Cadbury Working to Reduce Flatulence

Cadbury, the confectioner company, in an effort to reduce their carbon emissions 50% by 2020, is working with dairy farmers to lower cow flatulence. Putting cows on a lower-fiber diet so that they "burp" less and release less methane, (a potential global-warming gas,) will help Cadbury lower the 60% of their carbon footprint resulting from milk production for their chocolate.

Some experts consider cows to be the world's biggest single source of methane. In 2005 a scientific report published in California claimed that each dairy cow in the area was producing almost 20 pounds of gas every year (They learned this by putting cows in a bio bubble that measured emissions for two days). The claim by the UN is that cows produce more greenhouse gasses than all the SUVs, airplanes, trucks and cars combined. All this methane gas is produced when the bacteria in their stomachs breaks down plant fibers, the gas then comes out one end when they chew their cud, and the other end in the form of flatulence.

Going Green with the Green Depot

If you are a builder or a do-it-yourselfer and you want to go green, you no longer have to wade through the isles at Lowe's or Home Depot to find eco-friendly products. The Green Depot is completely stocked with environmentally friendly and sustainable building products, services and solutions. Its primary goal is to facilitate green living and building in communities so that it is accessible, affordable and gratifying.

Items are labeled with a Green Depot Icon System designed to show at a glance why a particular item is green among five basic environmental benefits: improves indoor air quality, conserves resources, stimulates the local economy, saves energy, or is manufactured responsibly. If an icon is only half-tone then the product has room for improvement in one or more areas. In this way, they hope that green consumers start steering the marketplace, and demanding more full-tone icons.

One of the highlights of the Green Depot store is their "juice bar," which offers a selection of natural, non-toxic cleaning products for various applications. BYOB (bring your own bottles), and fill up from fun beer-tap style dispensers. They even have nice labels you can stick on your bottles so you know exactly what's in the product. You can take it home and transfer to more elegant bottles for display, if you like.

Wool going green

Ever wonder what your clothes are made out of? and if it from a sustainable source? Wonder no more if you purchase your own fiber and yarn from Martha’s Vineyard Fiber Farm and Hudson Valley Fiber Farm. They raise registered Angora Goats, registered Cormo, Cotswold and Babydoll Southdown sheep and an assortment of ducks, chickens, dogs and a barn cat or two. (But you can't buy any fur from the cats or dogs).
They raise the goats and sheep on a natural diet of pasture and hay and have the fleeces processed by small, family-owned mills, rather than sending them to a big commercial processor.
So if you are looking for a deeper connection to your fiber and want to be able to trace it back to MayBell or Snookie, shares in their spring and fall yarn harvest are for sale in advance to knitters and spinners.

Green Your Valentines

Wondering what to get your green girl for Valentine's Day? How about organic cotton panties? Victoria's Secret has a thong in four colorful prints that are made from fairly-traded organic cotton, grown by women's farming cooperatives in Burkina Faso.

Organic is important because cotton growers traditionally use quite a few pesticides. In fact, it is estimated that about 25 percent of the total pesticides used in the world are used for cotton crops. Some of the pesticides that are used include cyanide, dicofol, naled and propargite, and many are cancer causing, including cancers specific to the reproductive system. This garment spends a lot of time very close to your delicate areas, a place chemicals and pesticides don’t need to be!

Now that you know the bad news, here's the good news: you can find organic cotton panties in a variety of stores and in a variety of styles and colors. Try Patagonia, FaeriesDance, rawganique. or naturewearorganics.

Colorado ranch goes green and spreads green

I would not have guessed a rancher in a tiny Colorado mountain town to lead the way in the electric car movement, but my hat is tipped to Jim Duke of El Jebel, an Aspen neighbor. Mr. Duke installed enough solar panels on his ranch to not only generate enough electricity for his entire ranch, but enough to give it away to any electric car that shows up at his ranch. His electric car 'fueling' station, also feeds his own electric cars, purchased for trips to town.

Although a substantial upfront investment, ($84,600 for the panels), he is eligible for nearly $51,000 in federal, state, local and power company credits, to ease the burden somewhat. And while his remaining $34,000 investment is a gigantic chunk of change to lay out for a project that could take decades to pay off, that is OK with Mr. Duke. He sees becoming carbon neutral as an obligation to future generations and the planet, saying, "It's way, way, way past the point for talk. It's time for action."

Mr. Duke has always been known for his environmental streak — back in the 80's he spearheaded efforts to establish recycling and composting programs for Aspen and surrounding communities.

