Attacking the Plastic Waste Epidemic Head On

Posted: October 6th, 2013 | Author: | Filed under: environmental challenges, Green Initiatives, Green Jobs, Green News Links, Green Recycling, Green Services, Green Technology, Our Green Directory | Tags: , , , , | No Comments »

We were very pleased to discover this organization called the Plastic Bank. 

It’s predicated on the idea that waste plastic, which is one of the world’s most daunting environmental challenges, possesses what they believe to be an “abundance of opportunity”.

Their site, www.plasticbank.org, lays out the argument in very lucid terms and you come away feeling that you are looking at a very well meaning and more importantly, well structured organization.  

We don’t have to tell you just how much plastic wastes is created in the world every single day. But it’s easily in the millions of tons. It’s something that concerns everyone and should. But the vision of this group is to create plastic exchanges all over the world and be able to sort and funnel this waste plastic to wherever it can be most easily re-purposed.

This is an admirable mission. And probably something that would be of great interest to a number of different types of recycling organizations.

The world is changing and it’s big ideas like this that helping that change be a change for the better.

 

 

 


Skyline Farms…A Green Initiative Worth Supporting

Posted: September 15th, 2013 | Author: | Filed under: Green Communities, Green Initiatives, Green News Links, Our Green Directory | Tags: , , , , , , , , , | No Comments »

Jacqueline Spicer of The Ink Tank® in Toronto is a good friend. Her son Jake and his business partner have recently launched a new ‘green’ project called Skyline Farms. Like any new project, Skyline Farms was started on a shoestring, but it’s a great idea that deserves support.

Skyline Farms is an environmentally and socially innovative urban farm model that is taking off like gangbusters, with lots of media and political attention–including Premier Kathleen Wynne. They are holding a launch event to celebrate the success of the pilot farm and to raise funds to grow Skyline Farms. 

Skyline Farms Release: 

Skyline Farms is proud to partner with the Toronto District School Board (TDSB), Toronto Education Workers (TEW) and Launch 180 in supporting Canada’s First Vertical Aeroponic Tower Garden Urban Farm and its growth to nourish schools and communities across the GTA.

On Thursday, October 10, 2013, we are celebrating the success of Skyline Farms’ successful pilot farm and a revolution in food culture that is changing the way youth connect to their food and their community.

The goal of the event is to raise funds to enable the pilot farm to achieve its full capacity: a full greenhouse with 30 Towers that will nourish not only the home school, but also other schools, restaurants and residents in the community. The year-round farms will serve as a state-of-the-art experiential learning facility for high school students aged 13-18, inspiring healthy food choices, introducing new sustainable technologies and preparing them for jobs in this growing sector. The larger goal is to establish Skyline Farms’ unique urban agriculture model at schools across the GTA.

I am writing you to help us grow this socially and sustainably innovative young company and our joint initiative to truly make a difference. Please support us by making either a monetary and/or product donation for our silent auction or to help us manage the event and make this a reality for our schools and communities. All monetary donations will go to the Toronto Foundation for Student Success (TFSS) for the Skyline Farms initiative and will receive a charitable receipt.

The pilot farm launched this spring at Thistletown Collegiate Institute (TCI) under an umbrella program called My Food My Way (MFMY), with a mandate to positively change the food culture in Toronto high schools, homes and communities through healthy food choices within educational institutions. Skyline Farms provides the culinary program at TCI with fresh, hyper-local, high nutrient natural produce and mentors students with hands-on experience on the farm.

Skyline Farms is a Toronto-based urban agriculture company that is “redefining locally grown”. Founded by two young entrepreneurs, graduates of Humber College’s Sustainable Energy and Green Building Program, it is committed to addresses the bigger sustainability picture: environmental, health, community and economic by changing our connections to food and to each other.

