Sincerely Sustainable

Electrolux Plans On Making Vacuum Cleaners From ‘Ocean Plastic’

The Author — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 14:04:27 +0000

If you don’t already know, there’s a lot of garbage in the ocean…and I mean A LOT. The vast majority of the garbage is of course your friend and mine; plastic. The problem with plastic, or one of many problems with plastic, is the fact that much of it remains buoyant for quite sometime. When it does begin to degrade and break down, as it does so rapidly when exposed to UV, it simply becomes smaller and smaller. So small in fact that it can enter the food chain at an extremely small level. Small sea creatures eat the plastic, bigger creatures eat the small sea creatures, and…you see where this is going.

There are roughly a dozen or so huge plastic gyres (some the size of Texas) of predominately plastic garbage located throughout the world’s oceans and unfortunately they grow larger by the day. Having only been discovered relatively recently, plans to actually do something about the gyres, i.e. clean them up, have largely been left to hypothesis and speculation. Leave it to a vacuum cleaner maker to put a plan into action.

‘Vacuum up’ That Plastic!?

Home appliance maker Electrolux, better known for their vacuum cleaners, has launched a new campaign aimed at promoting its new environmentally-inspired endeavor called “Vac From The Sea“. Essentially their plan is to send collection teams out to these large plastic garbage patches located in the middle of the world’s oceans and collect plastic that will then be used to form the bodies of vacuum cleaners. Sounds easy right? Well, according to Electrolux’s press release regarding the venture, it will be. It’s as follows:

Diving, Fishing and Scavenging for Plastics
The plan is to make a limited number of vacuum cleaners from plastic debris harvested from the Pacific,- and the Indian Ocean, the Atlantic, the Mediterranean, and the Baltic and North Sea. On the blog www.electrolux.se/vacfromthesea and on Facebook, anyone interested in the issue will be able to follow the endeavor and find inspiration on how to get involved. The vacuum cleaners will be put on display to decision makers and consumers as part of spreading the word.
- The techniques for harvesting the plastic will vary depending on location – from diving after it to scooping it up from the waves. We will work together with volunteers and experts that live close or work with this problem, says Cecilia Nord.

Into the Cycle – Out of the Ocean
Electrolux has a natural stake in getting more plastic into the cycle and out of the ocean. Being one of the world’s greatest appliance manufacturers, Electrolux has a place in the homes of hundreds of millions people. “More recycling directly translates into more sustainable appliances and homes. Our engineers have managed to get our green range vacuum cleaners up to 70 percent recycled plastic but our ultimate vision is of course 100 percent, and for all ranges”, says Jonas Magnusson, Product Marketing Manager at Electrolux. The main barrier to taking the next step and increase the share of recycled plastic in home appliances is the uncertain supply of recycled raw material. Much research and progress is currently being done by the recycling industry. However, to fix the imbalance in supply and demand and get the cycle working, overall consumer perception must change and barriers to recycling become lower. “This issue is much too important to leave to politicians. Companies, consumers and politicians are equally accountable for the situation. Since our company delivers appliances to millions of homes, we have an opportunity to raise awareness and affect consumer decisions”, says Cecilia Nord.

The Good: The first real major effort to collect and use plastic from the almost inconceivably large plastic ocean gyres. Will call attention to a largely ignored environmental travesty; that continues to grow worse by the day.

The Bad: More of a marketing gimmick and symbolic gesture than a real attempt to clean up the garbage patches.

The Bottom-Line: Is the energy, money, and emissions really worth creating a largely symbolic limited-run product that is going to just end up back in the environment again?

OUR SUSTAINABILITY RATING:

YOUR SUSTAINABILITY RATING:

Rating: 3.0/5 (2 votes cast)

ICFF 2010 Highlights: D.E. Sellers’ Humanitarian eDesk

The Author — Tue, 18 May 2010 22:16:33 +0000

First off, sorry to all of my readers for the long hiatus in posts. Work has been hectic lately and time has been limited. Now, on to the post!

There are all manner of humanitarian-leaning ideas, concepts, products, or sometimes outright gimmicks out there put forth by industrial designers, graphic designers, and architects alike as possible solutions to certain crises and/or problems throughout the world, but it is rare that something comes along that actually serves a necessary function and is able to do so globally and affordably. The eDesk by D.E. Sellers showcased at this year’s International Contemporary Furniture Fair (ICFF) appears to be one of those exceptions.

