Audubon's Current Issue

I promised some time ago a post on the new issue of Audubon magazine. So here we go:

This is the debut issue printed on recycled paper.

(L)ess than one percent of the approximately 17,000 magazines published in the United States contain any recycled paper, according to the Better Paper Project, a nonprofit that works with the magazine industry to promote recycled paper. For magazines alone, 39 million trees are logged a year—that’s more than one every second.

There's going to be a new ingredient in some low volatile-organic-compound (VOC) paint. Proctor & Gamble, the company that invented olestra, have figured out how to put it in paint for viscosity.

Remember olestra—that fat substitute a few years ago that made potato chips “healthier,” albeit with a reputation for causing gastric distress and anal leakage? Well, it’s being reinvented as an ingredient in eco-friendly paint.

And the heart of the issue: "The Future is Now" green design inspired by Nature or designed to save it.

Of course we've all heard the story of Velcro, and its origin in the hooks and loops of burrs, but did you know that the sticking ability of geckos will soon be seen in Band-aids and tape, robots and medical devices?

Green living: In 2007, a tornado flattened Greensburg, Kansas. In the wake of the storm, the townspeople decided to rebuild in a sustainable way.

Tour Greensburg today ... and you will find a nearly finished, energy-saving City Hall and a new arts center; cisterns collecting rainwater to irrigate native street plantings; and a reduced-rent building, dubbed the “business incubator,” that is helping local businesses ... get on their feet. The new homes are designed to, among other things, minimize waste from building materials and take advantage of natural light.

Greensburg is the first U.S. town with LED street lamps, 300 of them, which has cut its energy costs by 70 percent. And it may go off the grid entirely with wind power.

In Loudon County, Virginia, there is an EcoVillage set in a natural woodland setting with houses built of recycled materials.

(It) aims to transform the American dream of home ownership into something more idyllic than a treeless grid of identical structures connected by a swirl of asphalt ...
(It's based on) Denmark’s bofoellesskaber, or “living communities.” ... Residents typically have private dwellings with their own kitchens, living rooms, and sleeping areas, but they also have access to a common house with a large dining room and kitchen for potlucks, meeting rooms, recreational facilities, and, frequently, daycare.

There is tons more in the original article, including the bed-and-breakfast in Taos, New Mexico, built from recycled materials, the ballroom in Austin, Texas, the living jungle gym in San Francisco, and the elementary school in Chicago built to LEED standards.

Also check out the section on cars and the ways they will be using new technology to cut down on greenhouse gas emissions.

Quit the Chamber. Join the planet!

Quit the Chamber. Join the planet!.

Ask the members of the board of the National Chamber of Commerce to quit the Chamber in support of climate change.

cross-posted at Lizbeth's Garden

Green For All -- National Briefing Call on Monday, Oct. 5

From Green for All:

On September 30th, Senators Barbara Boxer (D-CA) and John Kerry (D-MA) introduced The Clean Energy Jobs and American Power Act. The draft legislation includes access and opportunity in the clean energy-economy, and strong climate standards.

Join us to talk about the bill, and our next steps to get it passed through the Environment and Public Works Committee and the full Senate. Expert speakers will analyze the draft and discuss the significance of two key provisions: the Green Construction Careers Demonstration Project and funding for the Green Jobs Act.

Visit the sign-up page to learn more and register for the call.

Will charcoal save us all?

Well, it probably won't actually save us all, but charcoal (biochar as it is now called in trendy circles) is, according to the Economist, a new way to reduce global warming gases. From the article:

the latest fashion for dealing with global warming is to bring back charcoal. It has to be rebranded for modern consumers, of course, so it is now referred to as “biochar”. But there are those who think biochar may give humanity a new tool to attack the problem of global warming, by providing a convenient way of extracting CO₂ from the atmosphere, burying it and improving the quality of the soil on the way.

I'm not quite sure (and the article doesn't say) exactly how the carbon dioxide is removed from the atmosphere when charcoal is produced by burning, but I think the idea has many other merits. On improving the soil:

Most of the (Amazon) forest’s soil is heavily weathered and of poor quality. But the so-called “terra preta”, or “black earth”, is much more fertile. This soil is found at the sites of ancient settlements, but it does not appear to be an accidental consequence of settlement. Rather, it looks as though the remains of burned plants have been mixed into it deliberately.

The charcoal does not rot and provides a catalyst for limiting exhumation from the soil of nitrous oxide and methane and also appears to prevent fertilizing nutrients (nitrogen, phosphate, etc.) from leaching out.

And finally, on the prevention of soot from wood-burning stoves in the developing world:

Many (poor farmers) burn wood, waste and dung indoors for heating and cooking. The soot released into the air as a consequence is also a climate-changer because, being dark, it absorbs heat. Much worse, though, about 1.6m people are killed each year by inhaling it. But pyrolytic stoves produce almost no soot—the carbon is all locked into the biochar. Worldstove, a firm based in Italy, seeks to provide small and simple pyrolising stoves to poor countries.

I hope the pilot tests prove as exciting and possible as the initial experiments.