Join Skyline Farms, our partners, MFMY ambassadors, sustainability advocates, chefs, farmers, industry professionals, politicians, sponsors, student interns, locavores and supporters at The Great Hall. And please join me in supporting this unique initiative in whatever way you can. Help grow the 10 block diet and grow with us.



 


Are Biofuels Becoming Commercially Viable?

Posted: September 8th, 2013 | Author: | Filed under: BioFuels, Green Jobs, Green Technology | Tags: , , , , | No Comments »

The argument for and against biofuels in the United States has raged back and forth for years. On the one hand, there are people who shout that one should never turn food (typically corn) into fuel. On the other hand are people shouting back that oil won’t go on forever, and they need to find a viable solution now before it’s too late. However, both sides of the argument in America are quickly being ignored. The reason for that is because biofuels have outgrown the argument, and are quickly becoming commercial industries all over the world rather than just in the first world.

The Country’s Needs

Because of advances in technology it’s become possible to create biofuels out of a wider variety of products than just corn. Fuel additives can be made from palm oil, ethanol can be strained from used vegetation, and it’s possible to make fuel from hemp as well as from algae. These are just a handful of the potential solutions. While it might have been Europe and America that took the first, pioneering steps into the idea of biofuels, the rest of the world has left them behind while searching for their own solutions.

The result of this search is that different countries have adapted different solutions based on what is plentiful in their areas. For instance, countries in South America are focusing solutions on the natural products that come out of the rain forest, while companies in Indonesia are looking to the solutions that abundant supplies of palm oil might yield. There is no reason to have a single type of biofuel for the entire world when there are different solutions readily available on so many different countries’ doorsteps just waiting to be utilized.

Sustainability Is Key

When it comes to biofuels and whether or not they’re commercially viable, the keyword is sustainability. This is the reason that the arguments can get so polarized in the United States; so many people view biofuels as either food or fuel. If biofuel was being made from algae, or from witch grass, there would be no argument because the places those plants grow are not the places that one can grow food. Or, take it a step further, if biofuels could be made from something that was generally considered a waste product, then they would be embraced as a way to reduce waste and to recycle even more. Provided that enough of it can be made to meet the demand.

The viability of a biofuel as a solution depends on how much of it a population needs. In parts of Europe where it is more common to take public transportation or to walk, where the need for any fuel will be lower, then a given solution might be quite viable. That same solution may not work in America, where there are huge spaces and where transportation is largely an individual responsibility. However, just because a solution won’t work in one country doesn’t mean another can’t use it.

This post is contributed by Linda Bailey from housekeeping.org. She is a Texas-based writer who loves to write on the topics of housekeeping, green living, home décor, and more. She welcomes your comments which can be sent to b.lindahousekeeping@gmail.com

Thanks, Linda. 

If you would like to be a guest poster on Our Green Directory, send your proposed post, fully proofed, along with tags and any accompanying visuals in j-peg form to:  jim.murray@ourgreendirectory.com.  As long as it’s ‘green’ in nature and info or opinion that would be beneficial to people looking to evolve their personal lives or businesses through the use of eco-friendly products, services or advice, all posts are welcome. We do reserve the right to reject posts that do not fit these general parameters. Thanks, Jim 

 


Does Buying a Hybrid Car Make Sense?

Posted: August 7th, 2013 | Author: | Filed under: Green Services | Tags: , , | No Comments »

This is a cool blog post that came to me courtesy of a Cassie Davis. The argument here is is that the kind of car you drive should reflect your values. They point out that while it costs more to own a hybrid car, there are cost savings, and more importantly much lower carbon emissions. It’s a blog post from an organization called Autopawn.com, located in San Diego. If you’d like to find out more about these folks go to their web site or

http://www.autopawn.com/does-buying-a-hybrid-car-make-sense/

Have a green summer.

