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Vroom, Vroom!

Speaking of fuel-effieciency…..

….this is what I’m talking about!! The new i-MIEV sport from Mitsubishi, which is actually supposed to be available in 2009, will go about 100 miles on a battery charge with a gas-powered motor kicking in after that. (Although I’m not a Mitsubishi fan considering their past enviro sins, I think I can forgive them enough to get behind this car!)

Via: Inhabitat, Engaget

car, farm, gas, habitat, Inhabitat, media, sport, transportation

Rally for a Strong, Clean 2007 Energy Bill!

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by Starre Vartan · 11/11/07

By Guest-Blogger Lorna Li

This fall auto industry workers, environmental organizations and student groups rally hard for Congress to pass a 2007 Energy Bill
that includes higher fuel efficiency and renewable energy standards. Will you rally with them?

What’s on the plate is a fuel efficiency standard that the Senate already approved in June – the Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) Standard, which calls for auto manufacturers to raise mileage for cars and light trucks to an average of 35 mpg by 2020. An alliance of the Big Three Auto Makers in America – General Motors, Ford, and Chrysler – are aggressively lobbying Congress to lower that standard 32 mpg by 2022.

A large group of auto workers and dealers have broken from the industry in order to campaign in favor of 35 mpg by 2020. As members of the American auto industry who have designed, built and sold automobiles in this country for decades, they state that 35 mpg can be achieved, will create jobs, and can help the U.S. end its foreign oil addiction.

In their report titled Energy Bill Must Guarantee Real Oil Savings, the Union of Concerned Scientists calculated the difference between the 35 mpg by 2020 and 32 mpg by 2022. Here is what they found:

Barrels of Oil Saved Per Day:
– 500,000 Auto Lobby Proposal
– 1.2 Million Senate CAFE Compromise

Consumer Savings at the Pump:
– $11 Billion Auto Lobby Proposal
– $25 Billion Senate CAFE Compromise

Emissions Reductions
– 85mmt CO2 Auto Lobby Proposal

In addition to the 35 mpg by 2020 proposal, another provision for the 2007 Energy Bill up for debate includes a Renewable Electricity Standard that requires 15% of U.S. electricity to be derived from renewable sources, also by 2020. This provision alone can spark a thriving, alternative energy industry in the U.S., we need more.

Environmental and student groups have also been aggressively lobbying against a scary nuclear provision that stands to provide unlimited loan guarantees to the nuclear power industry.

Gas prices keep going up with no end in sight. A new Energy Bill that includes the highest standards in fuel efficiency and renewable energy will not only save American consumers money, it will significantly lower greenhouse gas emissions, and reduce foreign oil consumption, thereby making us better global citizens.

Here’s what you can do:

1. Tell Congress you want a strong, clean 2007 Energy Bill by signing this petition.

2. Send this letter calling for 35 mpg by 2020 in support of American auto industry workers.

2. Send a petition in favor of a Nuke-Free America.

For more about Lorna Li, jump to the next page.

Amazon, automobiles, car, cars, climate change, conservation, consumption, design, eating, electric, electricity, emissions, Energy, Events, fall, farm, fuel efficiency, gas, India, magazine, MPG, nuclear, nuclear power, oil, parties, rainforest, reduce, spa, style, travel

Radiohead's ' In Rainbows'

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by Craig Platt · 11/07/07

It all started back in 1992. Radiohead with frontman Thom Yorke had a searing single floating up the charts, a song like nothing else on the radio and the line that every teenage boy thought was cool, “I don’t care if it hurts, I wanna have control.”

Now almost fifteen years later they’re still living that mantra. The maverick rock band from Oxfordshire has been changing the way we think about music for a long time now. Each album is completely unique, always fresh and the band unwilling to become what so many bands of their class have become, a caricature of the original. Radiohead is, if anything, stubborn.

So why is their new release, ‘In Rainbows’ so special? The title of the album certainly isn’t special and the music, while consistently fantastic is just what we expect from this legendary band. Why does Radiohead still surprise us? By releasing the album themselves, sans record label, packaging, cardboard cutouts and flashy artwork, by avoiding iTunes and peddling their own music they’ve succeed in making their music important.

What does it say that they avoid the way everything is done? What does it say that you can only buy the album? That they refuse to be disposable? They refuse to be an Apple commercial and now they’re refusing to let a record label define them, time them and make them into something they may or may not be. As we begin to move forward as a generation it’s important to consider Radiohead as a forward thinking institution, not just a band.

business, car, cardboard, farm, gas, jeans, Music, spa, style, Tea, wood

One Person's Crapola is Another's Lifesaver

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by Starre Vartan · 11/01/07

Reusing your stuff is a cheap, planet-friendly move, and now you no longer have to hold a giant yardsale to find a good home for your favorite but ill-fitting ski helmet or that extra garden hose you never seem to use. Swapping or borrowing saves resources because less stuff has to be made (fewer cds or dvds to press for example), less shipping of materials around the world producing greenhouse gases and eventually less crap clogging our landfills or using energy to incinerate. And it’s really just awesome to be able to get something you want (the latest Leo DiCaprio flick) in exchange for something you want to get rid of anyway!

