On May 1st 2008 the two started off on their journey just outside of El Paso, the two cavemen are now just outside of Denver. At their current pace it looks like they will complete their journey sometime about mid November. The terrible twosome carry cell phones which they use to update their blog, and chart their progress via GPS whenever they get a signal.

Cookie and Paul are making the trek to raise money for Cystic Fibrosis, you can donate money securely to their cause here. These guys receive my stamp of approval, what they are doing is the coolest thing since sliced bread, keep it up!

The nice folks over at hacknmod.com have came up with an easy 3 step tutorial to convert your gas powered lawn mower to a solar powered one. They boost the project will save you cash, while letting you feel good about mowing your lawn.

The tutorial is divided into 3 steps

1. Remove the engine from your gas powered mower.
2. Charge the electric engine with a solar panel.
3. Put it all together.

A comprehensive tutorial can be found here.

Considering the ever increasing price of gasoline, releasing this crude oil into the market to be refined would come as a relief to consumers. The flip side of course is currently the US is capable of refining only about 2 million barrels per day total, far from the current 12 million barrels we devour each day. Since we have not built any new refineries for the past 25 years within US boundaries refining the oil would be a major obstacle to overcome.

Traditional economic thought would insist that the rising price of gas should lure entrepreneurial spirits to invest in the research and development of new transportation technologies to cash in on their piece of the pie. And in someways this theoretical model is met with empirical (real world) data. Companies like Tesla Motors have successfully developed viable vehicles that run entirely on electric power. So why aren’t we seeing more of these vehicles on the road? Well for one Tesla has produced a very limited number of automobiles, and their vehicles come at a high price, somewhere to the tune of $100k. Placing them far out of the reach of almost all Americans.

Companies like Tesla have proved the technology to build, and develop a viable electric car is there. Heck GM proved the technology was there back in the mid 90’s when they first rolled out the EV1. If your not already familiar with the GM EV1 it was a production vehicle which ran solely on electrical power. The vehicle was developed in response to California’s zero emissions mandate or ZEV. The mandate specified that by the year 2003 10% of all new vehicles sold within the state of California must be ZEV compliant vehicles. So much for that mandate eh? Well long story GM developed the EV1, and eventually after some under the table negotiations with big oil agreed to pull the EV1 from production. The thing is not only did GM pull the EV1 from productions, they literally bought back every vehicles from consumers for copious amounts of cold hard cash. Sound suspicious? Ya I would say so, if your not already familiar with all of this I suggest you check out the movie “Who Killed The Electric Car” which traces the birth and subsequent death of the electric automobile.

The thing is there are already a lot of electric cars out there. These two Canadians built one for a measly $672 dollars using an old electric motor from a fork lift. A simple search on Google for “how to build an electric car” yields plenty of results that intricately detail all the steps needed to convert your vehicle to plug and play. After reading this how stuff works tutorial I’m feeling motivated enough to try this out myself.

To simplify the process you really just take the old internal combustion engine out of your donor vehicle, and replace it with an electrical motor powered by batteries. Simple enough right? OK so maybe its not quite that easy but the point here is viable electrical alternatives do exist all around us. The only reasons these green alternatives are not commonplace on our streets is purely economic. Big oil has literally billions and billions of gallons of crude oil left to drill. Thus the potential loss for big oil should consumers chose to buy electric over gas powered vehicles is huge. Say Big oil stands to lose 60.5 billion dollars per year on an international level should the electric car take off, an economically rational big oil firm would then invest 60.4999 billion dollars per year to ensure the electric car never takes off. If you have checked out GM or Ford stock lately you know that would be way more then enough to convince the domestic automakers to hamper productions on all electric vehicles.

So lets face it, Detroit isn’t going to be the next epic-center of the green vehicle revolution. Well then who will be? You will be. And so will I. Everyday people converting their cars to electric vehicles is where this revolution will start. Soon enough shops will pop up that do it for you. Experienced internal combustion mechanics will soon enough devote their time to this conversion process. You can ignite the flame by converting your own vehicles today. Its easier then you think. We have the tools to do it, the only thing thats missing is action. So lets make it happen.

