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

Vertical Gardens Feed and Beautify Cities of the Future: Existing and Planned

Starre Vartan in front of a Green Wall at the Vertical Gardens exhibit at Exit Art

The Vertical Gardens exhibit at New York City’s Exit Art was a glimpse into the future– not one that’s made up of sleek silver flying machines or barren cityscapes, but instead a vision wherein buildings and urban structures are integrated into the local ecosystem.

This is the kind of future I can see myself, my friends and their children living, growing, and thriving in; where one doesn’t have to choose between the city and the country; where you can bring the farm and the garden right into the city center.

Vertical Gardens are not only beautiful green spaces among the concrete jungle of the urban landscape, they are practical too: these gardens can grow food for the surrounding communities, giving access to green space AND fresh food (what could be more local than the vertical garden farm on your own block?)

These vertical farms are designed to help ease the environmental impact of what the U.N. estimates the world’s population will reach roughly nine billion people, and the vast majority will live in cities in the next 50 years. According to Mother Nature Network’s article on the subject:

..both animal and plant life could thrive indoors. Fish such as tilapia, trout, and striped bass would live in the pond on the ground floor, while fruits and vegetables would be grown hydroponically, without the use of soil, on upper floors. Wastewater from the fish tanks would be transported to the basement where, along with drain water from showers and sinks, it would be treated and then used to fill the fishponds and hydroponic tanks.

Water containing human wastes and other organic material would pass through a methane reactor to create energy to power the building. With no need for pesticides or food transportation, and the ability to produce multiple crops in a season (six corn harvests, for example, instead of one), the vertical farm sounds like an eco-cornucopia.

Below see some of the innovative ways that Vertical Gardens, Vertical Farms and other forms of urban gardens have the design world creating green spaces sprung from concrete.

The High Line, a former elevated train track that runs along Manhattan’s West Side, is being rehabbed into a park with great views of the Hudson River. When complete, it will be a multimodal ribbon of green running alongside the river, echoing the natural curves of the water.

The Shake Shack in Manhattan has a green roof, which blends in well with its location in Madison Square Park.

EVO Design created these planters which provide both light and space for plants, in one unit. Eventually the creators hope to make it a solar-powered unit.
“New design is about the Interaction between architecture, landscape architecture, farmers and construction workers. It should all be more collaborative, because the old system of separation and specialization isn’t working. All this technology we need is here, we just need to get it into use,” saysMica Gross (pictured).

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Sara Snow's – Fresh Living: The Essential Room-By-Room Guide to a Greener, Healthier Family and Home

I first became familiar with Sara Snow when I was pregnant and on bed-rest. Between reading baby books and eating I watched her Discovery show Get Fresh with Sara Snow and enjoyed her ease and playful approach to environmentalism. I love how Sara always mixes stories of her childhood into her day-to-day recipes for green living. This adds a personalized touch to her passion for all things green.

Growing up the daughter of Tim Redmond, co-founder of Eden Foods, informed Sara’s life as a green foodie and all around eco-advocate. In her new book, Fresh Living: The Essential Room-By-Room Guide to a Greener, Healthier Family and Home, Sara traverses the modern home, discussing every aspect of our lives and what we can do to connect more with nature and minimize wasteful practices. This unpretentious guide is an easy read that is full of useful information. Sara discusses everything from how to maintain a green lawn naturally (or better yet, how to plant wildflowers and indigenous greens that attract butterflies and deter mosquitoes,) to how to decorate a toxin-free baby nursery.

Sara gives detailed lists of what ingredients to avoid in beauty products, toys, household cleaners, and pretty much anything else one may have in their home or garden. Comprehensive definitions explain the origins of chemicals, how they are used and what is most harmful. These days many products, including purported “organic” or “natural” items, contain dubious ingredients. The explanations of scientific terms really help one to weed through the ambiguous marketing language of greenwashing. There are also recipes for how to make your own cleaners and home products that are totally natural and inexpensive.

A small part of the book I really enjoyed was the simple reminder that house plants are good. They bring the outside in, clean our air, and promote healthy chi. Sara shares a list of the top fifteen plants to have indoors to remove various pollutants from the air. These days people spend hundreds, even thousands on air fresheners and purifiers. Plants!