A Texas native, D.E. Sellers is a working architect who specializes in fabrication. Over the past few years he has been making and selling furniture that utilizes his unique technique to create modern contemporary furniture from pre-fabricated (laser-cut) user-assembled parts. As of late, D.E. has been focusing his efforts on more humanitarian-based products; namely the eDesk.

Overlooked Component Of Disaster Relief

Following the earthquake in Haiti several months ago, D.E. decided it was time to further develop his eDesk idea. The eDesk is a designers approach to helping the developing world and/or disaster stricken regions still attain an education by providing a rapidly deployable and easily assembled student chair/desk. It is essentially a flat piece of varnished plywood with component pieces laser cut out of it that can be popped out and assembled without the need for written instructions. Because there are instructional images etched directly onto the eDesk, anyone from any country can assemble it in minutes and thanks to globally educational images and formulas, which are also etched onto the top of the desk, students’ first lesson is already written. Since it comes in 3 different sizes (small, medium and large), the eDesk is able to accommodate children from as young as 3 years old all the way up to full sized adults.

Sustainably Designed

The advantages of this product from an environmental standpoint are obvious: Fast high-volume/less expensive shipping, lower carbon-emissions for transport/manufacture when compared to what a standard desk and chairs would emit, almost zero-waste of material during the fabrication process, and the eDesk itself can be recycled or biodegrade at the end of its lifecycle. Also, it has been designed to function only as the complete unit. This means that if the eDesk were ever stolen or misappropriated, the material could not be used for anything else i.e. just a chair or just a table.

Strength In A Small Package

My first question to him was “How strong is it?”. Since personal experience is the best answer to any question, he invited me to sit in the eDesk. At 6′ 4″ 190 pounds I was a little wary of both fitting in the desk and having it hold up. It did both quite easily. In fact, I even tried wiggling around to see if it would move around laterally; it didn’t. All that strength from an extremely light package (~15lbs) is impressive, but even more so by the fact that it uses no connectors or hardware to assemble. Disassembled the eDesk is a mere 31.5″ wide and 49″ long. Its fully assembled profile (for the large desk) is even smaller at 31.5″ long, 16.2″ wide, and 29.8″ tall.

D.E. is currently on the fourth prototype and is actively seeking out the interest of non-governmental organizations throughout the world to help deploy the eDesk to places around the globe who need it most. And because the design can be transferred to anyone in the world with a CNC machine, the eDesk can be made locally where it is needed out of a variety of geographically available materials. D.E. plans on making the eDesk plans open source once he finalizes the design. Good things….good things.

This is the first of many ICFF posts…stay tuned.

The Good: A product that serves an important need, is environmentally and financially practical, can be understood and assembled by anyone in the world, and can be made anywhere in the world out of several different materials.

The Bad: Currently the eDesk is still looking for large-scale distribution.

The Bottom-Line: A great piece of intuitive, practical, and functional design that is able to fulfill a real need without great cost; both economically and environmentally.

OUR SUSTAINABILITY RATING:

YOUR SUSTAINABILITY RATING:

Rating: 4.0/5 (1 vote cast)

Consumer Reports ‘Eco Label Report Cards’ Help Decipher Authenticity Of Green Claims/Labels

The Author — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 18:52:54 +0000

If you’re one of a growing number of people who are finally paying attention to where your food comes from, how’s made/raised, and what it contains then congratulations on becoming a healthier person and better steward of your environment. Now it’s time to take all you thought you knew about the labeling you’ve just come to recognize and throw it out the window. Well…at least some of it.

Green Vs. Greenwash

If you’re like me, you may often wonder if those “hormone-free” eggs you’re buying or that “antibiotic-free” milk you’re drinking is really what it claims to be. Unfortunately, as is the case with any claim made by companies in the marketplace, these labels and statements may either be true, somewhat true, or complete BS. Not surprisingly, the latter is more often the case where there is no third-party certification body backing up ‘eco’ or sustainability claims. And even when there is, many of those may require further scrutiny themselves as the marketplace becomes awash in ‘green’ labeling and certification bodies..

Thankfully for us the good folks over at greenerchoices.org, a subsidiary site of Consumer Reports, have come up with a fairly comprehensive search engine that can fact-check most green/eco certifications, labels, and claims for everything from food products to cosmetics.