And don’t forget that the holidays are coming up….save your wallet and go lighter on the Earth by swapping stuff you want to get rid of and get gifts for your family at the same time!

Swaptree is a national service, only in the US for now, where you list what you want to get rid of and list what you want (cd’s, books and movies only). The site’s software does the rest, finding matches among people. It’s really sleek and super easy to use even if you’ve never done anything like it before. It does get a little addicting seeing what you can get for what you already have!

Swaptree is a site where you can trade books, music, movies and video games that you don’t want, for the books, CDs, DVDs, video games that you do want, for free.
Unlike auction sites or other used item sites where you can sell or purchase items, on swaptree your items will only cost you the price of shipping. So if you don’t really see the point in selling a book online for $3, just so you can then go out and buy a new book for $15, then swaptree is for you!
The best part is that once you get an item from someone and you finish reading, listening or viewing it, you can just list it on swaptree and get something else for it!

On Neighborrow you can borrow, trade or recycle locally (though they do have a mailing option, the site encourages near-by borrowing).

Borrow: Neighborrow enables you to borrow things that you want to use but do not want to pay for (books, movies, music, tools, household items, baby items, etc). You can also borrow things that you only need once in a while or things that you only need to use a single time. It makes “no cents” to purchase or even to rent certain things, especially if you do not have to. Once you borrow something, we keep track of where it is, where it has been, and when it is due back.
Trade: If you do not want the item back, but do not just want to give it away or throw it out, you can trade it for neighborrow-bucks. This “currency system” means that you do not have to find a counter party that has something you want. You can then use your neigborrow-bucks for anything on the site that someone else doesn’t want.
Recycle: Get rid of items you do not use anymore. We make it easy to find someone who wants it so it won’t go to waste

Baby, book, books, Energy, farm, garden, gas, holiday, Holidays, Home, local, movies, Music, party, recycle, resources, tools, video, waste

Gotta Keep on Top of the Bills!

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by Starre Vartan · 10/30/07

Yeesh! There’s a flurry of activity surrounding environmental issues in Congress and it’s all I can do to keep up! Here’s what’s going on:

TOMORROW, on Halloween, the House is set to vote on HR 2262, which updates the incredibly outdated (and super destructive) Mining Act of 1872. That’s right, this puppy was last updated over 130 years ago!

WHAT: We want our Congresspeople to vote YES on HR 2262, the Hardrock Mining and Reclamation Act of 2007, which updates the act and makes environmental provisions as well as making sure Native Americans have a say in what’s done on their lands. Also, it forces profit-making companies to pay for the right to mine on public lands.

It would help clean up western waters contaminated by tens of thousands of abandoned mines, ensure that new mines do not become perpetual water polluters, and give federal land managers and local elected officials more say in balancing mining with other important public land values, such as for drinking water, wildlife habitat, and places to hunt, fish, hike, and camp.

WHY: “[The old act] allows foreign and domestic companies to take valuable minerals from public lands without paying any royalties, and it still allows public land to be purchased at the 1872 price of less than $5.00 an acre.

The 1872 Mining Law contains no environmental provisions, allowing hardrock mines to wreak havoc on western water supplies, wildlife and landscapes. Mining has polluted 40 percent of the headwaters of Western watersheds, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. ”

OR….you can just watch the video about it!

HOW: You can call or email your representative. DO IT NOW!!!!

ALSO:

There’s a new global warming bill making it’s way through Congress, which will finally address many of the long-standing contributors to our warming world.

WHAT: The Leiberman-Warner “America’s Climate Security Act of 2007″ does not go far enough in reducing global warming emissions. Got to this page to get links to all the nitty-gritty details of the act.

The Quick and Dirty:

The bill would cap greenhouse gases at the 2005 emission level starting in 2012 and gradually reduce them to 1990 levels – a 15 percent reduction – by 2020. The measure requires deeper cuts over the long term: a 65 percent reduction from 1990 levels by 2050.
“The goal should be to keep the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere below 500 parts per million,” Lieberman said. “That will avoid what (scientists) describe as a high risk of severe global warming impacts here in the United States … but also around the world.”

WHY: Though this is mostly a positive bill, it doesn’t go far enough, especially because it introduces a ‘cap and trade’ system for polluting industries. Check out this editorial from the LA Times about why it could end up making corporations zillions of dollars instead of solving the problem.

Cap-and-trade is a politically popular idea in the U.S. and Europe, but it is an extremely complex mechanism that presents irresistible opportunities for cheating and profiteering that would deeply compromise its effectiveness. Rather than creating a new carbon-trading market primed for manipulation by clever polluters and traders, Congress should be focusing on simple carbon taxes that would assess polluters for the cost of their environmental damage and offset the resulting economic pain by lowering other taxes.

HOW: As always, call or email your representative and tell them what you think about this. You can also sign MoveOn’s petition.