Floppy disk boxes. Maybe not the first thing you think of if asked to mention something you couldn’t do without. They were, after all, specifically made to house something that was last seen hurtling towards obsolescence at high speeds: floppy disks.

While rummaging through one of my numerous drawers of old computer stuff, I found three of these boxes. I got them as packaging for 10 floppy disks way back when, so they’re not very big. Not a lot would fit in them.

Still, they’re made from hard plastic and reasonably sturdy, so just throwing them away would be a shame.

So, I extended my rummaging to the rest of my home, and found two good candidates for floppy disk box storage: Seed packets and spice packets. I don’t have a lot of any of these, but the ones I do have tend to float untidily around. Now they’re organized neatly in line, instead of cluttering the place up :-)

If I had a larger floppy disk box (the type with dividers) lying around, I could use it for organizing larger collections of packets, sorting them in categories and whatnot.

If you know about other ways of reusing old floppy disk boxes, please leave a comment!

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Do you have an old car that’s reached the end of its useful life? Whether you’re getting a new one or have decided to live without a car altogether; make sure you dispose of it properly.

A car contains quite a selection of materials. Some of them are hazardous waste, many of them can be recycled. None of them should be dumped in a landfill and left to leak out into the environment.

By leaving your car with a proper green car disposal service, you ensure that it’s handled in a responsible manner. Hazardous waste will be dealt with properly. Recyclable materials will be stripped from the car and put to good use.

Where can I dispose of my car in a green way?

If you’re in Europe, chances are vehicle manufacturers are the ones ultimately responsible for handling old vehicles in an environmentally sound manner.

If you’re in the USA or Canada,  Green Vehicle Disposal is a good option. They have a North America-wide network of car recyclers that will dispose of your car greenly.

If you’re in a generous mood, you could go for a double whammy and have the proceeds of your green car disposal go to the charity of your choice – see  CharityCar.us for details.

Related posts:

1. Greener energy production: Run your dishwasher at night
2. Light bulbs are hazardous waste
3. Cleaning up when you break a CFL light bulb

Have you heard about cap and trade, but don’t really know/understand what it is?

Then the new video from the team behind the excellent Story of Stuff should be perfect for you.

Released today, The Story of Cap and Trade features a fast-paced 10 minute summary of the hows and whys of carbon trading, and actually manages to be both interesting and entertaining(!).

Annie Leonard’s narrative and humorous animations illustrate the salient points and problems with the cap and trade scheme currently considered as the main solution to global warming.

A definite must-see :-)

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1. Entertaining children with junk mail
2. Book review: It’s not easy being green

Right, so Black Friday is here. Run to your cars, get in line at the mall and spend, spend, SPEND your money! Go wild!

It’s Black Friday, so everything and anything is a good deal, right, and everybody‘s going shopping, so you better shop too, right?

And if someone gets in your way and tries to snatch that 50-percent-off-on-a-box-of-junk offer before you, you better clock’em, ’cause you gotta fight for your right to shop! Right?

Well, no. Not really.

Calm down. Take a few deep breaths. Unclench your fist. Leave your credit card in your pocket for just a little while longer.

Don’t buy junk just because it’s cheap

That discounted thingy you’re about to buy isn’t a good deal just because it’s cheaper than normal today. The quality of stuff isn’t affected by how much you pay for it.

Junk is junk, regardless of price.

So, before you whip out your plastic, ask yourself this: Do I really need to buy this? Or am I just tempted to, because the lower price makes it seem like a good offer?

And if you come to the conclusion that you do need an item like that, is the particular item you have in front of you the right one? Will it last? Or will you have to buy a new one again when it breaks in a few months? Buying quality will save you money in the long run. And not having to get rid of broken stuff all the time will save the environment from tons (literally) of trash.

Stay safe

So, you’ve decided that the item you’ve seen advertised is something you actually need and that it’s a good quality item. To put it short: You want to buy it.

Good for you. No point in paying more than you need for something you’d have to buy anyway.

But please: Stay safe. And don’t put other people at risk.

