nobagthanks

Empire is Cool

2009-12-03T09:25:00.000-08:00

Go to Empire.com because I said so.

Most recent disgusting food experience

2008-12-09T06:19:00.000-08:00

Ever forget a bag of those frozen chicken parts in the back of the freezer? What about if the bag wasn't closed. Ever seen that? Frost beards everywhere, man.

Well, did you ever think about cooking up some of that chicken, on the off chance that it will satisfy the needs of a kid who doesn't want rice and beans?

Here's the recipe. Put two pieces of chicken in the microwave for 1 minute. Try one piece directly in the skillet. Add the original two pieces into the skillet after waving.

The result? There was maybe a centimeter of chicken that looked like chicken during the whole process. And that was a raw piece surrounded, like the rest of the chicken, in a very white, stringy mass. I tasted it, and well, I've had cardboard that tasted better.

Coming Soon -- Suzanne Sherman Propp: "Play"

2008-12-02T14:40:00.000-08:00

Considering its only been 11 months since I last posted, there are probably 50+ things I could write about as I try to re-start this blog. But hands down, the most exciting project for me this year has been the CD that my wife Suzanne and I produced with our good friend Josh Margolis. We'll have hard copies by late December and an official release event in late January/early Feb.

There are a lot of considerations involved in producing a CD, from songs selection, to instruments, tempo, style, additional musicians, etc. Josh was a great adviser on all of the above. Now its time to create the physical copies, which will be expensive and also create a number of "moral hazard" type issues. For example:

Should we print the CD at all? Shouldn't we just go for downloads?
-- problem with that is we think kids and parents will want to hear it in their cars.

Should we find a way to re-use plastic?
-- Truth is, using plastic at all adds more plastic to the environment.

Ultimately the production company led us to a sleeve design that will use very little paper. So we think we made the right choice. Hope people buy them...

p

Hydrogen, Natural Gas and Pie

2008-01-03T08:40:00.000-08:00

I'm not exactly sure where to go with this blog going forward, but I find myself drawn to business ideas as much as personal consumption ideas. For example here's a link to a schematic on how Hydrogen could be produced by wind power from UK concern Wind-Hydrogen, Ltd.

From what I've read, the idea is to view hydrogen in a tank as stored energy. hydrogen is easy to produce if you have excess electricity, such as a nuclear reactor or a wind farm at night.

The next question on hydrogen is, how can you leverage it most easily?

In a car?

For cooking? (apparently you can use it instead of propane or natural gas)

For heating your house? -- If you heat your house with natural gas you could maybe use hydrogen in the future...

Quick alternate fuel anecdote: My best summer job ever was working for a plumbing supply company near Albany, NY. To reduce their gasoline costs, they had modified several of their trucks to run on natural gas (really cheap in 1982) along with gasoline. But the conversion job was pretty weak, resulting in burned out carburetors -- apparently natural gas burns hotter than gasoline and this was not considered in the conversion process.

My worst moment was when I had stopped for lunch at Grandma's Pies on Central Ave where my friend Christine was a waitress. Had a great lunch, a tasty slice of blueberry pie and then headed back to the truck, which by the way was a big box truck with a huge logo on its side. Well the truck wouldn't start and I ended up getting picked up by one of the other drivers, leaving the big green box truck with the company logo out for all to see for a couple of days.

Moral of the story: make sure your dual fuel plans are really well thought out. And consider apple pie next time...

Multi-tasking? Use the NPR player...

2007-12-28T09:23:00.000-08:00

Working at home, I find myself looking for ways to keep track of the outside world without turning on the TV. Finding a good source for audio information and music has been a challenge. But after my.Yahoo's recent redesign, I added the NPR "Most e-mailed" module to my my.Yahoo screen. Then I started to listen to the stories occasionally. Then I became fascinated by the client that NPR built to deliver audio files.

The NPR Media Player a great example of what the IT world calls Web 2.o. I'm not sure exactly how its programmed, but I'm guessing it uses a programming style called AJAX (Asynchronous Java And XML). It's similar to the way Google Maps is programmed. To start, go to http://www.npr.org and click "Listen" when you find a story you find interesting.

What's special about the way NPR's player works is that once you are listening to one story, you can surf the NPR site and continue to add content to the client by clicking the "plus" icon. You can add as many stories as you want and then go back to your e-mail or spreadsheets while the NPR player plays the radio show you just programmed.

There's so much content on the NPR site, you'll never run out of things to listen to, but here are a few things to look for:

A 1 hour profile on Frank Sinatra.

A Terri Gross interview with Sharon Jones and Dap Kings founder Bosco ‘Bass’ Mann.

A profile on Greensburg, Kansas, a town that was literally wiped off the map by tornadoes earlier this year. They are staging a comeback by embracing all things green.

Wow, it didn't take me long to get back to a green story, did it?

Multi-Fuel Cars

2007-12-23T07:49:00.001-08:00

Fast Company last month had a great article about Jonathan Goodwin, the dual fuel genius auto mechanic. Goodwin thinks the answer to reducing our dependence on OPEC's oil lies not in a single alternate fuel, but in the ability to combine multiple alternate fuels in smart ways to run a single car. Read the article here.