The chart below is is one generated for different certification labels and claims associated with meat products, but is likely the same for any type of animal-related food product, i.e. eggs, milk, cheese, etc. Take a second to look it over. It certainly isn’t the last word on every certification listed. For instance, Aurora Certified Organic was recently embroiled in controversy involving organic certifications for milk that didn’t meet the standards for organic certifications.

Nevertheless, it’s a fairly good resource to have (I think) and I’m thinking of making a downloadable PDF of this chart for people to put on their iPhones, or other PDF-capable phones, so that when you’re out and about you’ll have this as a reference. Let me know if you guys would like that in the comments and I’l work on making it happen.

Enormous Granite Batteries May Make Renewable Energy More Reliable/Efficient

The Author — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 16:00:38 +0000

As has been discussed several times on this blog, one of the biggest drawbacks of renewable energy is its inherent variability and lack of means to effectively store the energy it produces to be used during times of low/zero production output. Although there are a number of different concepts, both real-world implemented and hypothetical, aimed at addressing this issue (molten salt, hydrogen plant tie-in, fly-wheels, pumped hydro, various types of batteries, etc.), most, if not all, involve expensive systems/materials that either are not practical for all sites and/or are cost prohibitive when compared to their intended financial benefit.

A team of researchers from Cambridge, England may have something old and something new to bring to the ‘renewable energy storage equation’. The “something old” is the idea of using a battery to store renewable energy. The “something new” is what that said ‘battery’ is comprised of and the mechanism by which it functions.

The granite battery actually acts as a heat storage device that works in conjunction with a reversible engine/heat pump. The idea is to convert the energy produced by intermittent production sources, such as solar and wind, into heat that can then be stored and converted back into electricity at a constant and reliable rate. That’s the laymen version; here is how it really works (from an engineering standpoint). From Isentropic’s website (the company who invented the technology):

Renewables such as wind and solar generate power intermittently. Once they become a significant part of the total generation mix, storage will be required to manage their impact of the grid. Today storage is used to balance supply and demand and reduce the need to use inefficient power plants to meet peak demand.

Pumped hydro accounts for 99% of ALL large-scale electricity storage. Pumping water from a lower to a higher elevation is to date the most practical way to store large amounts of energy that can then be released during periods of high, or peak, demand. However, because pumped hydro needs to be built in very large sizes and at specific geographical locations, it is severely limited by a lack of suitable sites.

Isentropic has designed a system that uses the Isentropic heat pump to store electricity in thermal form (“Pumped Heat”). The storage comprises two large silos of crushed gravel, one hot (500C) and one cold (-150C). Electrical power is input to the machine, which compresses/expands air to (+500C) on the hot side and (-150C) on the cold side. The air is passed through the two piles of gravel where it gives up its heat/cold to the gravel. In order to regenerate the electricity, the cycle is simply reversed. The temperature difference is used to run the Isentropic machine as a heat engine.

The round trip efficiency is over 72% – 80%. Because gravel is such a cheap and readily available material, the cost per kWh can be kept very low – $55/kWh – and $10/kWh at scale.

Size comparison with hydro pumping site. 1/300 less space needed.

Jonathan Howe, founder of Isentropic, says that the energy in the hot silo (which is insulated) can easily be stored for extended periods of time – by his calculations, a silo that stood 50m tall and was 50m in diameter would lose only half of its energy through its walls if left alone for three years. If only buildings were that well insulated.

What Isentropic doesn’t mention is the fact that the “air” mentioned in it’s process is actually pressurized Argon, which is not nearly as cheap or abundant.

Isentropic is currently working with an unnamed “large utility company” in the UK to develop a 100kW facility.

The Good: A possibly less-expensive and smaller footprint method of storing and ‘grid-feeding’ renewable energy.

The Bad: The efficiency claims given are best case percentages in entirely hypothetical circumstances. In reality, a significant portion of the system efficiency would be lost to real-world factors and processes. Distilled argon isn’t exactly plentiful, cheap, or emission-free to produce.

The Bottom-Line: A good new perspective in the renewable energy storing debate that, like others, has some key issues to still work out.

OUR SUSTAINABILITY RATING:

YOUR SUSTAINABILITY RATING:

Rating: 5.0/5 (1 vote cast)

‘Water Battery’ For Plants Could Bring Forests And Crops To Unlikely Places

The Author — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 15:52:06 +0000

Everyone knows you can grow things in the desert. In fact, a fair percentage of agriculture in the western part of the U.S. is grown in what are classified as desert environments. But the methodology employed to achieve this seemingly ‘unnatural’ process is not only deeply flawed, but also excruciatingly inefficient.