The description of composting is user friendly. Sometimes composting can seem detailed or labour-intensive, but Sara keeps it simple with a description of what we need and what ingredients can assist in maintaining a healthy compost, even for those living in urban areas.

An important theme reiterated throughout the guide is that there are real dangers in our environment, but we can be empowered by educating ourselves and creating an atmosphere that is fresh, vital and thriving. This book would make a sweet gift but is also an excellent resource to just have handy around the house.

Nature Kids, Hot Water Woes, and Pellet Stoves

I want my child to connect with nature, but how can a suburban park be designed to both protect visitors from Lyme disease–carrying ticks and restore the natural ecosystem?
—Lena Crandall, Scarsdale, NY

The funny thing about wildlife (even the kind that finds its way into parks and playgrounds in developed areas) is that it’s wild and therefore not completely controllable. In order to eliminate Lyme disease–carrying ticks, you would have to ban all warm-blooded animals and pave over the greenery. Still, you wouldn’t be creating an optimal environment for children. “In a matter of a few decades kids’ interactions with nature have been reduced significantly compared with all of human history,” says Richard Louv, author of Last Child in the Woods. “A new body of evidence suggests getting kids out-
side, which engages all the senses, leads to a longer attention span, increases in cognitive development, and [reduces] stress.”

So unless you want your child to grow up playing in a parking lot, the best way to avoid deer ticks is prevention. “You can’t really prevent ticks from being in outdoor areas, but you can be proactive about your own actions,” says Beth Herr, pro-
gram director at New York’s Westchester County Parks Department. (New York had more cases of Lyme disease in 2006 than any other state.) “Be sure that you tuck your pants into your socks, wear light-colored clothing, and check yourself and your child for ticks right after using outdoor facilities.”
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I’m considering buying a tankless water heater. With all their great energy-saving features, why haven’t these systems caught on?
—Louis Weiss, Berkeley, CA

Whoever invented the storage water heaters most of us have in our homes today must have been thinking of how best to waste energy instead of save it. Think about it: Conventional systems keep water warmed to skin-scrubbing temps 24/7 even though hot water is needed for only an hour or two a day. Tankless (or demand) types do just the opposite: Water is heated instantly when you turn on the shower. Since roughly 13 percent of a home’s energy is used for this purpose, making the switch to a tankless kind could save an average of about $180 a year, and also help reduce your family’s carbon footprint.

If you choose a natural gas–burning model, it will use about 30 percent less energy than an electric one, and you can up the efficiency even more by picking a unit with an intermittent ignition rather than a constantly burning pilot light. (Two companies that sell such models are Bosch and Takagi.)

You will also save water. “You don’t need to run the shower waiting for the hot water, which wastes an average of five gallons every time you do it,” says Claudia Chandler, assis-
tant executive director for the California Energy Commission.

So why haven’t these caught on? Tankless heaters supply two to five gallons of water a minute, which might not be enough when you want to take a shower and run the dishwasher at the same time. A simple solution is to just add another unit. You will never run out of water completely, as with other heaters. While a tankless unit might be more expensive up front, you will save so much on your electricity bill it could pay for itself in as little as two years. You might also enjoy a windfall come April 15. The federal government and many states (see Energy Star and DSIRE) now offer rebates and tax deductions for energy-efficient appliances, including a $300 credit for certain tankless water heaters installed between January 1, 2007, and December 31, 2007.
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I might start heating my home with wood pellets. Is this a sustainable resource?
—Jon Bradford, Lancaster, PA

What could be cozier than the smell of wood smoke drifting over a snowy landscape? Until the early 1900s, 90 percent of Americans heated their homes with wooden logs, which are a renewable resource, since trees can be planted to replace those cut for fuel. When fossil fuels became cheaper and more widely available, many people switched from the messy fires that needed constant stoking to furnaces that burned oil or natural gas (which are both finite, nonrenewable fuels).

Concerns about global warming, rising fuel prices, and ground-level air pollution have led some homeowners to rethink how they heat their homes, and wood is slowly making a comeback. Unfortunately, traditional wood stoves and fireplaces contribute to local air pollution, since they produce particulates (few older stoves have an air smoke filter), and they can be high maintenance to keep going. Stoves that run on pellets instead of logs are cleaner and require less upkeep (picture a bag of half-inch-long pellets instead of logs).