And here's links to two of his companies.

H-Line Conversion

SAE Energy

Neil Young is even having Goodwin re-work his favorite car, a classic Lincoln, into a dual fuel machine. Here's a link to a CNN story -- a verrry long video clip of Neil driving his massive land yacht and talking about how green technology can save the planet and our economy, and bring back the pride.

Which Reusable Water Bottle?

2007-10-08T14:17:00.000-07:00

Laura Moser from Slate did a fantastic job of comparing the current set of options when it comes to reusable Water Bottles.

Read it here.

Quick Items to Ponder

2007-07-09T06:57:00.000-07:00

**How about "no receipt, thanks" when you are buying items you have no intention of returning. Try it. Tell them before you buy your gum or shampoo that you don't need a receipt...

** Apparently driving with windows open or shut, AC on or off have little impact on fuel economy.
-- but driving on tires with the wrong tire pressure does...

** Small actions like turning off light switches can have the greatest impact on reducing electrical requirements and therefore reducing greenhouse emissions. (more on this from my friend Glen sometime soon).

** Turn off your car!! If you are going to be waiting for someone for more than 1 minute, turn off your car. Great. Now, step outside and do one or more of the following:
-- do some jumping jacks
-- wave to a neighbor
-- pick a weed from your lawn
-- do your secret handshake with your kid (or make one up if you don't have one)
-- throw a ball or a frisbee

End of Message

Another Idea for Investors

2007-06-22T12:58:00.000-07:00

Anyone with stocks ends up getting a fair amount of paperwork. Quarterly statements, annual reports and a whole bunch of other materials are delivered to investors on a regular basis -- this distribution of information is required by the government.

But if you take a moment to look at the cover material, you'll notice a URL for Investor Delivery, the company that is responsible for a lot of the disclosure delivery. Also on the cover material are instructions on how you can begin receiving financial materials via e-mail.

It takes about 5 minutes. I probably just saved 2 trees a year myself. Give it a try.

Here's the URL for Investor Delivery: https://www.investordelivery.com

If you have multiple investment accounts, you will have to apply for e-mail delivery more than once. Then you need to re-certify once a year.

This is a no-brainer. Easier than getting a paper cup from Dunkin Donuts.

Dunkin Donuts Styrofoam Cups

2007-06-19T13:35:00.000-07:00

Dunkin Donuts has done a great job of competing with Starbucks. One area where they are not budging is on the cups. For "drip" coffee, Dunkin still hands out Styrofoam cups, which keep the coffee really hot and don't require an oven mitt or a sleeve.

But Styrofoam cups carry a number of issues:
1) Does not biodegrade, cannot be recycled like paper
2) Hot Styrofoam cups leach styrenes into the body. "Styrene is easily transferred from a container to your food or beverage. And the hotter or fattier the food, the more styrene it absorbs."

What does Styrene do to your body?
-- It can disrupt hormone functions and cause low platelet counts, chromosome and lymphatic abnormalities, and create neurotoxic effects, which can lead to fatigue, insomnia and other diseases associated with the nervous system.
-- It is even more dangerous for pregnant women because of the effects on the unborn."

Source: Teenlink

So what can you do?
1) Ask your server at Dunkin Donuts or other stores for a paper cup. Dunkin stocks them for Lattes and other fancy drinks.
2) Sign this petition calling on all fast food outlets to use paper over Styrofoam.

From the Hamptons

2007-06-17T18:41:00.000-07:00

My friend Lauren writes:

"I’m with you--I justify the cost of my beautiful new handbag by carrying my groceries and other sundries home in it (I walk to Main Street and shop at the Sag Harbor IGA every day instead of taking the car to King Kullen in Bridgehampton)."

-- I bet that is one great looking bag. And keeping off the roads of the Hamptons is good for the environment and your sanity.

Eco Restoration Industry

2007-06-16T04:23:00.000-07:00

To be filed under the heading "someone will make some serious bucks here," check out
this article on the eco restoration industry.

Just a niche market in the 1980s, ecosystem restoration has surged in the past five years, with announced multi-year projects exceeding $70 billion worldwide and annual revenues in the US of more than $1 billion a year, industry sources say.

"From an ecological restoration standpoint, there's something on the order of tens of billions of dollars in the pipeline just in this country," says Bowers, who also is chairman of the Society for Ecological Restoration International in Tucson, Ariz. The group has 2,500 members and 14 international chapters - most of those added in just the past decade.

Learn more from Environmental Industry Journal (pub on industry -- $700/year).

No Cup Thanks

2007-06-15T09:31:00.000-07:00

From my Brother in Law:

Pete this is great! Catherine and I made a vow last weekend not to purchase coffee in a disposable cup. We bought two travel mugs and we require ourselves to bring the travel mug when going to starbucks or any other coffee shop. we've been good so far, a couple of times, forgetting our travel mugs, we passed up on the coffee. I recommend this to your readers.