The Current Water Costs Of Growing Things Where They Shouldn’t Be Growing

Almost all irrigation used to grow any plant life, be it crops, grass, trees, or otherwise, comes from fresh groundwater sources. That’s right. In a world where roughly 1 out of every 5 people don’t have access to clean drinking water, we in the West are pouring up to 70% of our supply on our lawns and crops grown in regions that would otherwise not support such growth naturally. And though this type of irrigation works, it does so at the cost of efficient use of this precious resource due to the fact that most forms of irrigation lose the majority of their water to evaporation.

While plant selection is important when it comes to choosing appropriate flora for a particular climate zone, it doesn’t mean that the only thing that will grow in hot arid environments are cacti. In fact, many different types of plants could grow in places you might not expect as long as they get a helping hand to get started. You see moisture exists; even in deserts. The trick is having a plant with a deep enough root system, and keeping it alive long enough, to reach it.

A ‘Water Battery’ For Plants

Dutch inventor Pieter Hoff has developed such a ‘helping hand’ for desert growth of plants in the form of what many have coined as a ‘water battery’ for trees. After retiring from the the lily and tulip export business in 2003, Mr. Hoff began his own company AquaPro where he developed the Groasis Waterboxx.

At roughly the size of a tire, the Waterboxx is a polypropylene structure designed to capture and store moisture (in an evaporation-proof chamber) from the air in the form of condensation or rainwater. A 20″ diameter hole in the center of the structure allows space for 1-3 seeds or seedlings to grow and provides a microclimate conducive to root development. The Waterboxx collection chamber, which holds approximately 4 gallons of water, slowly delivers water to the plant’s root system via a wick located at the bottom of the Waterboxx. The stored water also functions as a temperature regulator for the microclimate within the 20″ diameter opening and facilitates the condensation process occuring on the surface of the Waterboxx at night.

From Groasis’ website:

The Groasis waterboxx is an ‘intelligent water incubator’ that produces and captures water from the air through condensation and rain. The condensation is caused by artificial stimulation and the water is captured because of the design of the device, without using energy.

The Groasis waterboxx makes it possible to plant trees or bushes on rocks, on mountains, in gardens, in ashes of recently burned woods, eroded areas or deserts or any other place, without the help of irrigation with a 100% planting result. In moderate climates the Groasis waterboxx causes 15 to 30% faster growth and thus more biomass. The Groasis waterboxx offers the possibility to make more money with trees or bushes through food, fruit, nuts, wood, extracts, medicines, oils and many other economically interesting products.

Building On The Poop Principle

The idea and design of the Waterboxx largely came from poop. Yes; poop. The majority of seeds naturally sown around the world are not done so by simply falling on the ground and sprouting. No, most of what you see swaying in the breeze across the globe is the result of birds. More specifically, a bird’s poop and the plant seed contained within it. Nature designs seeds with a protective ’sacrificial coating’ to survive their journey through our feathered friends’ digestive tracts. When a seed finally is ‘dropped’ by a bird, it not only is in its ideal germination state, i.e. no protective coating, but it also has its own ideal mini-microclimate of protection, fertilization, and moisture courtesy of the evapration-proof coating of dried poop on top of it. The latter natural process is what the Waterboxx seeks to emulate (minus the fecal matter).

Does It Work?

As the saying goes, the proof is in the pudding; and the Waterboxx’s pudding is looking damn good. From the NY Times:

Mr. Hoff has recently concluded a three-year test of the Groasis Waterboxx in the Sahara desert in Morocco, an area that gets only a few inches of rainfall each year. Almost 90 percent of the trees planted using the Groasis Waterboxx survived after it was removed. A test group of trees planted without the box, but watered once a week, produced the opposite result: only 10 percent survived.

This year, Mr. Hoff said he will be conducting more trials across eight countries and some 25 sites, including California wine country and Joshua Tree National Park. Using a grant from the Dutch government, he has also developed a biopolymer version of the box that will decompose over time, releasing nutrients into the soil as it biodegrades. His long-term business model is to provide a nonexclusive, free license to anyone who wants to manufacture and distribute the Groasis Waterbox, while he plans to ask only for a small royalty per box.