“It is true of dress in even a higher degree than of most other items of consumption, that people will undergo a very considerable degree of privation in the comforts or the necessaries of life in order to afford what is considered a decent amount of wasteful consumption; so that it is by no means an uncommon occurrence, in an inclement climate, for people to go ill clad in order to appear well dressed.” (The Theory of the Leisure Class, 1899).

Over one hundred years later individuals still strive to define themselves by the clothes they wear, and the materials they possess. The appeal of certain commercial brands may be largely due to their ability to enhance ones social status. Our fascination with commercial brands, and consumerism as a whole has placed American’s on a hedonistic treadmill of sorts. The speed the treadmill is ran at ultimately serves as an indicator of level of economic growth. The faster goods, and services are gobbled up by consumers the faster the economy should grow, theoretically.

Our hedonistic tendencies of course come at a price. Namely in the form of waste. Large landfills bigger then some states have sprouted up throughout the country. One of the main components of any landfill are foodstuffs. Food waste, food packaging, and beverage containers. In the picture above we see plastic water bottles that have been thrown away. Sadly in America every 5 minutes 2,000,0000 plastic water bottles are thrown away! The picture below should give you a visual of exactly what that looks like.

The picture above should serve as a visualization of consumerism. Devouring our natural resources at a staggering rate, and destroying our country side with massive land fills. civilizations thousands of years from now will view our landfills as mysterious tombs upon which we buried our material possessions. It may even seem to them that we worshiped gods such as Nike, and Aquafina.

Consumerism of course has its opponents, and their arguments of course should be stated here. One of their main arguments states consumerism allows individuals to define themselves, allowing brands to functions as a social signal to identify like-minded individuals. Its the belief of this author however that there are of course much better ways to identify like-minded individuals with whom you may be interested in establishing relationships with. Likewise the cost of consumerisms which is the using up of natural resources at a staggering pace, the depletion of our environment, and a significant contribution far outweigh the positive networking benefits consumerism fosters. More pro-consumerism arguments can be found here.

1. As a substitutes for sandbags. If you live in a place that receives a good amount of annual snowfall chances are you put sandbags in your trunk in the winter to gain better tractions.  The downside to sandbags are they can bust open creating a mess, plus they are really heavy.  Why not simply pour sand in your old plastic bottles, not to mention this way when you get stuck in the snow you can simply unscrew the cap on the bottle and dump the sand around your tires, and away you go!
2. As a Water balloon filler. Instead of dropping five bucks on a water balloon filler, simply pour some water in your old bottles, place the water balloon over the spout and tip over the bottle with the balloon still attached to fill your ballon.
3. Use a Piggy bank. Who doesn’t need to save money these days.  Instead of dropping your hard earned dollars on a piggy bank why not create a green piggy bank by refilling your old plastic bottles with your change.  BTW you may have to cut off a portion of the top to be able to fit quarters, and nickels down the hole.
4. Use as ice packs. Fill your bottle about 2/3’s of the way up (water expands when it freezes) then place in the fridge.  Then when you need an ice pack just grab your old bottle.  Plus once the ice melts you could even drink the water.
5. As a funnel. Whether your working on your car or mixing together those pancakes made with hemp, everyone has a need for a funnel.  Just cut the top off your bottle and you’ve got one!

Got your own unique uses for old plastic water bottles?  Tell us about it!  You can also check out this site for more cool ways to reuse your old water bottles.  Also please note the jury still seems to be out regarding whether its a good idea or not to reuse plastic water bottles.

In case you haven’t noticed sustainability is in.  If you want your business to sustain the test of time, make sure it goes green!  Below I’ve compiled 5 simple questions any business should ask.  By greening your business you let your customers know you care about the environment, and thus their general welfare.  Besides as a business don’t you have a social responsibility to see through that the next generation can enjoy your products/services just as much as this past generation has?  When it comes down to it, make eco-concious decisions as a business owner, and your customers will reward you, you’ll feel good about yourself, and your employees will be happy to work for someone who takes on a degree of social responsibility.

To Follow through on this plan call a round table meeting together with all your employees, and don’t leave till you have set-up a serious green plan.  You can do it!