Just last year, a Wal-Mart worker was trampled to death, a pregnant woman was hospitalized and two people were shot and killed in Black Friday sales frenzies.

That’s just … stupid.

There are plenty of things and causes in the world that’s worth risking your health for. Saving a dollar or two – or a thousand, for that matter – is not among them.

And, as for actually risking or hurting other people’s health to save money … I’ll leave it up to your imagination to figure out what I think about that.

If you want to avoid standing in line and don’t want to get trampled, but still want to take advantage of Black Friday discounts (on quality stuff, of course), you could check out Amazon.com’s Black Friday page.

Since that’s an affiliate link, you get to say that part of your Black Friday shopping went towards furthering environmental work (ie. towards the production of content for this blog) ;-D

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Starting tomorrow, the world’s first power plant generating power from salt water will be opened at Tofte in Norway.

Back in May, I did a little roundup of various ways to get power from water. One of the more experimental technologies I mentioned was salt power – or osmotic power, which is the more precise (and slightly more complicated sounding) name for it.

Europe’s largest renewable energy company, Statkraft, has now developed this technology far enough to open their first prototype power plant, with their sights set on building a commercially viable plant within a few year’s time (Statkraft’s press release).

How osmotic power/salt power works

I simplified things in the first paragraph to avoid scaring readers away. There’s a bit more to it than just salt water. Not much, though – the principle isn’t very complicated:

1. Water is pumped into a container, salty ocean water on one side and fresh water on the other side of a membrane.
2. The natural process osmosis pulls the freshwater through the membrane. Since the membrane only allows water to flow in this one direction, pressure builds on the salt water side.
3. The built-up pressure is used to power a turbine, thereby generating power.

This kind of power plant could be built anywhere fresh water flows into salt water, typically where a river flows into an ocean. Statkraft has calculated that the worldwide potential of osmotic power is somewhere between 1600 and 1700 TWh, roughly equivalent to 50 percent of the EU’s total production. Not too shabby.

What are the advantages of osmotic power?

So, you might ask, why bother developing this technology? Why develop an entirely new technology, instead of improving existing renewable technologies like, say solar power? Here are the reasons I can think of off the top of my head:

• No huge installations needed
  Osmotic power plants can be built in the basements of existing buildings.
• Virtually no unwanted side effects
  The power generation basically piggybacks on a natural process (ie. the mixing of fresh water and salt water) that would’ve occurred anyway. No birds or fish being killed by turbine blades, no huge dams flooding valleys and so on.
• Continuous power generation
  This is a big one. One of the more difficult aspects of moving to renewable energy is the intermittency of the power generation many of them provide. Solar power needs the sun to shine and wind power needs the wind to blow. Osmotic power just needs the river to not dry out.
• More choice
  No single technology will be a good fit for every situation and context. Solar power is good for deserts, wind power is good for windy areas (well, duh) and osmotic power is good for coastal areas with rivers running into the ocean. The greater the number of options available, the better.

I tried to come up with some disadvantages to osmotic powers, but couldn’t really think of any. Can you think of any? Or are there advantages I’ve missed? Set me straight in the comments :-)

Related posts:

1. Water power and the ways it can be used
2. Greener energy production: Run your dishwasher at night
3. Renewable energy sources: What types are there?

A few weeks ago, I argued that it doesn’t matter whether climate change is manmade or not.

This article in the Guardian only reinforced that view.

A whistleblower employee of the International Energy Agency (IEA) is saying that his employer is knowingly exaggerating the size of the world’s total oil reserves, to avoid “angering the Americans” (ie. the US administration) and to prevent panic in the energy market.

In reality, he says (and many of his colleagues agree), the remaining reserves won’t be anywhere near big enough to satisfy the projected future demand.

If the actual, probable future production capacity were announced, apparently everybody and their grandma would go haywire and buy oil like crazy, driving the prices up. So they shut up about it, and oh, I don’t know, hope the whole problem will magically go away, I guess.

Well. Excuse the heck out of me, but that sounds like a crappy strategy to me.

If you’re outside, in sub-zero temperatures and you’re really cold, what do you do? Do you pee your pants and enjoy the short and sweet warmth this produces? Or do you put on extra clothes or perhaps even get out of the cold?

