Ideal Bite

So, my boyfriend just decided to branch out on his own and work from home. Instead of seeing him for a mere 3 hours a day (he works in finance), I can see him all I want now. No more waiting until 10:30 pm to eat dinner, no more walking the dog solo, no more taking care of all the chores alone. Yah!

But, um, I miss my alone time and space all to myself. Luckily, Green Spaces New York just opened a new downtown location at 394 Broadway. Ecopreneurs (as they call them) can buy desk space to work on their green companies and small businesses. Membership is $50 a month which gives you one work day per month and $25 for any additional days. Need a full-time desk? It’ll cost you $495 a month or $275 for part-time. You’ll get your own desk with access to a conference room, lounge, and kitchen as well as Read the full post... 

The results are in on the latest Pew global warming survey, and it looks like the citizens of the United States just lost a bunch of Mensa points: 14% fewer Americans believe there's solid evidence of global warming than did a year and a half ago. And just 35% of Americans believe climate change is a very serious issue, down from 44% in April '08. Wha' happen?

In related news, this survey I just made up found that 59% of Americans believe in unicorns.

-Toshio…off to shake someone…

From DT Read the full post... 

I really hate moving. It's a terrible, terrible chore. But going green did make one part of my recent move this past weekend a little more bearable.

Boxes are, of course, a necessity. But buying them is expensive and wasteful, and getting them from grocery stores with like mashed bananas at the bottom kinda sucks.

So I went on Craigslist, and under the "For Sale" section, I clicked on "free." I searched for "boxes" and found a bunch of listings right in my neighborhood where people were giving away moving boxes, most of them claiming they were in good condition. Within maybe 30 minutes, I had collected about 15 totally sturdy, nonbanana'd moving boxes, and it didn't cost me a dime.

In short: If you're moving, check Craigslist. It is awesome. Read the full post... 

Where were you ten years ago today? I was in faraway city, in a relationship that seemed destined for greatness but that was soon to fail, with no furry friends to purr in my lap while I read the Bridget Jones Diary...and I had bangs. In short, I was basically unrecognizable.

We've all come a long way since then, haven't we? New homes, new family members, new 'dos. Some great successes, some great mistakes, all that brought us here - to Chicago, or wherever you're lucky to be living. And the same can be said for pretty much anything that's lasted at least a decade. Some wear and tear, but, so it seems, nothing we couldn't handle. So here's a little happy birthday wish to the Notebaert Nature Museum. For ten years, it's been helping Chicago families learn what makes this planet cool. From the butterfly haven with 1,000 flutterers, to the Read the full post... 

The UN's meeting about a global climate treaty, and you're invited. Sort of.

Chances are, you've probably heard that big stuff is going down in Copenhagen this December. While a flight to an onsite rally might be out of the question, a quick day trip over to a festival or march is totally doable. You'll be in good company - whether you're in Bangladesh (with school children planting 350 trees), Papua, New Guinea (they've got 8 events planned so far), or FL (they've got 44) - local organizers are coming up with creative ways to send a strong message to world leaders that we need to stop global warming, like, now. How? By reducing our CO2 levels to 350 ppm (instead of today's dangerously high 390).

Chicagoans can choose from 23 local actions, from a march against one of the area's biggest coal Read the full post... 

Everybody knows the little green Lacoste crocodile logo - now the company's trying to save it.

Lacoste joins several other Save Your Logo companies that are coming together to preserve the endangered species they're associated with.

With all the brand mileage they've gotten out of the animals, it seems only fair.

-Toshio…off to preserve my bank account (Cup Noodles for lunch)…

From DT Read the full post... 

SUNY-Environmental Science and Forestry student Ridhima Nayyar spent the summer training as an energy auditor and Project Manager (thank you very much) in Win-Win's Community Energy Consultant Training Program (CEC). She walked local small businesses through assessments pointing out wasted energy, how to cut costs, and trim CO2 emissions by adding CFLs, power strips (no idling power), LED computer screens, and Energy Star appliances. Check out below as she bares it all.

Tell us about your internship.
Ridhima: It was a very real world experience. I had an opportunity to be the project manager when we audited a large office building (it's 32 floors) at Read the full post... 

Even after years of working on environmental issues, I was surprised to read in this week's Economist that "at the moment, carbon emissions from deforestation account for some 18% of global greenhouse-gas emissions, more than all the world’s trains, cars, lorries, aeroplanes and ships combined."

Yep - even including the lorries, people. And that's not just from losing trees. It's also because of the CO2 released from the illegal burning of forests. That's the way many farmers in the Amazon de-forest, so's they can use the land for farming.

A new way to combat deforestation in the Amazon? Paying people who live there not to destroy Read the full post... 

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.” – Margaret Mead

Ok, I choked up when I read this quote, just as I did (majorly) when Hugo Jabini and Wanze Eduards accepted their Goldman Environmental Prize on Monday night, here in San Francisco. Watch the video narrated by Robert Redford about them and you’ll see why. They absolutely prove MM’s point, as they went all the way to international courts to protect their tribal land - a rainforest on which their tribe, the Saramaka, lived for 300 years but had no rights to - from foreign loggers literally chopping down their homes, Read the full post... 

Whenever I'm mid-flight and in need of a laugh, or just a little reminder of how ridiculous the human race can be, I turn to SkyMall.

Over at Pandasmash, the editors pitted some of SkyMall's best-of-the-worst, next-to-useless gadgets against what-were-they-thinking gizmos and put them all to a vote. The Championship Round's resulting two worthless gadgets? The DayClock (a wall clock that doesn't tell you the time of day, just which day of the week it is) and the Solar-Powered Bible (a steal at $149.95). At least the latter is eco-friendly, I guess.

-Toshio...off to ask "why?"...

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