Greener Cars

2007-06-15T07:00:00.000-07:00

In the market for a low impact car? Check out GreenerCars

They have a "Green Rating" based on total impact of the car on the planet, not just fuel economy. The Greenest car? The Honda Civic GX, which runs on propane.

Smart Initiatives

2007-06-14T09:16:00.000-07:00

Here's an interesting model for waste reduction from the State of Rhode Island. Check out this Mission Statement:

"Rhode Island Resource Recovery Corporation will provide environmentally responsible and economically sound waste management options to meet community needs using public and private systems, programs, and facilities."

Here's more information about RIRRC

And here's a link to a plastic bag recycling program they run called RESTORE

They take all plastic bags and send them to a plant that re-uses the bags in multiple ways:

What will it come back as?

Some return as brand new bags with renewed purpose. Others are melted down and combined with reclaimed wood. The result is a versatile, nontoxic, composite product that can found at lumberyards and Home Depots across the U.S. - used for everything from playgrounds and park benches to marina docks.

Fact: A 2x6 composite board that is 16 ft. long uses approximately 2,250 plastic bags.

Don't Need a Bag

2007-06-13T09:56:00.000-07:00

More on this topic at a later date. But here's a few facts to consider:

1) The first piece of plastic ever created is still on this planet. Plastic does not break down and incineration is hardly an eco-friendly option.

2) Plastic bags are handed out with insane frequency to wrap up the smallest of items. Buy a toothpaste, a candy bar, a pack of gum, most stores will try to give you a plastic bag. Or a paper bag.

If you can handle it, and I'm guessing you can, try to say "No Bag, Thanks." See if you can say it once a week. How about twice a week? Put your gum in your pocket -- that's where it's going anyway, right?

Do you have a bag you can bring into a store for bigger items? Use it. (I personally find this one to be a bit of a challenge. I keep having to leave my cart in the store and then run out to the car for my re-usable bag!)

Want to get really freaked out about plastic bags? Check out this article about a huge mass of plastic trash, fishing lines, dead fish, etc that has come together in the Pacific Ocean north of Hawaii:

Pacific Garbage Dump

Here's some eye-opening, first-person detail on the Great Pacific Garbage Patch from Charles Moore of the Santa Barbara News-Press, reprinted by Mindfully.org

"Plastics are now virtually everywhere in our modern society. We drink out of them, eat off of them, sit on them - even drive in them. They're durable, lightweight, cheap and can be made into virtually anything But it is these useful properties of plastics that make them so harmful when they end up in the environment

If plastic doesn't biodegrade, what does it do? It photo-degrades - a process in which it is broken down by sunlight into smaller and smaller pieces, all of which are still plastic polymers, eventually becoming individual molecules of plastic, still too tough for anything to digest

For the last 50-odd years, every piece of plastic that has made it from our shores to the Pacific Ocean has been breaking down and accumulating in the central Pacific gyre. Oceanographers like Curtis Ebbesmeyer, the world's leading flotsam expert, refer to it as the great Pacific Garbage Patch.

The problem is that it is not a patch, it's the size of a continent, and it's filling up with floating plastic waste. My research has documented 6 pounds of plastic for every pound of plankton in this area."

The latest news on the Pacific Garbage Patch is that partially because it is near a new marine national monument in Hawaii, Congress has completed legislation to begin cleanup of this horrible mess. Read the story from the June 12 Christian Science Monitor here.

Karma and Your New Car

2007-06-13T08:57:00.001-07:00

I'm currently in the market to replace my 2000 Subaru Legacy (22 mpg) with a new car.

Criteria for the new car:
-- Fun to Drive
-- Good Gas Mileage
-- Convertible
-- Low impact to Environment
-- Reliable
-- Reasonable Cost of Ownership

There are only a few cars that meet this criteria. But I found a great way to evaluate cars at Cars.com:
Green Driver Criteria

They outright reccommend the Camry Hybrid and the Prius Hybrid -- but then they give you something more -- A way to specify exactly what you need in terms of mileage, body style, price point. It's all down the left hand side of the screen.

I still haven't made up my mind yet, but this page is really helpful.

Climate Counts -- How Consumer Brands impact Climate

2007-06-13T07:03:00.000-07:00

Here's a great story from APM's Marketplace show on Climate Counts, the organization started by Stonyfield Farms CEO Gary Hirshberg to track the impact of major consumer brands on our Climate.

Here's the URL for Climate Counts: http://www.climatecounts.org

No Bag Thanks

2007-06-13T06:12:00.000-07:00

In 2007, making conscious decisions as consumers is critical to the long term viability of our planet. These decisions can be about issues as diverse as:

-- What Stocks to buy.
-- Which Gas Station to use to fill your tank?
-- What Car to Buy?
-- Local produce or whatever hits your grocer's shelves?
-- Plastic Bag or re-usable bag?

There are many more choices, more than I am likely to come up with on my own. The purpose of this Blog will be to create a forum for review of these choices and the potential impact. I hope to get feedback on what topics to explore.

-- Peter