So if you’re growing trees in the Sahara, I think you’re invention is pretty much a success. The applications for the Waterboxx are numerous and the possibility such a device might have in actually changing local climates, soil conditions, rainfall patterns, etc. is extremely hopeful and encouraging.

The Good: A simple ‘hands-off’ device that utilizes naturally occurring moisture to facilitate the growth of plants in arid environments and encourage deep root system development that will keep the plants alive once the Waterboxx is removed.

The Bad: Large scale testing is just beginning. Only works with plants whose developed root systems are deep enough to reach naturally occurring ground moisture.

The Bottom-Line: The applications for the Groasis Waterboxx are numerous and the possibility such a device might have in actually changing local climates, soil conditions, rainfall patterns, etc. is extremely hopeful and encouraging.

OUR SUSTAINABILITY RATING:

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Rating: 0.0/5 (0 votes cast)

McDonald’s Board Votes “No” To Cage-Free Eggs

The Author — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 13:12:21 +0000

Not that this should come as a surprise to anyone, but the global obesity-creating juggernaut that is McDonald’s recently voted against a proposal to require 5% of its eggs come from ‘cage-free’ hens. According to McDonald’s, the “science isn’t in” on the benefits of cage-free eggs and that they feel 72 square inches per hen in their “battery cages” is more than enough room.

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Whole Foods Puts A Cork In It; And By “It” I Mean Massive Recycling Program

The Author — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 13:49:15 +0000

People love to slam Whole Foods for being too expensive, having a looney CEO, not doing enough on this and that environmental front, etc., but at the end of the day, name another large scale grocery store chain even coming close to what Whole Foods does for the environment, organic local farmers, the community, animal rights, etc. Right; moving on.

Cork 101

Cork is a very unique natural material and is one of the few natural resources humans have exploited without decimating its source in the process. That’s because cork is harvested by hand every 9 to 12 years, mainly from Mediterranean oak forests, without ever harming or cutting down a tree. The bark is sheered off the tree almost like a sheep is sheered for its wool. Because of the cork industry, many of these old growth forests contain some of the world’s highest levels of plant and animal biodiversity. They also have supported generations of people in the surrounding local communities who have worked as hand harvesters of cork. These are but only a few reasons why having natural cork in wine bottle is much more sustainable than synthetic plastic or aluminum corks and caps.

The Cork Re-Harvest

Whole Foods Market is partnering with Cork ReHarvest, which has led the cork recycling movement in North America, helping collect and recycle some of the 13 billion natural corks that are produced each year. People often forget that cork is a recyclable material, much more so than other things we try and recycle, and doesn’t belong in a landfill.

I know what you’re saying and yes; I said it to when I heard about the program. “Why spend burn more fuel and emit more greenhouse gases to recycle stupid little corks?” Well recent past-self, it’s probably because the program itself has little to no carbon footprint thanks to some clever transport arrangements that allow corks to hitch a ride on trucks heading to their end destination anyhow. “Oh, I see; cool!” Calm down recent-past self…I’ve got a post to finish.

What Will They Be

West of the Rockies, corks will be delivered to Western Pulp, where they will be turned into recyclable wine shippers containing 10 percent cork. In the Midwest, corks will be sent to Yemm & Hart, which produces cork floor tiles. And on the East Coast and in the UK, corks will be transported to Jelinek Cork Group, one of the oldest cork manufacturers in North America, where old corks will be made into post-consumer products.

“Our winery was the first to use cork certified by the Rainforest Alliance to Forest Stewardship Council standards so Cork ReHarvest was a logical evolution in our commitment to the sustainability of the cork forests,” said Jim Bernau, Founder/President of Willamette Valley Vineyards, a major partner in the recycling program “As stewards of the land, the health of our planet comes first. Additionally, wine made from naturally grown grapes tastes better.” So true Jim..so true.

The Good: Whole Foods has the capability and geographical locations to conceivably collect an enormous amount of corks. The recycling of corks is region specific, cutting down on transport cost and emissions. Transport of cork material has little to no carbon footprint as it hitches rides on trucks already bound for end destinations

The Bad: The ‘recycling program’ is essentially a downcycling of the collected corks which will eventually end up in a landfill anyhow…in another form. One must ask the question of whether the energy and emission expenditure to enact such a program is worth the supposed environmental benefit.

The Bottom-Line: Cork is sustainable in almost every sense of the word. Given its importance and benefit to the environment and communities, a recycling program that continues to extend these attributes seems like a good move.