 


Composting: How to Do It and Why It Matters

Posted: July 26th, 2013 | Author: | Filed under: Composting, Green Communities, Green Home, Green Technology | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , | No Comments »

This is a guest blog from writer Chloe Trogden. Thanks Chloe

Image by Chris Breikss via Flickr

Every year, we generate about 250 million tons of trash in the United States, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. That’s a lot of waste, and it has to go somewhere. A lot of the chemicals and other toxins in our waste can end up in the ground and the water supply, contaminating our food or drinking sources. In addition, all that waste is contributing to the depletion of natural resources.

Recycling is one way that people have started to reduce the amount of waste produced, but it’s not enough. We need to recycle more, and we need to compost more. The EPA estimates that 87 million tons of material are recycled or composted each year. However, if each household and small business made a commitment to composting, that number could improve dramatically.

How to Compost at Home

Composting is very easy to do at home. You need to set up a compost bin in your yard, which you can either build yourself or buy from a home improvement store. The bin should be enclosed except for an open bottom and a removable top. You can build a pallet out of wood or an old trashcan.

You can put a wide variety of materials into your compost bin, but they should consist of a mix of “greens” and “browns.” Greens include kitchen scraps (except for meat), grass clippings, weeds, and other nitrogen-based materials. Browns include dead leaves, cardboard, newspaper, sticks, branches and other carbon-based materials. Simply put these materials into the bin and leave them to compost.

Keep your compost pile active by adding new materials regularly and turning it with a pitchfork or shovel about once a week. Water it about once a week, as well, to help activate the pile. If you keep the pile fed and activated, you should have a rich, nutrient-dense compost to add to your garden or your lawn in about three to four months.

How to Compost for Your Small Business

No matter what type of small business you have, you can also compost your waste. Traditional office environments will have plenty of paper materials to add to the compost bin, which can be supplemented by scraps from employees’ lunches and clippings from office plants. Businesses that serve food stuffs can supplement their steady supply of scraps with old receipts, waste paper from old files, and cardboard boxes from shipments.

By composting, businesses can help to reduce their carbon footprint and conserve resources. Cafes and restaurants can use the compost to grow a small garden to supplement their supply. Other businesses can donate the compost to local community gardens or farms, helping to give back to the community.

The Benefits of Composting for Everyone

Composting helps to recycle materials that might have otherwise ended up in the landfill, taking up precious land, requiring the use of natural resources and manpower to transport and process the waste, and potentially ending up contaminating the water supply. You can help to reduce your carbon footprint as an individual or as a business by composting what you can to turn that waste into something useful and to reduce your consumption of natural resources.

Individuals can also save money by composting. They can use it in place of fertilizer or garden soil, and they can grow bigger and more nutritious vegetables. Small businesses that are in the food industry can do the same.

Composting is a great way to reduce your waste and maybe to even save a little money. It’s easy to do, and it can make a big impact. Consider composting in your home or even your business to start reaping the benefits.

Bio:

Chloe Trogden is a seasoned financial aid writer who covers specific opportunities such as grants for minority students. Her leisure activities include camping, swimming and volunteer work.

 


Teaching Children About Renewable Energy Through Kits

Posted: July 2nd, 2013 | Author: | Filed under: Green Communities, Green Initiatives, Green Kids | Tags: , , , , , | No Comments »

This is a guest post by Liz Nelson from WhiteFence.com. She is a freelance writer and blogger from Houston. Questions and comments can be sent to: liznelson17 @ gmail.com.

While building your own solar array to provide enough power to your home to be 100-percent sustainable could cost tens of thousands of dollars, you don’t need a lot of money to teach children how it works and why it’s important. In fact, there are a lot of kits on the market that can serve semi-practical uses while demonstrating to the kids the mechanics of it all. Most of these kits cost less than $150 and can provide a wealth of knowledge for green sustainability.

1. Solar Arrays – The solar panel kit offered by HarborFreight.com produces 45 watts of power while providing the capabilities to power small 12-volt devices. It also supports the use of 5 volt USB devices such as phone charges and other USB electronics normally purchased for computers. This kit can be expanded on by combing more panels together while using a deep cycle battery and an inverter – both are sold separately. This is a fun and quick project for your children to assemble and can be utilized in many ways for practicality such as camping or tied into your home power needs. The kit itself is less than $250.

