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

Barefoot Walking and Running: Best of Both Worlds with Vivo Barefoot Sneakers

My Viva Terras. Cute on the trail or off.

Last summer, I was walking up from the beach at Gay’s Head on Martha’s Vineyard. (They’ve renamed the place Aquinnah, but I’m sticking with the original name, thank you very much) and then headed up the steep dunes, and over the top. When I got to where the sand meets the more rocky soil, I stopped to put my Chakos back on, but then decided to go barefoot instead.

As I walked up the path, seagrasses waving in the setting sun all around me, I could feel what was beneath my feet change. It started more sandy, and warmed from the sun, then small pebbles cropped up, and as I went around a bend, I felt the ground cool and dampen and the pebbles recede into the soft, more claylike walkway. As I headed up another rise, warmth again seeped between my toes, and as I reached the road to wait for the bus, the concrete burned my feet and I put my shoes on.

On that ten minute walk, I remembered something I knew as a child, which is that you miss tons of information from the earth when constantly wear shoes. I used to spend entire summers essentially barefoot (I grew up at the end of a dirt road in the Hudson Valley) and when I was 8 I could have told you how long it had been since rain from the viscosity of the mud that pushed between my toes since I spent hours I playing in the wetland next to my house. I don’t know if I could tell you that now, though I’m certain I could learn again.

Men’s Vivo Barefoots at the Terra Plana store.

So when a couple months ago I heard about the barefoot running movement, and the new book, Born to Run, I was intrigued. The premise is that our fancy $200 uberpadded sneakers are actually BAD for our bodies when running, and can actually cause or exacerbate injury. Which makes sense if you think about the fact that we have only been wearing such contraptions for about 20 years (flat, unpadded Converse All Stars were the sneaker of choice for basketball players for years). So I went hiking with a friend in Connecticut and took off my sandals and did a bit of trailrunning with naked feet, which was fun as long as I was careful (and this forces one to focus on each step, which is interesting). And then…

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10 Ways to Change the World Through Social Media

Editor’s note: This is first guest post from Max Gladwell.

Our children will inherit a world profoundly changed by the combination of technology and humanity that is social media. They’ll take for granted that their voices can be heard and that a social movement can be launched from their laptop. They’ll take for granted that they are connected and interconnected with hundreds of millions of people at any given moment. And they’ll take for granted that a black man is or was President of the United States.

What’s most profound is that these represent parts of a greater whole. They represent a shift in power from centralized institutions and organizations to the People they represent. It is the evolution of democracy by way of technology, and we are all better for it.

For most of us, social media has changed our lives in some meaningful way. Collectively it is changing the world for good. Given the pace of innovation and adoption, change has become a constant. Every so often we find the need to stop and reflect on its most recent and noteworthy developments, hence the following list.

Please note this is not a top-10 list, nor are these listed in any particular order. It’s also incomplete. So we ask that you add to this conversation in the comments. If you’d like to Retweet this post or take the conversation to Twitter or FriendFeed, please use the hashtag #10Ways.

1. Take Social Actions: The nonprofit organization Social Actions aggregates “opportunities to make a difference from over 50 online platforms” through its unique API. It recently held the Change the Web Challenge contest in order to inspire the most innovative applications for that API. The Social Actions Interactive Map won the $5,000 first prize. The result is a virtual tour of the world through the lens of social action. “People are volunteering, donating, signing petitions, making loans and doing other social actions as we speak — all over the world. To capture the context of the where, this project uses sophisticated techniques to extract location information from full text paragraphs.” You can also join the Social Actions Community, which is powered by Ning…which now boasts more than one million individual social networks.

2. Twitter with a Purpose: This list could be exclusive to Twitter. The micro-blogging sensation was featured on our first two lists (a three-tweet), and it’s certain to be a fixture. From Tweetsgiving, the virtual Thanksgiving feast, to the Twestival, which organized 202 off-line events around the world to benefit charity: water, it’s become the de facto tool for organizing and taking action. Tweet Congress won the SXSW activism award, and celebrity Tweeps Ashton Kutcher and Kevin Rose Tweeted their two million followers about ending malaria. Max Gladwell recently initiated the #EcoMonday follow meme as a way to connect and organize the Green Twittersphere.

3. Visit the White House 2.0: Inside of its first 100 days, the Obama administration has managed to set the historic benchmark for government transparency and accountability. The President’s virtual town hall meeting used WhiteHouse.gov to crowdsource questions from his 300 million constituents, complete with voting to determine the ones he’d have to answer. All told, 97,937 people submitted 103,978 questions and cast 1,782,650 votes. The White House continues to raise the bar with its official Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter channels. In so doing President Obama is not just setting the standard for state and local government in the U.S. He’s establishing the world standard. The Obama administration is spreading democracy not by force but through example. Because you don’t have to be an American citizen to be a friend or follower of White House 2.0.

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Dive into Google Earth's New Ocean Exploration Features (Sans Snorkel)!