Your Green Gadget invention could win $50,000!

Got a green gadget idea? It could land you $50,000 in cash and prizes! Live EDGE (Electronic Design for the Global Environment) is accepting design submissions from inventors who have designed unique products that both contain electronic components and have a positive impact on the environment.
Separate prize packages will be awarded to students and the general public. Each winner will receive a $25,000 cash prize as well as a $25,000 package of support services from design, marketing, legal, and commerce experts. Three runners-up will also receive $5,000 each.

Last years winner was a product called MyFan, a ceiling fan that combines an electronically commutated motor and controller, and aerodynamically efficient blade design that reduces fan input power by up to 66% of that of a traditional ceiling fan. It boasts auxiliary output channels that drive up to 20 watts of integrated LED lighting with up/down lighting modules.
For examples of potential entries, blog advice from past winners, and challenge details, check out the live EDGE site.

GoingGreen.com goes to the Go Green Expo

Los Angeles hosted the Go Green Expo Friday, January 23-25 and GoingGreen.com was excited to attend! At first I was concerned that there were not as many exhibitors as I expected, but was pleasantly surprised in the quality of exhibitors. If you are from Southern California, you should have been ecstatic at the variety of local companies you can choose from to help you go green. But if you feel like you missed something, you can pick up a copy of the "Green Living - Los Angeles" guide of the city's most eco-friendly retailers, services and organizations. Published by Greenopia, there are also New York and San Francisco editions. For those of us not living in one of those major cities, check out the website for green-ness in your city.
An impressive array of speakers filled the schedule, including Ed Begley on Friday and Mariel Hemingway on Saturday, who won't be getting a General Mills endorsement anytime soon after her display of distaste for Cap'n Crunch cereal. I'm sure it is not a part of her new book, "Healthy Living from the Inside Out" which she had a book signing for at the Expo.
Perf Go Green, title sponsor, really stole the show with their booth, which included an Earth Dome with a live music/interactive slide show inside every hour! After the mesmerizing performances, you couldn't wait to buy their recycled plastic garbage and doo-doo bags and household cleaners. Yes, doo-doo bags. Think about it - if you own a dog and live in a city or go to a dog park, you have to pick up your dog doo-doo. Plastic bags have long been the favorite, but those plastic bags almost never bio-degrade (and neither will the poo)! You've created a shit time capsule! Perf Go Green created the solution with their biodegrable recycled plastic bags.
In addition to going green with your dog poo, don't forget to make your love sustainable! Good Clean Love is making love sustainable with 100% natural and organic, non petro-chemical lubricants, love oils and edible body butters. Yum. Literally.
An easy way to make sure you are having fun going green!

Carbon footprint application for iPhone

Clear Standards, a provider of enterprise carbon management and sustainability systems, introduced “Carbon Tracker,” a free GPS-enabled carbon footprint application for the iPhone.
Carbon Tracker lets users calculate the carbon footprint from daily commuting, vacations, or business trips and it uses the iPhone GPS function while traveling to determine the approximate distance of each trip segment. Users can also set monthly “maximum emission” goals and monitor their progress against personal carbon footprint reduction targets.
Clear Standards says that in the future the product may be expanded to track other activities and may provide a way for consumers to buy carbon offsets.

Coca-Cola adds more hybrids

Coca-Cola Enterprises will soon be the largest hybrid truck fleet in America! They are adding 185 trucks to their existing fleet of 142. Testing and evaluations conducted by Coca-Cola Enterprises found that Eaton’s hybrid-electric drivetrain-equipped trucks decreased emissions by roughly 32% and fuel consumption by up to 37% as compared to conventionally-powered trucks in Coca-Cola’s current fleet. Coca-Cola also reported lower maintenance costs on the hybrid-powered trucks. The hybrid uses a motor/generator, working with the transmission and a 340 volt lithium ion battery, and the trucks can drive exclusively on electric power below 30 MPH, eliminating that smelly diesel exhaust during city driving. The trucks also saves fuel by not idling at stop lights.

EPA Dupty Regional Administrator Stan Meiburg presented Coke with a leadership award for the beverage company’s overall plan for energy conservation and climate change, which include installing water-saving systems at their plants, using more efficient lighting, and developing a recylcing program. Earlier this month, Coke announce the upcoming completion of lighting retrofits in its California facilities, which will save 5.6 million kilowatt-hours annually. The company’s recycling program has been recognized as a leading program in the beverage industry.