Quantcast

The Green Life:


« February 2008 | Main | April 2008 »

24 posts from March 2008

March 28, 2008

Movie Friday -- Fridays at the Farm

Winter weather getting you down? Escape to the movies with one of our "Film Fridays" selections. Each week we'll feature a movie with environmentally or socially responsible themes that’s currently in theaters or available on DVD.

Seen a good eco-flick lately? Send us a review of 100 words or less and look for your review in the next Movie Friday!

Fridays at the Farm
Coyopa Productions
http://www.coyopa.com/fridays-at-the-farm.html

Feeling disconnected from their food, a filmmaker and his family decide to join a local community supported organic farm.  As he photographs the growing process, the filmmaker moves from passive observer to active participant in the planting and harvesting of vegetables.  Featuring lush time-lapse and macro photography sequences compiled from nearly 20,000 still images, this personal essay is a father’s meditation on his blossoming family and community.

-- Review by Green Life Reader Monica Moran

March 26, 2008

How Green Is My Screen?

Calling all couch potatoes! Are you warming up more than your sofa cushions?

Learn how you can green your TV without adjusting the color knob by taking our newest online quiz: How Green Is My Screen?


March 24, 2008

Daily Tip: March 24, 2008

The U.S. Postal Service is launching a free, recycle-by-mail "Mail Back" program. In 10 select areas of the country, you can use free envelopes to mail back inkjet cartridges, PDAs, Blackberries, digital cameras, iPods and MP3 players –- without having to pay for postage. Learn more about the program here.

Receive these Tips in your inbox Monday through Friday by signing up here.

March 21, 2008

Movie Friday -- Who Killed the Electric Car?

Winter weather getting you down? Escape to the movies with one of our "Film Fridays" selections. Each week we'll feature a movie with environmentally or socially responsible themes that’s currently in theaters or available on DVD.

Seen a good eco-flick lately? Send us a review of 100 words or less and look for your review in the next Movie Friday!

Who Killed the Electric Car?
Sony Classics
http://www.sonyclassics.com/whokilledtheelectriccar/
The answer is contained in the movie. It is a simple, yet complicated subject, but you'll laugh, you'll cry, and you'll scream at the TV screen. Who Killed the Electric Car? will give you a different perspective on all the "green-washing" GM is doing right now. It will explain the decision made by the California Air Resources Board that allowed the death of the electric car. It also explains why there are virtually zero electric vehicles on the roads now when there were hundreds not too long ago. Worth seeing and passing it on.

-- Review by Green Life reader Greg Peterson

March 20, 2008

How Green is Your Bracket?

You might not realize that the climate has a stake in the NCAA men's basketball tournament. But if you're a fan of a clean energy future, you can root for the 24 schools that have signed the American College and University Presidents Climate Commitment, pledging to go climate neutral. See who's on the list and follow their progress at http://www.greenbrackets.com.

Receive these Tips in your inbox Monday through Friday by signing up here.

March 19, 2008

Daily Tip: March 19, 2008

While they're awfully pretty, resist the urge to take home the free brochures available at concerts, museums, or even real estate open houses. Most of the info exists online and just a Web search away -- and you’re less likely to lose it on your computer than your pocket.

Receive these Tips in your inbox Monday through Friday by signing up here.

March 14, 2008

Green Beer for St. Patrick's Day

Go ahead and enjoy a brewskie that's been dyed green for St. Patrick's Day, but then check out these beers that are even greener because the companies that make them are working to lighten their carbon footprint. If you know of any others, we'd all love to hear about them.

Then maybe we can enjoy a green-green beer!

New Belgium, maker of the ever-popular "Fat Tire" beer and many other Belgian-style beers, is based in in Ft. Collins, Colorado. In 1998 it became the first U.S. brewery to source its energy from wind power. Employees dipped into their bonus funds to help fund the switch -- very cool.

Using sun tubes and daylighting throughout the facility, they reuse heat in the brewhouse, and continue to search out new ways to close loops and conserve resources. Recycling at New Belgium takes on many forms, from turning "waste" products into something new and useful (like spent grain to cattle feed), to supporting the recycling market in creative ways (like turning keg caps into table surfaces). They've installed motion sensors on the lights throughout the building and evaporative cooling in their new packaging hall.

