As you may know, Japan has lower per capita carbon emissions than any Western European country. For that reason, I asked my friend, Sean Saskamoto, who recently moved to Japan and who blogs at I’d Rather Be In Japan, to check in with us every so often. I thought we might be able to learn a little something about […]
Trash
LVGRN: Getting rid of tampons
According to Grist: Most tampons are made from rayon-cotton blends — an important distinction, because rayon is often chlorine-bleached, a process that releases the cancer-causing chemical dioxin. This toxin builds up in fatty tissue and has been linked to endometriosis, immune-system suppression, and other health problems. Since it’s in a product intended for our, ahem, most intimate of locations, […]
Another way not to use a throwaway coffee cup
As you may know, I generally carry an ultra-cool reusable cup–otherwise known as a glass jar–for use when I get coffee. For the longest time, if I forgot my jar, rather than use a paper or plastic cup, I would just forgo the coffee (even though I don’t keep to the No Impact rules so […]
In praise of making a spectacle of living green
It takes a certain amount of chutzpah to decide to go against the cultural flow in the way that one lives and even more if you decide to advertise the fact. But I’m thinking that, of the many ways to assess which environmental lifestyle measures make the biggest difference, one way is to decide which […]
One way to demonstrate your company’s marketing department doesn’t care much about sustainability
If you want to give people a hint that you don’t much care about whether your company harms the habitat that we depend upon for our health, happiness and security: Take a sample of your product that you’d like to give away for free, say a single piece of gum. Wrap it in packaging made […]
Eliminate 40% of manufacturing-associated greenhouse gas by getting rid of packaging
I used part of my last day of my car-less vacation going to the dump to throw away three 60-gallon bags of trash. I try. I try really hard not to make trash. But when you go to a new place, you have to start figuring out all over again how to do it. And […]
Celebrate a great organization and hear me speak
This coming Saturday, September 6, New York City’s Lower East Side Ecology Center (LESEC) is having its annual fund-raising bash, and I have the honor of giving a talk (I’ll be brief, promise). This excellent party with a local-food dinner, music and activities for kids and adults will be at the East River Park amphitheater […]
LV GRN: Slimy pets to eat your garbage and entertain your kids
Some of you will have seen this before, but for the newcomers in the crowd… When I first told my wife Michelle I was going to keep worms in a bin to turn our food scraps from garbage into compost, she said no way. She was like “Worms in my kitchen? Forget it.” But guess what? We have […]