Image via Flickr user Leafbug

Like many other little girls who grew up with a love of animals and a talent for swimming, I wanted to be a marine biologist; what could be better than a day filled with swimming, snorkeling, diving, and playing with sea creatures? (hmmm…still a good question!) Though I started studying biology when I entered college, I finished with a BS in geology and my swimming is limited to summers and indoor pools (I live in New England).

So it was with plenty of excitement for the revival of my inner marine biologist-girl that I read through the NYTimes’ coverage of Google Earth’s new application, that not only maps, but lets you explore the 2/3 of the planet that’s covered in ocean (this just debuted February 2nd). And I’m not kidding about the exploration part.

A cute video with Dr. Sylvia Earle, formerly a chief scientist at NOAA (the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) and John Henke, developer of Google Earth, explains all the ways you can explore using version 5.0 (the one that’s got the ocean additions in it). Check out integrated videos, fave surfing spots, old Jacques Cousteau film clips, and logs of sea temps.

I took it for a spin in the Pacific as I’m considering spending some time in the near future on the southern tip of the Big Island of Hawaii. I encountered photos of the shore from the water, watched a movie of lava flowing from Kilauea Volcano into the ocean, and took a National Geographic quiz about how the Polynesians likely first navigated to Hawaii (I got the wrong answer! But now I know the right one). I also learned about ‘unmanned wind powered sentry vessels,’ which are experimental robotic marine monitoring stations that float off the coast of the Big Island. Who knew?

I LOVED that one of the options that popped up was info from the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch Program; the pop-up box told me that Yellowfin and Skipjack tuna from Hawaii are on their ‘good alternatives’ list. Though I avoid eating fish in general due to overharvesting, it’s a great tool for those who do eat fish and want to do it carefully- plus it’s fun to see where these fish live before they make it to your plate. This would be a great dinnertime education for kids if you eat fish at home.

I also took a tour of the geography throughout the Long Island Sound (which is very sadly marked as a seasonal marine ‘dead zone’ with a fish skeleton icon!) right off the coast of my home in South Norwalk, Connecticut. It definitely made me feel more connected to the waters just down the hill from my house; I could really get a good vantage point on how the Norwalk River, which I like to take runs along, flows into the Sound, and I could see what the underwater features off the coast were like (not terribly interesting).

Certainly there will be unthought-of creative ways that artists, scientists, educators (and bloggers) will utilize this information in unique applications. (Want to bring awareness to overfished seafood? How about a mashup wherein celebrities and their fave seafish are tracked Gawker Stalker-style? Brad Pitt could be teamed up with the endangered shark populations since he he’s expressed interest in becoming shark dinner. Where are the sharks? Where’s Brad? Let’s make sure they don’t get too close!)

Besides being damn cool, Google hopes to inspire with its information (whether it will or not is up for debate). Quoting from the NYTimes article: “With only 5 percent of the ocean floor mapped in detail, and 1 percent of the oceans protected, Google executives and the marine scientists who helped build the digital oceans said they hoped the result would inspire the public to support more marine exploration and conservation.”

As an ocean lover, I do what I can to make sure I keep our waterways alive and kicking; I don’t eat fish or endangered seafood, I don’t pour anything toxic down any drain (particularly storm drains, the contents of which flush directly into our rivers and oceans without benefit of filtration), and I pick up litter- especially plastic- on or near beaches and rivers. And now I can be a deskchair marine explorer too, and learn more about our watery ecosystems. My inner marine biologist-girl says: Thanks Google.

Back to the Future: Arteco

Technomontage

Western Pennsylvania artist Stewart Webb has updated vintage Art Deco design with a thoroughly future-forward “eco” ethos.  His “technomontage” jewelry and objects for the home are crafted using repurposed high tech materials.  If the towering skyscraper, the glint of a fast-moving train, or the sleek veneer of an automobile were once absorbed by Art Deco design, Webb’s point of focus is the technology of today’s generation: hardware for computers and electronics, and the products of the aerospace and military industries.  These modern-day technological parts come together in jewelry, clocks, sculpture, and light fixtures that simulate traditional decorative materials, such as pearls, gemstones, enamels, and precious metals.  Whereas Art Deco’s structured forms and materials once celebrated a forward march of confident progress and the might of the machine-age, Webb’s artwork represents a more critical look at the double edged sword of the impact of modern technology on the environment and our society.  With so many creative initiatives focused on organic materials, Webb’s art lends perspective on mitigating the environmental damage of technology.

Thinking in Reverse

“Demanufacturing”, or taking things apart, is an integral part of Webb’s creative process.  Webb, who is dyslexic, believes it contributes to his proclivity for doing things in reverse.  He also has always been curious about the mechanics of how things work.  Webb sees a need for taking responsibility for our technological footprint on the environment, and, as he put it in a recent interview “getting back to something that nature can cope with”.  In a world where the majority of us, for example, use a computer as well as travel in cars and planes, there is a need for better solutions for disposing of technological waste that usually ends up in landfills or is incinerated.  Yet, as Webb knows well, thinking backward in order to dissassemble technology “in an intense going back to nature” is seemingly without end or dissolution.  Webb’s deconstruction of technology into a decorative, repurposed artform certainly questions our ability to “undo” technology as well as the fine line between creation and destruction in our orientation toward the direction of true progress.