2. Wind Turbines – For less than $130, you could demonstrate to your children the power of wind turbines from KidWind.com. These wind turbines can be purchased as small single units to elaborate classroom kits, each turbine producing as much as two watts of power. These kits are tailored specifically for children and include easy to follow instructions in order to assemble them. Although they may not have the maximum production value of power as the solar kit listed above, they can easily be used to demonstrate how humans can harness natural sources of energy without consuming fuels to do so.

3. Small Solar Panels – For those who don’t want to spend a great deal of money teaching their children about solar power, LegacyStation.com offers an inexpensive kit to power several different projects. This 6-in-1 kit is under $20 and can demonstrate how to use solar power in order to create vehicles or propulsion systems in aircraft. These are easy to assemble and will provide a great deal of entertainment without the use of a single battery. Of course, there is nothing wrong with modification of any project should you want to demonstrate how solar arrays can power an object while charging a battery in order for the object to continue functionality when solar power is low. This would only require the use of a battery pack and rechargeable batteries that can be picked up from Radio Shack for less than $20.

4. Pressurized Power – While solar and wind are two of the most popular and practical methods for renewable energy sources, NationalGeographic.com has made an air and water power kit to teach children about how pressure can be used to power a variety of machines including vehicles. The kit allows children to build 15 different vehicles all powered by hydro-pneumo technologies. Pressurized air and water can be used as a form of propulsion, and the kit costs less than $50.

Getting your children excited about renewable energies now increases the knowledge they will have later. As technology develops to make these sources more efficient, preparing our future through educating our young will only increase the likelihood of total global sustainability in the decades to come. Your child may very well be the innovator that history remembers for delivering the perfected system – all from the kits they put together at 10 years old.

EDITOR’S NOTE: We are always receptive to having people create guest blogs for us, as the influx of opinions always makes for interesting reading.

 


Our Standards.

Posted: March 31st, 2013 | Author: | Filed under: Green Communities, Green Services, Our Green Standards | Tags: , , , , , | No Comments »

Depending on how many signups we have on our site, I usually sit down on Sunday morning and go through all the listing applicants, separate out the ones that do qualify for listing from those who don’t, assign categories and then post their listings on the site.

As we have grown (about 550 listings), I have started to notice that there are a lot of businesses registering on the site that really do comply with the standards we have set for ourselves. While our standards are not as stringent as most directories of this kind, they are still designed to give our visitors eco friendly options for the products and services they are looking for.

To that end I thought it would be good to restate the standards we have defined for Our Green Directory. This should make it pretty easy for you to understand whether or not you would be qualified for listing on our site. If you’re not, it could save you the hassle of filling out the listing information. If you are qualified, then by all means feel free to list your business.

For those listing their business, please keep in mind that the description of your business in a line listing is limited to 255 characters including spaces. If you enter a description longer than that, the site will cut it off and that will be frustrating to the people reading your listing.

Our Green Directory Standards

Because Our GreenDirectory is a showcase of Green products and services, we should define as what we mean by “Green”.

For purposes of being promoted on this site, a “Green” enterprise or service is one which has the goal of either supporting environmentalism or supporting the preservation of the environment and adheres to any of the following criteria:

Overall, “Green” enterprises are those with a clear commitment to improving the environment in any of a number of ways.

In the Product Area this includes recycled products, fair trade products, organic products or products which are providing either a dramatic reduction in gas emissions or the promotion of alternative low carbon energy sources.

In the Services Area, this includes companies with a defined commitment to energy use reduction, by implementing strict conservation measures, by increasing recycling and reuse and by reducing consumption and waste. This also includes those companies and consultants who teach other companies how to become “Green”.

If your company is described by any of the aforementioned criteria, you may feel free to apply for placement on this site.