The fuel for these stoves is also sustainable, as most pellets are made of compacted sawdust, waste paper, and bark, all by-products of the paper, agriculture, or lumber industries. Sawdust wood pellets produce the least amount of ash. Some stoves can also burn other biofuels, including soybeans, corn kernels, nutshells, barley, and cherry pits, that might otherwise end up in landfills. But make sure your stove can handle alternative fuels before trying them.

You might also have an energy auditor or certified provider come check out your house to see what size stove you need based on the area you want to heat and how well it is insu-
lated. Most pellet stoves do need to be plugged in to run their fans and controls; you can expect to use about $9 worth of electricity per month. Setup for a pellet stove is faster than for a wood stove, and about half the price. Although a pellet stove costs considerably more than a wood stove ($1,700 to $3,000 compared with $400 to $700), the pellet stove could pay for itself in as little as four years.

From my column “Green Guru” at Audubon Magazine.

How to Score an Eco Chick?

Mr. EcoGeek himself (aka Hank Green) put together this hilarious piece on how to impress (read: seduce) a green girl with your enviro cred. Title: “EcoGeek’s Guide to Getting Girls”! Love it. Being a guy, naturally he wrote a lot about how to get a woman in bed, or at least into a sexy space. (Hey, nothing wrong with seduction, especially if it’s environmentally responsible). What a romantic! Hank, I kid. Since EcoGeek is happily married he’s obviously doing something right.

BUT I couldn’t resist the challenge. As a recently single-again Eco Chick, I have to make my own list. Now, I could have made one about how to seduce a Green Guy, but really, getting most guys into bed, green, purple or ahem, blue, isn’t all that hard, right ladies?

So I’m going to go ahead and ADD to Hank’s list, in which I give away a few of the secrets to getting an Eco Chick to a) notice you, and b) get that first kiss (and maybe more). I’m doing this as a public service to all those treehugging guys who are so busy saving the world they forgot how to flirt, or are maybe just a little shy. Because there’s nothing I like less than seeing nice guys finish last when it comes to snagging dates. Mens, instead of muttering “Girls only like assholes, so I’ll be one” and then going out and behaving like a neanderthal, try these good-guy tactics instead. You’ll help save our gorgeous planet and find someone to keep you warm this winter to boot (so you can turn down the thermostat another couple of degrees!).

And remember, the key to getting any woman is turning on her mind. And what’s on an Eco Chick’s mind? (I mean besides that!!)

Know Your Shit, Or Don’t Be Afraid to Learn
Environmentally oriented women tend to be well-educated (whether through the halls of academia or through seasons of anarchic urban gardening activism, we know our stuff), and smart, conscious women like men who are the same. But don’t fake it; you won’t be able to pretend you’re interested in and love the natural world if you’re not into it, so don’t even try.

If you are just learning to be green, that’s OK, just be open about it. A “teach me” attitude is always appealing to a woman who’s passionate about any subject, from permaculture to carbon trading. If you are an expert in a subject, flaunt it, but not too much. If she’s into a what you’re discussing, a cup of coffee so you can “really get into the details” is a smart, cute way to go (see below for more ideas).

Be Original
Think creative, think low-impact, think about what she’s into.
-Instead of bringing her flowers, bring her a jar of local honey (um, unless she’s a vegan! If so, organic agave nectar. Nonorganic agave is often not sustainably harvested.)
-Send her postcards made from recycled boxes, even if you both live in the same town. It’s fun to get mail.
-Listen (it costs nothing!! and only produces a little bit of CO2…)
-During a hike, or even just a walk in the park, whip out your iPod and play a song for her that pertains to the spot you’ve chosen to stop, showing her how you appreciate the natural world.
-Make her delicious organic, local or all-natural treats of some kind, and feed them to her.

Expect the Unexpected (and Appreciate It!)
Women who are dedicated to changing the world are probably a bit different from the norm; exactly how different and in what ways varies from woman to woman. Note and compliment the things that set her apart from other women and notice what makes her special. Why does she care so much about the planet/animals/organic agriculture/raw food? What is her ideal vision of the future? How does she envision getting there?

