Eco-Chick · The modern girl's guide to living green & fabulous.

Jesus is Coming…Look Green! Green Easter Tips, Products Labelling, Electric Cars, and Zombies

Cologne's New Smog Control

I live in a city with its own special breed of traffic jams – traffic that gets so snarled, it has its own label: stau. Cologne, a city of 1 million people, its geography divided in two by the Rhine River, can sometimes have traffic so backed up that it’s faster to bike across the bridge than to hop into a car.

What’s amazing about this traffic is just how unnecessary it is. With subways and railways that stretch into every crevice of the nearby suburbs and neighboring cities (Duesseldorf and Bonn are less than 30 minutes by train, though I wouldn’t dare call them suburbs of this city for fear of flogging), you can often get door to door faster by train than by car. As home to Europe’s largest train station, too, you can get nearly anywhere on the continent at any time (my New Year’s trip to Paris was cut from 5-1/2 hours by car to 4 hours by the 200 km/hour Thalys train).

Still, people – especially those on the outskirts of the city, are attached to their cars. So starting on January 1, the city of Cologne implemented a new commuting policy to help combat emissions. Though it doesn’t limit the number of cars allowed into the city (a dream of mine since the first time I tried to ride my bike through the city center) and it’s not the same as the toll system London and now Milan have introduced, it does keep the heavy polluters out of the city.

Now, in order to drive into Cologne, you have to have a sticker saying your car is not a polluting vehicle. This is more than just an emissions test… it ranks the levels of emissions that technically road-worthy vehicles produce (I say technically because I’d never consider a 4-wheeler a proper vehicle, but they are allowed out of the woods here, don’t ask me why). Which means autos that pass looser emissions tests in the ‘burbs may not be allowed into the city. Not ever. And those that are on the borderline may not be allowed in on smoggy days. Though in an ideal world, those cars wouldn’t be spitting their smoke out in the suburbs either, I’m happy that my hometown’s doing a bit more to clear the air.

FYI – For all those arguing against a similar policy in the States, in the first week of the pass’s usage, the staus didn’t increase and everyone still got to work on time. Fighting smog this way isn’t as problematic as you might think.

Who Says Red Carpet Equals Nonsense?

I’ll admit it, I like the red carpet shows when all the stars come out, but I usually watch them on mute because I’m really only interested in what’s being worn, the hairstyles, and the totally obscene jewelry. The constant chatter about how excited the actors are for the show and who they think will win does not interest me, so I tune it out.

But what a difference a venue makes! While there were plenty of fabulous dresses and gorgeous masks on display at Riverkeeper’s recent “Night of Mischief” masquerade ball, the red carpet interviews were actually interesting and enlightening. Check out Summer Rayne Oakes, Lorraine Bracco, Alex Mathiesson and RFK Jr. talking to Curtiss Martin of ScribeMedia. Lorraine drops some sexy tips about greener living, Summer discusses invasive species, and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. talks up the Waterkeeper Alliance and river protection.

Swimming With Dolphins: The Reality

This video shows what goes on in the dolphin hunts and includes Hayden Panettiere (of the TV show ‘Heroes’) and a team of surfers who tried to protest and protect the mammals.

Some think swimming with dolphins, or going to see animals/mammals in captivity, is somehow “environmental” or serving some sense of naturalism. While I understand there are marine biologists that nurse creatures back to health, or keep them in captivity because they would die otherwise, the enslavement of healthy animals has never made sense to me.

I read several blog posts on this video; some people feel it is just a photo op for a Hollywood starlet, or they mention so many other important environmental issues not being covered. And what about all the other animals that are near extinction or that have already become extinct that we should focus on? At some point, you have to choose your activism. I have always been fond of aquatic life, growing up with Jacques Cousteau and all things National Geographic, so for me, this video had resonance.

I heard someone talking about swimming with dolphins recently and they discussed what a ‘spiritual experience’ it was and it made me cringe. This video, of the dolphin slaughters that occur in Japan for six months out of the year, shows where some of the dolphins are harvested and the massacre that ensues. The prime specimens are sent for captivity, while others are used for food. Here is more information on the dolphins and how the multi-million dollar industries that support captivity perpetuate the slaughters. The World Society for the Protection of Animals also discusses why swimming with dolphins is wrong, especially for anyone who claims to care for wildlife.

Thanks to Perez Hilton for the initial post on this.

Growing a Greener Apartment

Living in a city, especially one as walking and public-transport oriented as New York, is way more sustainable than the ‘burbs or the country, since resources for so many people are centralized. You can go even greener by renting or buying an apartment that’s in one of the green buildings that are cropping up in the NY-metro area. Check this fun video out on the greening of New York City’s real-estate market, and get a few peeks inside what those LEED-certified eco-apartments look like (fun)!

It’s a little light on the specifics, which I was curious about….what exactly are the energy savings over a tradtional apartment, what materials are used in building and insulation, any wastewater innovations, and how much better is the air quality in one of these pads? Still, a fun eco-centric watch for those who are into real-estate porn (guilty!).