of rainfall – that’s a lot of water (and money) to be saved. Rain …
Tag Archives: environment
Latest United Nations conference on sustainability takes a new approach – action not treaties
Government leaders, bankers and corporate CEOs took advantage of the gathering of 50,000 people at Rio+20 — the largest meeting in U.N. history — to announce new partnerships, programs and investments. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called the $513 billion in commitments “a significant legacy of this conference — billions of dollars’ worth of actions and …
REI pursuing sustainability – getting rid of the polybags
When thinking about the sustainability of REI’s operations, the complexity of the task quickly becomes apparent. Where does a person start? Our annual stewardship report details one such area: our efforts to reduce REI’s waste-to-landfill. We conducted a retail waste audit to better understand the details. To paint a picture, imagine this: Our teams literally went “dumpster …
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Zero-waste moving – Recopack moving boxes – made from recycled plastic trash
Welcome to Rent A Green Box, the first Zero-Waste pack and move solution in America! Do you ever wonder why we’re cutting down our trees to make cardboard moving boxes that are used once, maybe twice, and then tossed into a landfill? After all, cardboard boxes aren’t just wasteful and inefficient, they’re also expensive, hard …
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Local tribe of Chumash Native Americans goes all-in on sustainability
In perfect step with the wisdom and heritage of their ancestors — who lived in relative harmony with nature for thousands of prosperous years — the Santa Ynez Band of Mission Indians is turning its 130-acre reservation into a trailblazing example of sustainability in action. During the past five years, with very little fanfare or recognition from the outside …
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Last weekend, half of Germany was running on solar power
Here’s how they did it, and how we can too This is what can happen when citizens and government agree that it’s worth spending a bit more for clean, carbon-free power: German solar power plants produced a world record 22 gigawatts of electricity – equal to 20 nuclear power stations at full capacity – through the …
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How do octopuses navigate?
One researcher, Jennifer A. Mather, wondered: how do octopuses navigate? Do they rely on chemotactile sensory information (i.e. movement based on chemicals in the environment), or do they orient towards visual landmarks? Octopuses occupy “homes” for several days or in some instances for several weeks, and when they go out looking for food, they are sometimes gone for several …
How a college campus in the middle of Los Angeles is lowering traffic
The rest of Los Angeles may seem as congested as ever, but traffic at UCLA is the lightest it’s ever been since the university began measuring more than 20 years ago. The 2011 commuting report marks the eighth consecutive year that UCLA’s vehicle count dropped. With an average of 102,000 trips daily, the number of …
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Microsoft implements “carbon fee” – to push the company into carbon neutrality
Beginning in fiscal year 2013 (which starts this July 1), Microsoft will be carbon neutral across all our direct operations including data centers, software development labs, air travel, and office buildings. We recognize that we are not the first company to commit to carbon neutrality, but we are hopeful that our decision will encourage other …
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Kickstarter project: build an environmentally friendly-er surfboard
My project is all about environmental and community responsibility. I’m a custom surfboard builder that wants to help make a change in our toxic industry while also taking action to help protect a rare California coastal habitat. The technologies required to make a better surfboard are no longer experimental, they’re high quality and available for …
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