You go for the latter set of options, of course. It requires a bit more effort then and there, and you might have to endure the cold a little longer, but you won’t have to deal with the much worse, long-term consequences of the former choice.

No time like the present

Now, I’m pretty sure the IEA is right that there will be some form of panic if it publicly admits that oil reserves are way lower than previously assumed.

Investors and governments will race to stock up on oil while there’s still some of it left. Oil prices will soar. Poor, oil dependent countries will suffer. People will have to drive less due to increased gas prices. And so on.

This would, of course, mostly suck. But guess what? The problem isn’t going away by itself – magically or otherwise – and the longer we postpone dealing with it, the worse it’ll get.

The choice isn’t between “no oil crisis” and “oil crisis”. It’s between “a tough, but manageable crisis” and “a much worse crisis we might never recover from”.

It’s time for the IEA to grow some backbone and report their actual findings, instead of making up numbers that set everyone up for a bigger fall. Angered US administration be damned.

With all the dawdling, feet-shuffling and political tap-dancing that’s been happening in the run-up to the UN climate change conference in Copenhagen this December, USA and everybody else needs to know about, admit to and deal with reality, not fiction.

Not in 20 years. Not in 10 or 5 years. Not even in one year. Now.

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Commercially available silver polishes taste horrible. Many of them also contain harmful chemicals. Not exactly something I’d like to put in my mouth! I realize that you’re not supposed to eat silver polish, but there might be some left on your silverware after you’re done polishing.

I’d much rather use something that does no harm to me and my taste buds in any case. Or to the environment.

Toothpaste makes both your teeth and silver shine

The silver polish I use, I willingly put in my mouth every day: toothpaste!

Using it is easy:

1. Put a dab or three – as much as you need – of white toothpaste (not the gel variety, and stay away from the ones that are advertised as having a whitening effect on your teeth) on a soft, dampened cloth. Old cotton T-shirt scraps work well.
2. Gently rub the toothpaste over the tarnished silver in a straight, back-and-forth motion. The toothpaste is a mild abrasive, and if you rub too hard, you might scratch your silver.
3. As the tarnish comes off, your dampened cloth will become dark with tarnish. When this happens, add some more toothpaste to a clean part of the cloth and continue polishing. Remember to be gentle.
4. If your silverware has intricate patterns or other hard-to-reach places, use a soft toothbrush to get to it.
5. Once you’re done polishing, rinse your silver thoroughly with warm – not hot – water and dry it with a soft towel.

Voila! Your silver is nice and shiny and you’ve done no damage to the environment or yourself. You didn’t even need to wear rubber gloves while you were at it.

In fact, you really shouldn’t wear rubber gloves when handling silver anyway, since the sulphur traces in rubber will corrode silver.

Happy polishing!

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1. How to unclog and clean drains without harmful chemicals
2. How to clean out burnt food without chemicals

Today has seen – and is still seeing – actions across the whole world drawing attention to the number 350.

If that number means diddly squat to you, here’s the short version of why it’s significant: 350 parts per million is the safe upper limit for CO2 in our atmosphere, as identified by scientists. Above that for a significant period of time, and global warming will spin out of control.

At the moment, we’re at 387 parts per million. Which basically means the current planned treaty for the December climate change conference in Copenhagen isn’t ambitious enough.

The international 350.org campaign seeks to draw attention to that fact, hopefully making the politicians get their act together and put in a decent effort.

With more than 5200 actions in 181 countries being held today, they’re certainly drawing more than a little attention.

I attended one of the local actions here in Oslo, Norway (please note: the feature image of this post is from an action in Sydney, Australia). It was kicked off with activists descending on the famous Vigeland statues in Frognerparken, dressing them up with clothes and speech bubbles bearing climate change and 350.org related messages.

The T-shirt on this one reads “It’s getting hot in here”.
The sign on this one reads “I will need rain boots if we continue like this”.
Later, a flashmob dance was held at the central railway station, with 350.org fliers being handed out to passers-by:


Next up were actions, info stands and speeches, topped off with a torchlight procession. Unfortunately, something is wrong with my camera, so I have no pictures from that. Meh.

