Greening The Shack: It’s No Mystery (And It Doesn’t Need To Zap Your Cash)
By Andy Mazal
Filed Under Green Living | 1 Comment
The first step when considering any size of green home makeover is to identify the “low-hanging fruit”-those things which are weighing down on the efficiency of your home that can easily, quickly and inexpensively be improved to have a considerable impact. Here we identify two of the easiest, lowest-cost, highest-impact improvements you can make, and also provide a suggestion for a tool that you can employ yourself to identify some of the other energy-hogging culprits in the place you live. In all cases, we have one eye keenly focused on maximizing the “bang for your buck.”
Continue reading Greening The Shack: It’s No Mystery (And It Doesn’t Need To Zap Your Cash)…
Posted on September 8, 2008 |
Permaculture 101: Feed The People: What Everyone Can Learn From The Cuban Oil Crisis
By Erin Gallagher
Filed Under The Big Picture | 7 Comments
Another day passes and the buzz about fuel prices and dwindling oil reserves hangs (along with the rush-hour traffic exhaust) in the evening air. The future of our global petroleum-based economy is a picture that not many of us want to paint, yet it is unavoidable not to ask what our lives may look like when the last drop of oil has burned.
In the US, the average person currently requires 7 barrels of oil to operate their home (heating, cooling and electricity), 9 barrels to power their vehicle and 10 to grow and transport the food they eat. Does ten barrels of oil for food sound surprising? The food industry is an extremely energy intensive process that has been expanded and commercialized to a point where industrial-sized machinery and mass production methods such as monopolized corporate farms and indiscriminate pesticide use are necessary to keep up with demand.
Fortunately, there is a country who can provide us with an image of what that the not-so-distant future without oil may look like. Cuba faced a crisis due to oil shortage with the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991. Oil exports abruptly dropped 50% and the country lost 80% of it’s international trade economy.
Food production quickly became Cuba’s number one issue after their oil supply dwindled. Buses stopped running, factories became silent, tractors sat on the side of the road and people began to realize that food was not making the long journey from the farm to the city. People began to starve. Within a few months the average person lost 25 pounds and malnutrition in pregnant women and small children became the dominant issues for the medical community. Continue reading Permaculture 101: Feed The People: What Everyone Can Learn From The Cuban Oil Crisis…
Posted on August 29, 2008 |
Exposing: The People’s Grocery
By Erin Gallagher
Filed Under eCo TV | 1 Comment
Q: What is the second largest cause of death in America?
A: Eating unhealthy food and sitting around
The People’s Grocery is a revolutionary, community oriented, citizen-driven project that began by identifying an opportunity to supply organically produced food to those who could not afford it due to the poorly designed US food system. It has succeeded in creating a thriving urban agricultural landscape in West Oakland, California by educating local citizens on urban farming techniques and thereby increasing the health of the entire community. Inspiring and insightful, this short film by the Global Oneness Project models what can and should be done in most urban settings to offset the effects of exponentially rising transportation costs and live a healthier life.
Click here to check out what else the Global Oneness Project is up to.
Statistical Source: The Center for Disease Control
Posted on August 13, 2008 |
Vegetarians Do It Better
By Jenna Kirkman
Filed Under The Big Picture | 7 Comments
By now you have probably figured out the general idea of living a “sustainable” lifestyle: biking to work in your 100% organic fair trade clothing, eating local organic food and recycling absolutely everything. One thing you may not be considering is that free-range organic steak from the farmer’s market that you’ve tossed that into your reusable grocery bag. What is the true impact of our carnivorous indulgences? It may be time for us to seriously reconsider our dietary habits.
A recent study by the National Institute of Livestock and Grassland Science concluded that just one kilogram of beef creates more greenhouse gas pollution than a three hour car ride. Also, switching from a meat-based diet to a vegetarian diet can be more beneficial to the environment than trading in your SUV for a hybrid. Wow. How is this possible? Let’s look at some of the major environmental impacts caused by the meat industry…
Continue reading Vegetarians Do It Better…
Posted on August 1, 2008 |
Ted Ning And The Lohasian Nation
By Jenn Breckenridge
Filed Under Arts & Culture, Conscious Commerce | 4 Comments
Deep in the heart of Gaiam’s new corporate digs, behind the desk of a modest office amidst many modest offices, sat the Man Behind The Music,”Mr. LOHAS,” Ted Ning himself. His face was unexpectedly open and soft, his voice quiet and warm. This alleged powerhouse of a man was the kind of person you’d let look after your kids, or your money, or yourself. He appeared to be one of the new breed of executives, forgoing the old “greed is good” model of the 80’s and 90’s, for the refreshingly straightforward “good is good” model of the new millenium. Ted Ning, Director of eco-marketing giant LOHAS, was none other than a sweet and gentle guy. After realizing all this, I relaxed and sat down.
Well, first of all, what is “LOHAS” anyway, I wanted to know. Is this a Hawaiian massage technique or the name of some airport in the Pan-Pacific region? No, LOHAS stands for “Lifestyles Of Health And Sustainability.” This marketing term, originated by the Natural Marketing Institute (NMI) in the early 2000’s marked the defining of an era…or at least the defining of a very powerful demographic. NMI realized that three seemingly disparate consumer groups-spiritual folks, environmentalists, and health fanatics-had very similar purchasing patterns. Once NMI pooled the buying power of all these groups into a study of one large consumer base dubbed LOHASians, the corporate giants of America finally realized there was real money to be made in doing right by communities, wildlife and ecosystems. According to NMI, that “real money to be made” was about 209 billion dollars worth. LOHAS was designed to help companies speak the language of this newly defined group. Continue reading Ted Ning And The Lohasian Nation…
Posted on June 17, 2008 |
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