Meanwhile, over at Sierra Nevada in California, they've installed four 250-kilowatt co-generation fuel cell power units to supply electric power and heat to the brewery. This produces most of the brewery's electrical demand, and the co-generation boilers will harvest the waste heat and produce steam for boiling the beer and other heating needs. And get this: Their fuel cells use the waste methane generated at the wastewater treatment plant as a fuel source.

And hey, they're recycling fools! In 2006, Sierra Nevada kept 33,738 tons of materials --97.8 percent of their total waste, out of the landfill. They continue to earn a WRAP Award (Waste Reduction Awards Program) from the State of California as they have every year since 2001.

The natural fermentation process produces CO2, a greenhouse gas, but these guys installed a system to recover and recycle most of this gas for use around the brewery and during the bottle-filling.

You've heard the saying "It's the water" in regards to beer production. Well, Sierra Nevada continually audits the process to minimize wasteful practices, and have reduced their water usage to almost half of what's typically used by breweries.

They also encouraged and reward employees for reducing their emissions by riding their bikes to work, to run errands, or just for fun.

Cleveland, Ohio, is home to the Great Lakes Brewing Co., where you can climb on board their beer delivery truck and shuttle bus (called "The Fatty Wagon") that runs on straight restaurant vegetable oil! They've cut their trash removal fees in half by recycling the usual stuff, plus brewer's barley. They print newsletters, menus, beverage napkins and promotional items on 100 percent recycled paper. In addition, all packaging (i.e., 4-packs, 6-packs, 12-packs and the unbleached "eco-carton", which holds a case of beer) consists of recycled content.

In the brewery there's a cooling system that brings in cold air during winter months to cool the beer. Skylights and light sensors have been installed in the Tank Farm and cooler to allow in natural light and minimize the use of electricity. An "air curtain" is in place in the brewpub to keep warm air from escaping when patrons enter and exit.

Hats off to the Brooklyn Brewery which, in 2003, became the first company in New York City to switch to 100 percent wind-generated electricity. Community Energy, which manages the 20 wind turbines that produce electricity for the beer house, estimates that Brooklyn Brewery's green power stops 335,000 pounds of carbon dioxide, 1,500 pounds of sulfur dioxide and 500 pounds of nitrogen oxide from being emitted into the atmosphere annually.

And, finally, a shout-out to Orlio, which makes 100% organic beer.

Got a beer-lovin' friend? Spread the word before St. Paddy's!

Movie Friday

Winter weather getting you down? Escape to the movies with one of our "Film Fridays" selections. Each week we'll feature a movie with environmentally or socially responsible themes that’s currently in theaters or available on DVD.

Seen a good eco-flick lately? Send us a review of 100 words or less and look for your review in the next Movie Friday!

Hurricane on the Bayou
a film by Greg MacGillivray
on DVD/VHS
http://www.hurricaneonthebayou.com/

This new film from the producers of Everest follows four musicians before, during, and after Hurricane Katrina and makes a compelling case for restoring the vital wetlands of Louisiana.

March 11, 2008

Daily Tip: March 11, 2008

Quicky oil-change shops may urge us to change the oil in our vehicles every 3,000 miles. But most cars nowadays don’t need changing that often. In fact, most manufacturers say you can go 7,000 miles without a problem. Ditto for that SUV—unless you really are starring in one of those TV ads and driving it hard and long over dusty roads. What difference does it make? Consider this: each year California alone generates about 153 million gallons of used oil. Change less often and it really can save your engine and the planet.

Receive these Tips in your inbox Monday through Friday by signing up here.

March 10, 2008

The Buzz

"I changed all the lightbulbs to energy-safe lightbulbs, and I'm buying a hybrid car right now. Little things that people can do every day make a huge difference."
--Paris Hilton


User comments or postings reflect the opinions of the responsible contributor only, and do not reflect the viewpoint of the Sierra Club. The Sierra Club does not endorse or guarantee the accuracy of any posting. The Sierra Club accepts no obligation to review every posting, but reserves the right (but not the obligation) to delete postings that may be considered offensive, illegal or inappropriate.

Up to Top


Sierra Club® and "Explore, enjoy and protect the planet"® are registered trademarks of the Sierra Club. © 2009 Sierra Club.
The Sierra Club Seal is a registered copyright, service mark, and trademark of the Sierra Club.