OUR SUSTAINABILITY RATING:

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Rating: 3.0/5 (1 vote cast)

Top 5 Reasons Why Getting Rid Of Your Lawn Is One Of The ‘Greenest’ Things You Can Do.

The Author — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 13:36:21 +0000

I’ve never really done any ‘top 5′ lists or bulleted ‘green advice’ posts on this blog for two reasons: One; that’s never been the intended direction or purpose of Sincerely Sustainable. Two; they’re already like a thousand other blogs and websites out there that have every imaginable and ridiculous ‘how-to guide’ and top ten list to ‘green’ everything from your dog’s clothing to your sexual lubricants. While a lot of these type of posts and ‘lists’ tend to be simply filler for ‘green sites’ that pride themselves on quantity rather than quality, and you all know which ones I’m talking about, sometimes a few of them can be helpful to those seeking out information about a topic that tends to have the answers scattered about here and there. So given the time of year, I felt compelled to do one of my own.

Seeing as spring is now upon us, many of you in the U.S. are gassing up your mowers, buying your insect killer, spraying your chemical synthetic weed pre-emergants/killers and spreading pelletized artificial fertilizer all in preparation for the picturesque perfect green grass lawn. Three words of advice this year for anyone looking to become a better steward of their immediate environment and own personal health: Lose the lawn.

The Green Lawn Myth

Though many of us have been brought up to believe that the allure of a well manicured monoculture of grass is something to be desired and sought after in America, the truth is grass lawns are a lot like tanning. While many people may assume a person who is tanned or enjoys tanning is actually healthy, the fact remains that even mild sun exposure has been proven to increase skin cancer risks and accelerate the aging process of your skin. Similarly, the prevailing assumption that someone with a lush green/weed free lawn has a healthy yard is also almost always completely backwards. Here’s why.

The entire idea of a well manicured lush green grass lawn, as we’ve come to know it today, comes from England where cool season grasses like fescue grow quite well, and naturally in many places, in the cooler wet climate of the U.K. and surrounding areas. Many of these grasses are native to the region and have developed their own set of adaptive coping mechanisms over thousands of years to grow and thrive without the need of any human input or supplementation. The problem with translating this ‘English lawn’ aesthetic to every home with a yard in America should be quite clear; America isn’t England (in more ways than one).

Like maintaining a large city in the desert (Las Vegas), growing the green grass lawns we’ve all come to expect for our yards in most places in the U.S., and other countries, takes a lot of constant attention, effort, time, water, money, and energy. And though a lush green lawn is quite possible and routinely achieved by millions of homeowners season after season, the environmental and health costs far outweigh any benefit a lawn may bring. Here are the 5 reasons why getting rid of your lawn is one of the easiest, cheapest, healthiest and greenest things you can do for your home.

1. Lawn Chemicals Are Toxic To You And The Environment

Yes, despite what lawn care companies like TruGreen or lawn chemical manufactures like Monsanto (makers of RoundUp) or Ortho (a subsidiary of Scott’s) tell you, almost all lawn pesticides contain a vast array of toxic and carcinogenic chemicals. Here are a few fun facts courtesy of Beyond Pesticides (a 30 year old non-profit organization dedicated to educating and combating the misuse and overuse of pesticides) about what over 78 million people spray on their lawns and gardens every year :

Of 30 commonly used lawn pesticides 19 have studies pointing toward carcinogens, 13 are linked with birth defects, 21 with reproductive effects, 15 with neurotoxicity, 26 with liver or kidney damage, 27 are sensitizers and/or irritants, and 11 have the potential to disrupt the endocrine (hormonal) system.
Inert ingredients make up 95% of most lawn and garden pesticides and can be more toxic to humans than the active ingredient. Ethylene chloride, a nerve poison, is an example of an inert ingredient linked with damage to the heart, eyes, liver, and adrenal glands.
A study published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute finds home and garden pesticide use can increase the risk of childhood leukemia by almost seven times.
Children ages children ages 6-11 have higher levels of lawn chemicals in their blood than all other age categories. Biomonitoring studies find that pesticides pass from mother to child through umbilical cord blood and breast milk.
Studies find that dogs exposed to herbicide-treated lawns and gardens can double their chance of developing canine lymphoma and may increase the risk of bladder cancer in certain breeds by four to seven times.
Of 30 commonly used lawn pesticides: 16 are toxic to birds, 24 are toxic to fish and aquatic organisms, and 11 are deadly to bees.
Scientific studies find pesticide residues such as the weedkiller 2,4-D and the insecticide carbaryl inside homes, due to drift and track-in, where they contaminate air, dust, surfaces and carpets and expose children at levels ten times higher than preapplication levels.
Suburban lawns and gardens receive more pesticide applications per acre (3.2-9.8 lbs) than agriculture (2.7 lbs per acre on average).