NOTE: We evaluate applying companies on an individual basis and reserve the right to deny any listings.


State of Fear…A Revealing Perspective on The ‘Green’ Movement

Posted: February 24th, 2013 | Author: | Filed under: Green Books, Green Technology | Tags: , , , , , , , , , | No Comments »

I’m a big fan of the late Micheal Chrichton. Ever since the Andromeda strain he has worked very hard in his novels, articles and non-fiction books to unearth some sort of objective truths about a great deal of stuff that is reported in the media as objective news.

In State of Fear, which was published in 2004, his weapon of choice is the environmental movement. While he doesn’t not seek to discredit the movement in any way, he does point out that like any other force for change in society, it can be tainted by greed and corruption. And just because the environmental movement is well intentioned, that doesn’t mean that a lot of people involved with it are not ignorant about much of the science behind how the ecosystems of our planet really work.

An Adventure Novel With Footnotes

What’s really interesting about this book, beside the fact that it is a rollicking good adventure story with lots of amazing stuff that happens to the heroes, is the fact that the comments of antagonists, of which there are three or four, are all supported by scholarly and scientific research which is frequently footnoted. As you read through these footnotes you really get a clear picture of the main point that this novel is trying to make, which is that the powers that be who used to control people and keep them in a constant “State Of Fear” through intimidation about the Communist Scare, The Counter Culture Movement and Stock Market Instability are now using Media Control to achieve their ends.

Admittedly this all sounds quite dastardly, until you think about it for a while. And State of Fear makes you do just that.  It also goes a long why toward reinforcing the theory that the human race isn’t destroying the planet so much as it is destroying itself.

I know we are all trying to do the right thing by the environment: to conserve, to recycle and re-use as much as possible and that’s a good thing. But the minute you start to become ‘fanatical’ about it, or fanatical about anything else in life for that matter, rest assured that there is always someone out there who is willing to use that fanaticism for their own ends.

State of Fear was nowhere near being Micheal Crichton’s best selling novel…but it may very well have been his most realistic. These days it’s easy to find novels that are enjoyable to read. Novels that are enjoyable to read and actually make a strong point are few and far between. I recommend it very highly.

 

 


Soma Earth — An Architectural Firm With Its Green Roots Firmly Planted

Posted: February 16th, 2013 | Author: | Filed under: Green Communities, Green Home, Green Initiatives, Green Technology | Tags: , , , , , , , , , | No Comments »

One of the green organizations from whom we receive email promotions is called Soma Earth. We really like these guys because they seem to possess a purity of spirit and purpose that really exemplifies what the green movement is really all about.

This is how they describe themselves:

“We are a pioneering architectural firm specializing in deep sustainable living through designing buildings that are energy efficient, with a low carbon footprint and low embodied energy. We specialize in healthy, EMF-Free, non-toxic natural building environments as well as straw bale, straw clay and earth bag building systems. These guidelines paired with natural building materials creates a sustainable eco-architecture for new buildings, additions or renovation projects.”

Their portfolio, which you can view on their site, is filled with fascinating projects that are as innovate in their design as they are organic in their execution.
You can find out more about them at http://www.somaearth.com/

 

 


Making The World Brighter and Greener

Posted: February 5th, 2013 | Author: | Filed under: Green Initiatives, Green Products, Green Technology | Tags: , , | No Comments »

Three University of Toronto grads have invented a new light bulb that they call the NanoLight. The attached link to the Toronto Star article, by business reporter Curtis Rush explains how it works and what makes it such a great innovation. But it makes us proud here at OGD that local people are coming up with big green ideas. I hope it’s a huge success because nano technology is one of the new frontiers out there and the more positive attention that gets focused on it, the more innovations will flow.Check out the article and check back with this blog for news on other great great  innovations.

http://www.thestar.com/business/2013/02/01/toronto_grads_invent_worlds_most_energyefficient_light_bulb.html