1. Ask What can we Reduce/Reuse/Recycle? This one is pretty simple you can easily set-up an aluminum can recycling bin in your break room.  While your at it set up bins for recycling your old electronic gadgets such as cell phones, and clothes.  You can give the gadgets to these folks, and give your clothes to goodwill for a tax write-off.
2. What can be bought locally? Buying products that are produced, and made locally is good the local economy as well the environment because less energy is used to transport those products.  Check out this post for more ideas on how you go green by going local.
3. How can we conserve energy? Turn off the lights!  Always make sure the lights are turned off if no one is in the room.  Likewise encourage everyone to shut-off their computer at the end of the day instead of letting it enter sleep-mode.
4. What eco-friendly materials can we start using? Whether its recycled paper, or recycled shipping supplies eco-friendly alternatives do exist.  As with all business decisions the price of the substituted green good should be taken into account but don’t underestimate the positive effects on your business by switching to eco-friendly materials.
5. What can we do to encourage eco-friendly activity? There are plenty of things you can do to encourage your employees to make eco-conscious decisions.  Perhaps set-up showers at your office to allow employees to bike to work.  Likewise you could always offer monetary incentives for purchasing a hybrid vehicle.  Drop us some comments on this one to let us know unique ways you have greenned your business.

How to Write a Great Post

Your post should be anywhere between 500-1500 words, and be environmentally related.  The post of course should be ORIGINAL, free of grammatical errors, and concise.  From there its really up to you what to write about!  Oh yah feel free to make a video post as well.  If you have any trouble utilizing my back-end interface (the interface is Wordpress try googling your problem + wordpress if you do have any problems) just let me know, and I’ll be glad to help ya out.  One more thing, any spam will be deleted so don’t try it.

A Prize!

Oh yah I almost forgot to mention this, if anyone writes a post that receives over 25,000 hits I’ll glady supply them $25 in their paypal account (I could also send ya a money order if you prefer).  Alright so get out there, take over my site, please don’t break anything while your at it, and good luck!

P.S. You can login into your account right from the home page.  Just click on log-in at the bottom of the right hand side.

And no, I’m not going to get all Cheech and Chong on you. Unfortunately, hemp has a certain stigma attached to it because of its connotation with marijuana. So I’m here to set things straight. First off Hemp has more environmentally friendly, and practical uses than you’re probably not aware of that have absolutely nothing to do with getting high (sorry to disappoint those of you looking for new pot recipes to add to your collection!). Second, hemp is completely organic, meaning it comes from a plant from the earth, and isn’t manufactured with harsh chemicals that could potentially harm you or our planet. Besides being a kick ass ingredient in pancakes, check out the rest of the unique uses for hemp.

Make Hemp Pancakes

Here’s a recipe for hemp pancakes via: nutiva.com that’s sure to impress even anti-hempsters.

Gather the Following Ingredients:

1 cup Bob’s Red Mill 10 Grain Stone ground or Arrowhead Pancake and Waffle Mix

1/2 cup toasted shelled hempseeds

1 egg (or 1/2 cup yogurt)

1 tablespoon hemp oil

1 cup water (or soy milk)

Mix As Follows:

Grind seeds, blend with the mix, add egg or yogurt and oil, add water or milk for desired consistency, and cook. Top with your favorite topping or fill with your favorite filling.

(You can find dozens more here )

The Perfect Snack

Hemp Seeds: Looking for a snack that won’t make you hate yourself? Try hemp seeds. They are super good for you, taste similar to sunflower seeds, and can be snacked on whenever or tossed into some baked goods.

Clothes Made From Hemp

You can purchase hemp clothes that are not only sharp looking, but guaranteed to be all natural. You’ll be looking your sexiest with the assurance that the products were made with eco-friendly materials. Check out these sites for some snazzy threads:

Hemp As Shampoo

Hemp shampoo contains fatty acids not usually found in your typical shampoos that work to moisturize like nothing you’ve ever experienced! Try this stuff!

Hemp For Your Skin

Look for hemp seed oil in your face wash or moisturizer. The oil contains fatty acids and antioxidants that will prevent inflammation, and moisturize your dry skin. I like Hemp Sister’s moisturizer.

-Jillian Black

P.S. Jillian is a friend of mine from college (god it feels good to talk about college in the past tense). Hopefully she’ll let me put a picture of her up, and possibly an email link that way if you like her article you can contact her. In the mean time I’ll work on persuading Jill to write another awesome article for us, thanks Jill!

Update:  You can email Jill here.  And here is a picture of her!