Articles in the Nature Category
Asheville, Economy, Education, Environment, Film, Green Sustainability, Human Health, Nature, Resources, Videos »
How “Manufactured Demand” pushes what we don’t need and destroys what we need most.
Recently I watched the documentary “FLOW (for love of water)” which unexpectedly at the end of less then two hours shifted my outlook on water and made me vow to never drink bottled water again. I think before I thought as long as I recycle the bottle then, it’s an o.k. thing to do. I mean it’s better then drinking high fructose corn syrup, right?! Well for my body yes water is the better choice, for the environment tap water should be the ONLY choice! After watching FLOW, I’m thinking bottled water should just be outlawed all together. This whole bottled water thing not only affects other countries negatively (which we’re kind of pros at) but we’re even destroying our own back yard for this one, gasp! That’s right, Nestle is currently devastating / flat out draining parts of Michigan so that it can pump millions of gallons of water out of the ground to bottle. Then there’s the little tid bit that bottled water is WAY less regulated then tap water and often times more dangerous to drink … and we’re talking seriously dangerous sometimes. So, I’m thinking my palette can withstand the sometimes not so pleasant tap water if it means I’m not contributing to severe devastation of my own country and other countries (ie. earth).
I really think you should watch ‘FLOW’ and come up with your own conclusion. However if you don’t thrive off educational documentaries, I totally understand. So, below is a shorter 8 minute lamens version that you and your 5 year old can understand in under 10 minutes.
If this article is all the time you have then please, just trust me on this … you really, really, really don’t want to drink bottled water unless it’s an absolute emergency! It’s so not cool and I feel pretty bad for not understanding the consequences of my bottled water drinking sooner. If you want natural clean water in your future then you will stop drinking bottled water immediately. For, all my office managers out there it’s up for you to educate your employers on how taboo it is and get a water filter and pitchers instead to serve to clients and employees! You can do it 
Animal Kingdom, Art, Environment, Film, Music, Art & Culture, Nature, Trailer, Videos »
Green Mountain Culture at the Banff Center
Check out the tour dates near you!
Environment, Nature, Technology, Uncategorized »
kaufDA, a young team based in Germany is working for an initiative called “Make it green!” with a goal to take part in reducing the carbon footprint by raising awareness of the severe environmental damage caused by carbon emissions.
They have decided to take an interesting approach to raising awareness of carbon emissions resulting from the use of the internet – specifically of blogs, creating “My blog is carbon neutral” buttons, so bloggers can demonstrate they care about the environment and the carbon footprint of having a blog.
How do they neutralize your blog’s carbon footprint?
By planting trees in cooperation with the Arbor Day Foundation in Plumas National Forest in Northern California for our project to neutralize the carbon footprint of blogs.
“Thousands of wildfires have burned in many national forests over the past ten years and 88.000 acres of Plumas’ were destroyed by two fires in 2007. For replanting this area we need help from bloggers all over the world! For every participating blog, we plant a tree. One blog – one tree.” -Christin Gericke, Make it green! Team
How much carbon dioxide does your blog create?
According to a study by Alexander Wissner-Gross, PhD, physicist at Harvard University and environmental activist, an average website causes about 0.02g (0,0008oz.) of carbon dioxide for each visit. Assuming an average blog gets 15,000 visits a month, it has yearly carbon dioxide emissions of 3,6kg (8lb.). This can mainly be tracked back to the immense energy usage from (mainframe) computers, servers, and their cooling systems.
kaufDA provides advertising brochures of local stores online to help consumers search for specific products and find good deals in their neighborhood. This reduces the amount of brochures printed and so the project helps the environment by reducing unnecessary paper in mailboxes. An American on average receives 41 pounds of junk mail per year. This has the same carbon footprint as burning six gallons of gasoline.
For more details and to find out how you can participate, visit http://www.kaufda.de/umwelt/co2-neutral/my-blog-is-carbon-neutral/