Work Your Green Guyness
If you already have awesome eco-man cred, show it off! She will see you in your element, which is always sexy. Never downplay who you are, it’ll come out eventually anyway…

Activist? Ask her to help you make posters, masks, think up slogans, or help you distribute information for your next action.
Locavore? Take her on an excursion to a little-known farm or local-only eatery.
Vegan? Ask her to help you walk dogs at the animal shelter.
Ecologist/Geologist/Biologist? Show her whatever your specialty is in a fun way. Bring her to a super-unique local ecosystem and show her what’s amazing about it, take her on a visit to a rare or interesting outcropping, or take her to the local nature center and show her your favorite interesting insect exhibit.
Environmental Writer? Give her a copy of the book that inspires you the most, with your favorite sections marked off, or go to a reading by your favorite writer.
Green Designer? Show her what inspires you and your designs, whether it is a natural space, an industrial wasteland or the dancing movements of a microscopic creature.
Politician? Ask for her opinion about a speech, op/ed or campaign points that you are working on.
Outdoor educator? Take her on a personalized adventure rappelling, white-water rafting, mountaineering, backcountry snowboarding, or whatever your specialty is. Pack a meal for the trip and include something small but special that shows you were thinking of her (her own caribeaner, quick-dry towel or an extra pair of socks).

And How To Get Her Into Bed…

If you’ve done a few of the things above, she will most likely be pulling you towards the bedroom, into the sleeping bag, or off the side of the trail for a little all-natural frolic.

What’d I miss ladies?? Add your original ideas (and thoughts of course) in the comments section below!

Tahoe and Yukon Hybrids: Sensible or Stupid?

I was embarrassed. There’s no other way to describe how a green, treehugging, environmental blogger such as myself felt clambering into a Chevy Tahoe outside a restaurant on the West Side of Manhattan recently. This ‘full-size’ (read that as gigantically huge) SUV was a hybrid, true, but its slightly lower emissions did nothing for the fact that driving one of these things through New York City streets makes you feel like a road hog, no matter how obsequiously you try to maneuver. Not to mention the flit of panic that cruised across my brain as I thought about parallel parking it (but no matter, it would hardly fit in a parking space on the street anyway). And be not fooled: I have city-driving skills. I’ve been driving in Manhattan since I was 17 (that’s 13 years of competing with taxis, avoiding pedestrians, and lots and lots of street parking).

I was ensconced in the driver’s seat of the not-yet-released hybrid Tahoe because GM invited me. I’ve been writing about how to live sustainably for years now, and I thought that despite my lack of love for SUVs, I should go and try one of the hybrid models out. I’ve driven my friend’s Prius quite a few times, so I know how hybrid engines handle, and I wanted to compare. The hybrid Tahoe is similar to the Prius in that also shuts the engine off at stops, utilizes braking energy to recharge the battery, and runs on battery-only at low speeds, all of which save gas. As soon as the foot hits the pedal, it’s go time, with nary a lag, in the Prius, anyway. Except that this time I was driving a super-sized vehicle, so it still took awhile to get 5,500+ pounds going.

This is the gps thing that also shows you how your car works, in case you’ve bought a hybrid without really understanding what it is (which I’m sure will happen)! But also nice to have a visual to show your friends and family while explaining how your crazy newfangled truck works.

While I was busy praying that nobody I knew saw me driving the Tahoe through the already-congested streets (I realized that I was taking up the space two cars could drive in!), my lovely guide, Mary Sipes from GM, was telling me about how this car was mainly sold to women, who either buy or influence about 85 percent of car-buying decisions. I realized with a depressing thought that us ladies were probably responsible for the whole SUV craze. Because we want to feel safe, and most importantly, we want our children to be safe (even though SUVs, with their high rollover rates, and poor rear-crash protection stats are anything but safer for kids). Still, many people still think that driving the biggest behemoth on the road is smart, ignoring completely what that means to the safety of other drivers when you crash into them.