Did you attend a 350.org action? Feel free to let loose in the comments about it!

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Along with our potatoes, Thomas and I grow tomatoes on our balcony every year. And every year, the first winter frost comes before all the tomatoes have had time to ripen.

Luckily, green tomatoes are not only perfectly edible, but can be turned into delicious meals and side dishes in their own right.

One great option for smaller quantities of tomatoes is to pickle them. There are bazillions of recipes for green tomato pickles; this one is great as a side dish for pork and many other meat dishes:

Green Tomato Pickles Recipe

1 kg (2.2 pounds) green tomatoes
3 dl (1.25 cups) white vinegar
3 dl (1.25 cups) water
1/2 kg (1.1 pounds) sugar
1 piece of cinnamon bark
8-10 cloves

Rinse and dry the tomatoes. Use a blunt darning needle to poke small holes in them, so they will absorb the liquid.

Heat the water and vinegar in a kettle till it boils. Add sugar, cloves and tomatoes. Let this simmer for about 5 to 10 minutes, depending on the size of your tomatoes.

Remove the kettle from the heat and keep it somewhere cold overnight to let the tomatoes absorb more flavor.

Next day, bring the kettle to a boil again and let simmer for 5 minutes. Lift the tomatoes out with a slotted spoon and distribute them in sterilized jars. Let the vinegar-mix boil for 5 more minutes. Skim off any residue on the surface.

Pour the liquid into the jars, enough to cover the tomatoes and then some. Put on the jar lids and seal them.

Store them in a cool dark place – for example your fridge – they should keep there for several weeks as long as your lid and seal is airtight. If you pickle them in properly sterilized cans or jars, they should keep for months. But that’s the topic of a future post :-)

Happy pickling!

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1. More ways to make your refrigerator green
2. Green home cooling mini series
3. Book review: It’s not easy being green

Do you believe climate change is caused by humans?

It doesn’t really matter if you don’t, you know.

If you think it’s caused by higher solar activity, volcanic activity or other processes humans can’t control, that’s fine.

In fact, you can think it’s caused by aliens targeting us with huge lasers, by kids not eating their veggies or by bunnies with silly things on their heads for all I care.

And I say this, even if my personal conviction is that human activities are indeed playing a significant part in bringing about climate change. Here’s why:

You know all those treehugger things that a lot of scientists are saying we need to do to slow down or stop climate change? Switch to renewable energy and things like that?

Even if you think the atmosphere is like one giant garbage can – a garbage can that can hold all the greenhouse gases humanity decides to dump, without any negative effects whatsoever – even then, doing some of those treehugger things just makes sense anyway.

Regardless of what the actual causes of climate change are.

Moving away from oil will be cheaper

One prime example is the issue of renewable energy sources and whether to invest in improving and spreading the related technology for that or not.

Going from the current oil driven economy to one based on renewable energy and sustainable solutions will cost a lot of money. Of course. Any big restructuring demands considerable resources and effort.

But here’s the kicker: Even if it will cost a lot of money, it’s not the most expensive option. The most expensive option is going on doing what we’re doing at the moment – burning through the world’s oil reserves at a ridiculous pace.

Oil reserves aren’t increasing. For all practical intents and purposes, they’re declining.

As they continue their decline and demand stays the same – or rises – oil prices will increase to intolerable levels. At some point – not too far into the future – the ongoing costs of maintaining an oil dependance will far exceed the initial investment and upkeep of renewable energy sources that we won’t run out of.

And, with oil being a finite resource, we will run out of it. It’s not a question of if, it’s an inevitable question of when. When we do run out of oil, anything or anyone still depending on it is out of luck. In a big way.

Let’s not walk into that trap. Let’s invest in energy sources that will last and phase out those that won’t. Let’s spend a little more now to save big later.

Even if it means doing something that scientists think we should do.

This post is my contribution to Blog Action Day 2009 and to the current Change The World Wednesdays challenge over at Reduce Footprints.

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