The above are only a handful of about 50+ facts regarding the toxicity and known adverse health effects of lawn pesticide chemicals. And these facts aren’t compiled by some wacky cult-like fringe environmental movement (as I’m sure deniers would quickly want to claim). They’re from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA); an organization more infamously known, despite its charter, for underestimating and discounting the dangers of environmental pollutants and threats. The fully compiled list of facts and figures can be found here.

2. Lawns Consume Huge Amounts Of Water While Polluting What Remains

This heading is an understatement. Last year, 30% of municipal water usage in the eastern United States went to landscape irrigation; in the west it was 60%. It is estimated that a typical 1,000 sqft lawn requires over 10,000 gallons of water every summer. This is clean drinking water being poured onto lawns and landscapes in order to keep them alive in some areas of the country that are expected to run out of drinking water in the next decade. Not to mention the fact that all of that valuable drinking water washes all of the toxic chemicals listed above and synthetic fertilizers into our waterways that supply us with said drinking water. Landscape runoff is the single largest source of water pollution in the U.S. with 40-60% of all nitrogen applied to lawns ending up in our waterways.

3. Air And Noise Pollution

Though they are making a resurgence of sorts, the days of the manually powered push reel lawnmower have largely given way to noisy greenhouse gas emitting mowers; both riding and push alike. These belching behemoths are not only exceedingly noisy at 140db+ (as loud as a jet plane engine), but they also account for more than 5% of the nation’s air pollution each year.

Though small in size in comparison to an automobile, lawn maintenance equipment, particularly mowers, give off far more emissions than a car! A typical 3.5 horsepower gas mower emits about the same quantity of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in one hour as a late-model car driven 340 miles (550 km), according to the California Air Resources Board and produces four times as much CO2. Also,the EPA estimates that owners of such equipment spill 17 million gallons of fuel each year; which is more than the Exxon Valdez oil spill…every year.

4. Lawns Are Energy Intensive (And I Don’t Mean The Kind That Works Up A Sweat)

That perfect 2″ tall carpet of grass blades don’t just grow like that on their own, it takes a lot of mowers and, subsequently, a lot of gas to keep those lawns cut week after week (600 million gallons annually in the US alone). But aside from the direct energy expenditures from lawn equipment, the indirect energy consumption of lawns, via the processes used to make and transport all of those chemicals we dump on them, is far greater. The US uses over 70 million tons of artificial fertilizer every year on lawns alone. That’s more than the entire country of India uses annually on their agricultural food crops!

One of the most (over) used fertilizers is of course nitrogen. After all, we want that grass to grow as fast as possible so that we can cut it. Most artificially produced nitrogen is derived from converting molecular nitrogen in the air into ammonia; a process known as the Haber-Bosch process. This process is incredibly energy intensive (much like the manufacture of cement) requiring 18,000 BTUs per pound of primary energy input, which often times comes from natural gas. Ammonia production around the globe accounts for 1% of the world’s annual energy consumption.

Let’s not forget either all of the energy needed for the transportation of all of these energy-intensive goodies from not only the manufacturers to the distributors, but the retail stores and end users as well. Though I have no solid total numbers associated with this particular aspect of lawn energy consumption, one can safely assume that the number associated with total annual transport energy usage for lawn related products is enormous.

5. Lawns Are Expensive And Labor Intensive

In a down economy, do you really need to be spending close to $1000 per year on something that is adverse to your health and your environment? That’s how much the average homeowner spends to maintain and irrigate an acre of grass every year in the U.S. The World Wildlife Foundation has estimated that U.S. homeowners spend a total of $27 billion per year on their lawns; ten times more than we spend on school textbooks.

Plus, do you really want to stand behind a noisy polluting mower every week during the summer inhaling exhaust, toxins, pollen, and getting sunburned all for the sake of a perfect lawn? Why?