I am especially sensitive to this last point. I drive a 1997 Saab 900, which is a smallish, zippy car (with not-that-great gas mileage, yes I know! I make up for it by not driving much, as I ride my bike and take the train 80 percent of the time). About six weeks ago, a woman in a glowing gold Cadillac Escalade backed into my parked Saab while I was waiting on line for gas (the irony does NOT escape me here). She was going about five miles an hour and totaled the driver’s side of my car with her bumper. When she hopped out (she was the solo occupant, natch) she apologized profusely, exclaiming that, “The sensor is supposed to tell me when I’m going to hit something behind me!” I guess looking over her shoulder was too much trouble, but it taught me an important lesson: you don’t want to be in an accident with a large SUV. There’s the weight differential, which automatically puts a smaller car at a disadvantage no matter what, and then there’s the fact that her bumper was just about level with my chest as she backed towards me.

It was a scary and sobering experience. The stats back me up. According to a 2005 report by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety that looked specifically at crashes between cars and SUVs, “The car occupant death rates went up as the weights of the SUVs and four-door cars went up, but the increase by weight was much steeper when the collision was with an SUV.” And this from a 2002 Washington Monthly article, “When a car is hit from the side by another car, the victim is 6.6 times as likely to die as the aggressor. But if the aggressor is an SUV, the car driver’s relative chance of dying rises 30 to 1.” To feel safe did I need to be driving a huge SUV too? Were our highways now turning into an SUV arms race? You aren’t safe unless you have the biggest truck?

Ms. Sipes told me that there is now what GM calls vehicle-to-vehicle compensation in the new 2007 and 2008 hybrid versions of the Tahoe and Yukon, which is, “Three brackets, mounted to the frame, which manages energy in collisions with smaller vehicles. It’s really simple.” Too bad they didn’t add those earlier; they could’ve saved some lives.

Back at my test drive, I noticed I had to stop much more often since I couldn’t wiggle through spots I would have been able to in my Saab, which made it slow-going. It reminded me of the news article I read that stipulated that the popularity of SUVs was increasing congestion especially in suburban areas, since fewer of the larger vehicles could make it through an intersection in a given amount of time (3-4 SUVs could go through a light in the time it took 5-6 cars).

But onto the main reason I was here. Ms. Sipes was telling me that the fuel economy in the city for the new Tahoe and Yukon (same car, different styling), was 40 percent higher in the city, 25 percent higher on the highway, with the hybrid engine. Which is good news since the non-hybrid version only gets about 13-15 mpg in real-world city driving conditions (up to 20 mpg highway driving).

The little gauge at the upper left tells the driver if she’s driving economically or not. Hard braking and crazy acceleration will take you out of the ‘green zone’.

While I suppose it’s a step in the right direction to put a hybrid engine in a gas-guzzler, I couldn’t help reflecting on the history of the American auto industry, which has vehemently fought fuel-economy standards since the oil crisis of the 1970’s passed us by, leading to the pathetic fact that overall, cars and trucks miles per gallon efficiency has flatlined in recent years. There was a fuel-economy bill that was filibustered by the Senate in 1991 that would have raised standards by 40 percent over a decade. If adopted, we would now be saving over a million barrels of oil a day (not to mention taking a chunk of CO2 out of the global warming equation). Why was it fought so hard in the Senate? Because Ford and GM thought it would affect their profits. It is exactly this lack of foresight that has caused the American car companies to lose market share. To their new Tahoe and Yukon hybrids, I say, too little, too late.

At this point in the climate-control game, hybrids, especially on such large fuel-suckers, are a feel-good choice for soccer moms, not a serious solution. What we need now is cars that run on batteries that we can charge up at night from our solar panel, wind turbine, microhydro system or even coal-burning power plant (still cleaner than burning fossil fuels in an internal combustion engine, according to this information.

Good thing GM’s working on the Chevy Volt. Now that’s a car I can get behind without embarrassment, and it looks like it’ll even fit in the streets of New York.

This puppy’s got hybrid decals all over it but it’s promotional only. The final model will have three slightly less obnoxious silver tags on various parts of the truck, because as Mary Sipes said, “Hybrid drivers want other people to know they’re driving a hybrid.”

Article reprinted with permission from The Huffington Post. Images by Starre Vartan for Eco Chick.

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