Ok so I did exactly what I said I would do. I walked to the grocery store and back to get what I needed for breakfast and lunch. In fact I took the opportunity to get even more then just that.

The walk there took 18 minutes to be exact. So to today walk time to do this task was 36 minutes. Yes I’m good with maths! But seriously I think this was a great experience. I gave me the chance to take a breath of fresh air and I did a little bit of exercise on top of that. Specially on the way back with my back pack full of groceries weighing around 20 kilograms.

The next step will be too go to work by bike. But first I’ll have to sale my older road bike to buy another one. Why? because the one I have is impractical. I can’t put a rack on it or even fenders for that matter so when it rains, or even just after the rain when the roads are still very damped, I get dirty as hell.

On that note, what kind of bike is best for commuting to work?

But since September of 2011, almost every time I had to get something from the grocery store, I took my car. Now, for the past week I’ve been telling myself that I should start, or should I say return to my eco-coucious habits. Winter is almost out of the way in my part of Canada so I think it’s a perfect time for take action on my environmental footprint.

I also intend on going to bed earlier. This will most likely result in less electricity usage since light will be on for shorter periods of time.

So as I’m finishing writing this post, I’ll be walking to the grocery store to buy what I need for tomorrows breakfast and lunch. Let me know what you do to make a difference in your community in terms of your environmental footprint.

World water day was March 22th and to honor it, why not talk about bottled water and it’s impact on this planet. From the same people who brought you “The Story of Stuff” here is “The Story of Bottled Water”

The international observance of World Water Day is an initiative that grew out of the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) in Rio de Janeiro.

The United Nations General Assembly designated 22 March of each year as the World Day for Water by adopting a resolution.This world day for water was to be observed starting in 1993, in conformity with the recommendations of the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development contained in chapter 18 (Fresh Water Resources) of Agenda 21.

States were invited to devote the Day to implement the UN recommendations and set up concrete activities as deemed appropriate in the national context.

The Subcommittee welcomes the assistance offered by IRC International Water and Sanitation Centre to contribute to an information network centre in support of the observance of the Day by Governments, as required.

The project, which would have connected Tampa and Orlando with high-speed trains, was rejected by Florida Gov. Rick Scott, a Republican. He said he didn’t want to obligate the state to pay for what could be expensive operating costs for the line. However, the Florida Department of Transportation on Wednesday released a study showing the line connecting Tampa to Orlando would have had an operating surplus in 2015, its first year of operation.
-The Wall Street Journal

It that time of the year once again where people all over the world will come together to show their support for our planet. For one hour, everyone should switch off all lights and electronic devices. For one our, we should all contribute in this movement for change.

It’s not complicated. First you get with a bunch of your buddies and you choose one or more things you all like to do. Second, once you reach earth hour, you switch off all lights and electronic devices in your home and just light up some candles. Then enjoy the moment! It’s quite amazing the fun you can have without consuming energy. I particularly like the board game called Settlers of Catan. Check it out and maybe you can try it for yourself for this year’s earth hour. And if you’re not a big fan of board games, get someone to play some tunes on the acoustic guitar bonfire style!

This Earth Hour, let your support for clean energy shine by switching off your lights from 8:30 to 9:30 pm on Saturday, March 26. Pledge your support at www.EarthHourCanada.org

Here at talkgreen, we like to showcase eco friendly things that are “Rockin”. People don’t like boring stuff and boring doesn’t bring change. The car you see in the pictures is called the Vermot AG Veritas RS III Roadster Hybrid and it’s nothing close to boring. This little thing looks like it can literally rip pieces out of the pavement and it’s powered by a V10 delivering 507-horsepower. But wait a minute… this blog is supposed to be about the environment… and you’re probably asking yourself how can a big V10 be anywhere close to environmentally friendly. The answer lies in between the front axles.

You got it. A 105 kW motor mounted between the front axles gives the car an extra 93 HP and will bring you from 0 to 60 in no more than 3.1 seconds with a top speed of 205 mph.

A few more eco technical details… A Kinectic Energy Recovery System (KERS) is used to refill the batteries under braking and the electric motor powers the front wheels which makes the car all-wheel-drive. Vermot says the Veritas has a range of 31 miles on electric power alone.

An even greater facts is that the company is planning to introduce a fully electric version by 2013.

[Source] Translogic

Here at Talkgreen, we strongly believe in riding your bike as often as possible to get to your destinations. Since we are such big fans of city biking, we though it would be very appropriate to show you the following videos. It features riders competing in the Valparaíso Downhill in Chile. If you thought the downhill races in the mountains were crazy, just wait until you see this one.

More videos after the jump.

Although I was never a big fan of the car-sharing companies such as the one featured in this video, I’m more and more keen on the idea and I have to admit that if well organized and structured it can be very useful. This is specially true for people living in downtown urban areas. The main concern is accessibility. What I mean by this is if you have to walk half an hour to get to one of theses car, it takes away from the functionality aspect. On the other hand, if you can get to one in less then 5 or 10 minutes and you don’t need a car to go to work, then it becomes a plausible idea to not have a car and to use one from the car-sharing business whenever you need it.

As a guy who likes to go outside of the city on a regular basis for outdoors activities such as Snowboarding or cross-country skiing, owning a car is not even a question. But sharing one car for the household (girlfriend and I) and using one from the car-sharing company whenever the extra car is needed would be something to consider.

2,400 to 3,000 sheets per person per year. That’s how many sheets of paper towels we humans use every year. The impact… 3,000 tons of paper towel waste every day in the United-States alone. In more details, 17 trees are cut down and 20,000 gallons of water is consumed for every thousand tons. That is HUGE when you think about it. It’s only a little sheet of paper you say every time you rip one away from its roll.

To fight for this cause, PeopleTowels and Inhabitat came together and launched the Stop the Paper Towels! Design Contest. Basically, they are asking competitors to design something that will open people’s eyes on the situation and encourage the world to cut paper towel waste. The winner will have it’s design printed on a 9×9 inches 100% organic, Fair Trade cotton hand towel plus $500 and 10% royalties on every towel sold.

Click here for more details.

To add to what I posted earlier (A world made of glass presented by Corning), here is a real life preview of a transparent LCD display by Samsung. One thing that I should specify here is the LCD display is actually powered by nothing more than ambient light. With its 46-inch display, 1920 x 1080 resolution and ten-finger touchscreen capability, this is the coolest computer screen I have ever seen!

[Source] Engadget