The creative potential of thinking retrogressively has also informed the thinking of other contemporary artists, such as the Dutch Ursus Wehrli‘s “Tidying up art” projects.  Wehrli’s “tidying” of the materials and visual forms of modern art reflects a similar fascination with origins and psychological reversals.  A temporal idea of a turn in direction, and even an unscrewing, is pervasive in creative efforts to green our habits and safeguard our natural resources by taking a step backward to go forward.

Human Versus Machine

Webb notes that whereas electronics are simply either “on or off”, our human condition is a state of grey.”  People are much more complex since we can be just fractionally more or less alive.  Donning a bit of Arteco jewelry certainly seems to turn on the bad-ass Terminator cyborg or more friendly R2D2 robot inside of us.  Turn on, as in flipping a switch, is the right word to describe the kind of synergy implied by wearing on our bodies techie bits that were once plugged in, zapped, and otherwise activated.

Webb’s description of his design in terms of biomechanics further reveals his humanism.  He likens the structured, regimented shapes of Art Deco, which he employs, to the steady heartbeat of the body.  He also relates the circuitry and creativity of the brain to the tech materials he manipulates, which, under magnification, reveal ever-expansive, geometric fractals.  A consideration of the physical relationship between living beings and machines is also evident in his observation on shelf life: “biological things wear out, mechanical things don’t.”

Like Polish Art Deco painter Tamara de Lempicka‘s (1898-1980) paintings of machine-like babes of yesterday, Arteco engages in a new relationship to technology for T-Ec[h]-o-Chicks of today.

Dose of Reality: Happy New Year

“The science is beyond dispute… Delay is no longer an option. Denial is no longer an acceptable response.”

I never thought I’d see the day when the President of the USA would be considered “more green” than the prime minister of Canada. I’m happy to say, that I truly believe Obama is just that. (Although…to be fair – being “more green” then the Canadian government isn’t super hard right now.)

The future looks mostly friendly with Obama on leading the way. Originally there was some skepticism over his support for “clean coal” support – but won the environmentalists back with his incredibly aggressive and undeniably ambitious plan for climate change and renewable energies. This plan focuses on an attempt to reduce 80 % emissions from 1990 levels by 2050 along side auctioning 100 % of the pollution permits. If he holds true to his plan it will also include a $150 billion investment for green jobs and clean energies.

He is calling for 30% of all the government’s electricity to come from renewable energy within the next 11 years, and 25% of ALL U.S.A electricity to come from sustainable/renewable sources by 2025. All “new buildings” would be carbon neutral by 2030 and U.S oil consumption would drop by at least 35%. He opposes oil drilling in the Arctic, supports Nuclear energy (although doesn’t want it stuck under Yucca - but did accept $159 800 in contributions from Exelon) and supports labeling foods for GMOs and country-of-origin.

So it looks as though that America is rolling into a new year with some bright light ahead of them. To the east Spain is putting forth intense efforts to start a competition for the biggest and baddest solar energy device this world can offer. They’re not even going to keep it to themselves, but have said that they will export the technology to places such as Algeria and Morocco.

The 20MW solar tower is also a forerunner for an even more ambitious idea, one that Abascal [Abengoa’s CTO] hopes will become a standard for CSP plants in future — a 50MW version that could generate electricity around the clock. “During the day, you’d use 50% of your electricity to produce electricity and 50% to heat molten salt. During the night you use the molten salt to produce electricity.”

Molten salt technology is in its early stages but Abengoa is testing the idea at a power plant in Granada. So far the company has demonstrated that it is possible to store up to eight hours of solar energy by heating tanks containing 28,000 tonnes of salt to more than 220C. “This will make it possible to have almost constant production or at least it will be able to produce energy for most of the day,” said Abascal.

India is doing it’s part by introducing such technology as the solar rickshaw!

The solar version reaches a pretty impressive speed of about 15 kilometres per hour and, fully-charged, the battery can keep going for 50-70 kilometres. The goal is to develop the current four Soleckshaws into more advanced models in time for the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi.

Hopefully these sorts of technologies will only keep going so that the everyday rickshaw driver can afford one. But for less costly environmental efforts we can turn to Japan where they’re using recycled bottles to save people’s lives.

All over the world there are people devoting their lives, or simply just doing their best to help save the environment. I look forward to this new year, when I suspect that we’ll see many changes in America, Canada and all over the world. Although some of the governments may not have the best plans, at least they’re starting to have plans at all. And it’s going to take the effort, passion and devotion of every single person to see some major changes starting to take place.

So Happy New Year! I hope this coming year brings you lots of green-filled surprises and cool new technologies for us all to try out. Throughout the year I’ll keep you updated on coral reefs, endangered species, deforestation, pollution and the hardships that people are facing because of global warming and other environmental disasters.

“We are not acting as good stewards of God’s Earth when our bottom line puts the size of our profits before the future of our planet.”
— Obama Oct. 14, 2007, in a speech at an interfaith forum on climate change