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A Paradigm Shift: Empowering Uganda through Bio Sand Water Filteration Systems: An Introduction
Let me introduce myself first. I’m a graduate student in Industrial Design from the Savannah College of Art and Design, Savannah, GA. I’ve been working on my thesis for quite some time and as the design gets closer to realization, i’m opening up the stage for some discussion, advice, comments or critiques. People who know others or have been in the field can any time shoot me an email or comment and I’ll be more… -
Haagen-Dazs is giving a dollar per tweet to save honey bees
Häagen-Dazs, which relies on honey bees for many of the natural ingredients that go into it’s ice cream, has donated more than $500,000 over the past two years to scientific research that will help save the honey bees. This week, they announced that for every tweet that includes #HelpHoneyBees, they will donate $1 to the University of California at Davis for research into Colony Collapse Disorder. Original article: We’re Saving Honey Bees This Week On Twitcause :… -
The Transition Town Debate
Transition Towns, if you haven’t heard, are communities that are preparing themselves for peak oil and climate change by reducing their energy use and carbon emissions, eating locally, and sometimes even setting up their own currencies. There are 243 official Transition Towns at the moment (the list is here). Most of them are in the United Kingdom, where the movement started, but Transition Towns are springing up elsewhere in Europe, and in Oceania and the States.… -
Wireless Electricity Is Near
Imagine a world where cords do not exist. Where surge protectors and extension cords are obsolete and multiple wall sockets are unnecessary. What if your electronic devices could be powered by air? Sounds like something out of a Sci-Fi movie, but that world of ultra-convenience is right around the corner, according to WiTricity, a Massachusetts-based company that says it will have wireless electricity on the market within the next two years. It’s a bold statement and the… -
Ontario’s New Plates Will Help
Ontario is going to introduce a new, green license plate, available exclusively for plug-in hybrids and electric vehicles. And the benefits of the plates won’t just be aesthetic: Electric vehicles with the plates will be able to travel in the province’s carpool lanes until 2015 — even if only one person is in the vehicle. Owners of eligible vehicles can also use recharging stations at GO Transit and other provincially owned parking lots. Owners of those… -
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Charging Forward with Mission Motor’s Electric Superbike
A look at the technology, design, and people behind the Mission One motorcycle
The world’s fastest production electric motorcycle was built in San Francisco’s Dogpatch—an industrial neighborhood bordered by the city’s waterfront. It is an amalgam of drydocks, former steel mills, and factories. Constructed in the 1860s and having largely survived the 1906 earthquake, the zone maintains a smoke-stacked atmosphere of sturdy stone and brick, the streets redolent of coal- and oil-powered commerce. It is appropriate… -
Heavenly Fuel from Garbage, Weeds, and Pond Scum
Algae-based fuel is a massive leap from corn ethanol, and could already be working within our existing transportation infrastructure—if only its development hadn’t been scrapped by the Clinton Administration. In the first two editions of this series, we’ve talked about the shortcomings of petroleum as a transportation energy source, as well as the limitations of first generation biofuels, like ethanol and biodiesel, which suffer from the inescapable flaw of directly competing with our food supplies. Although I believe… -
What a Green Job Looks Like
Buildings are actually responsible for more greenhouse gas emissions than cars. But simply weatherizing houses and businesses can reduce their environmental impact and lower energy bills—while creating new jobs in the process. Everyone wins. Created in partnership with Green for All, a national organization dedicated to building an inclusive green economy, strong enough to lift people out of poverty. For more information on programs near you, visit www.greenforall.org. … -
Long November
The United States will come under some serious heat this month, but the climate drama won’t be taking place at United Nations talks. With more than a month to go before the Copenhagen climate talks, the press are practically tripping themselves to write off the talks as a failure. Now, I’m not here to blow sunshine and tell you that all’s going great here in Barcelona, and that we’re well on our way to a fair, ambitious, and binding… -
Harvard to Buy Power from Maine Wind Farm
Harvard University has entered into a 15-year agreement to buy power and renewable energy certificates from a wind energy farm to be built in Maine. Good on ya, but I’m still not contributing to that ridiculous endowment. Original article: Harvard Univ. to buy power from Maine wind farm – Yahoo! News
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Environment
How do we live in harmony with the natural world to assure the long-term health and biodiversity of the planet and its many inhabitants?
Contributing Editor
Ben is the author of The Big Green Apple and writes GOOD's energy and environment column, "The New Ideal." 