The Takeaway

Though most of us all want one, the perfect lawn, on paper and broken down into its components, is completely non-sensisical and counterintuitive in almost every way. And though I only touched on a few of the major environmental and health detriments of lawns (leaving out discussions about their direct negative affect on climate change and reduction of biodiversity), there are a plethora of other sound and rational reasons why lawns simply make no sense in a modern day landscape.

There are a lot of great alternatives to lawns that are lower/zero maintenance, less expensive, less water intensive, require no chemicals or fertilizers, provide more biodiversity and animal habitat, and are, quite frankly, a lot more interesting to look at that a flat stretch of green. Try an edible landscape or a xeriscaped yard that uses native drought tolerant plants. There are lots of great ideas and advice on lawn alternatives on numerous websites. I like the Audubon Society’s ideas as well as some of the ideas over at Lesslawn.com, but there are many others out there to get ideas from.

If you insist on having a lawn, at least maintain it organically. There are a lot of store bought products now, as well as lawn services such as Vitalawn, that offer organic alternatives to many, if not most, of the chemically derived lawn maintenance products currently used and sold today. If you don’t want to do that, then select a turf that naturally crowds out weeds, requires less water, and is more adapt to poorer soil conditions. And if you don;t even want to do that, then just don’t spray or spread anything on it and live with a few weeds; most of which cannot tolerate frequent mowing anyhow.

The Good: Lawns control erosion and filter stormwater runoff to an extent.

The Bad: Pretty much everything aside from the two good things listed.

The Bottom-Line: The starting point for truly going green, and ensuring you and your family’s health, is getting rid of that stretch of green in your yard. Given the above, wouldn’t you rather spend your money on something else?

OUR SUSTAINABILITY RATING:

YOUR SUSTAINABILITY RATING:

Rating: 2.5/5 (2 votes cast)

Atmospheric CO2 Continues To Increase Rapidly, Despite Global Economic Downturn

The Author — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 14:19:45 +0000

Despite reduced industrial output and transport due to the slumping global economy, scientists in Norway are still measuring record high levels of atmospheric CO2. There are fears that the CO2 concentration is actually increasing rapidly.

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The Newest Tesla Is Rolling Out! (Probably Isn’t What You Were Expecting)

The Author — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 16:47:02 +0000

Though it may not have Tesla’s signature good looks and sleek styling on the outside, what’s powering this all-electric walk-in van (WIV) on the inside is signature Tesla. Actually, it’s one of the first projects resulting from the Daimler-Tesla deal, that had many skeptics saying was a waste of money, which has bore fruit. While the WIV is designed and largely developed by Freightliner, the Tesla Motors battery pack is what gives a heartbeat to this ubiquitous van.

From the Freightliner press release:

Freightliner Custom Chassis Corporation (FCCC) continues its legacy of engineering alternative-power products for the commercial vehicle industry with the introduction of its highly anticipated plug-in all-electric walk-in van (WIV) chassis. The new chassis model is the only one domestically engineered and the first in the industry to be completely all-electric (includes HVAC system) in North America.

The all-electric chassis, developed in partnership with Enova Systems (NYSE:ENA and AIM:ENV and ENVS), a leading developer and producer of electric and hybrid-electric drive system technologies for commercial vehicle OEMs, is built on the popular FCCC MT-45 WIV chassis platform.

On select delivery and service routes, studies show that customers will save up to $15,000 per vehicle annually compared with traditionally powered walk-in vans. The quiet operation of the all-electric chassis also makes for an enjoyable driver experience. This new chassis has a flat-leaf spring front and rear suspension, allowing for a smooth, solid ride that minimizes cargo shifts on uneven road surfaces.

The development program with Enova involved the engineering and integration of Enova’s 120kW all-electric drive system technology into the new MT-45 chassis. Ideal for the pickup and delivery market, the MT-45 chassis boasts a GVWR of 14,000 to 19,500 lbs. The durable steel straight-rail chassis frame reduces flex and bowing to minimize chassis stress while carrying heavy payloads.

The Good: A delivery van that is all-electric and can get the same job done as its smelly and polluting counterparts. Developed and manufactured in America.

The Bad: Initial cost of the vehicles is likely to be high and widespread outfitting in the delivery company fleets low.

The Bottom-Line: A hopeful first step toward a new fleet of cleaner delivery vehicles.

OUR SUSTAINABILITY RATING:

YOUR SUSTAINABILITY RATING:

Rating: 2.5/5 (2 votes cast)

Sincerely Sustainable

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The Takeaway

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