THIN FILM SOLAR PANELS

Archive for June, 2008

Written by Trey Granger, courtesy of Earth911.org

The Fourth of July: summer’s most famous holiday. Fireworks, barbecues and a day off to enjoy the sunshine. But can you make America’s birthday Earth Day as well? Here’s eight steps for an eco-friendly Fourth.

1. Celebrate Outdoors

Whether you’re traveling for the three-day weekend (the Fourth is on Friday this year) or celebrating at home with family, have an outdoor celebration to minimize energy use. Better yet, check out a large gathering nearby where your personal energy use will be negligible.

2. Drink Lots of Water . . . In Large Containers

Depending on where you live, temperatures could reach triple digits on Independence Day. It’s important to stay hydrated, but plan ahead. Buy a reusable container to fill with water for your family so you won’t be buying and disposing of individual water bottles. You can also refill these containers at drinking fountains.

3. Know Before You Go

The beach may be a popular spot for your Independence Day getaway, but make sure it’s open before you head out. Use Earth 911’s sister site Beaches911.com to monitor the beach closures in your area. This will save you gas on a potential drive down the coast just to picnic in the parking lot.

4. BBQ With Propane

Wood and charcoal may seem like more natural fuel sources, but propane burns cleaner. You’ll get less smoke and you’ll have less of a challenge keeping a fire going. Make sure that you refill or recycle your propane tank once it’s empty using Earth 911.

5. Reuse Plates and Cups

If you’re celebrating at home, just use normal tableware and napkins that can be washed. At an outside celebration, pack up your disposable cups and plates and rinse them off when you get home. You can use the same set again next year, or recycle them.

6. Eco-Friendly Fireworks

Naturally something that explodes, creates lots of light and leaves a cloud of smoke also comes with pollution. Fireworks also release heavy metals like lead into the air. Of course, a Fourth of July without fireworks seems unnatural, but if you do put on a backyard show look for fireworks rich in nitrogen. These may cost a little more, but you’ll have less smoke.

7. Be Pet Cautious

Believe it or not, dog and cat ears are not made for the loud noises of fireworks. If your pets hear these noises, they might go running off. Then you’ll be using unnecessary paper for lost flyers.

If you live near a fireworks show, make sure your pets are shielded from the sound. If you lose a pet this July 4, visit Earth 911’s sister site PETS911.com to help find it.

8. July 5 is Cleanup Day

Independence Day events will produce lots of trash, much of which could probably be recycled. Head over to a nearby area this Saturday that held a July 4th celebration and pick-up some of the inevitable litter.

This story is part of Earth 911’s “Green Eight” series, where we showcase eight ways to green your life in various areas. Click here to see Earth 911’s “Green Eight” archive.

As far as green gadgets go, this little desktop computer will give Dell and (to a lesser extent) Apple a run for their money.

The CherryPal promises to be affordable, efficient, and powerful enough for the average PC user. At first glance, that stats on the system look modest, and for good reason. This design actually cuts out 20% of PC components to reduce energy usage. But fear not, despite being small (the size of a paperback), the CherryPal claims it can start up in 20 seconds, and cloud computing provides more power/storage when you need it. A Linux operating system (now more user friendly than ever), and cloud computing means you won’t need to worry about viruses or install protective programs that can slow down your PC. Read the rest of this entry »

As I waited in line on opening night on Friday to see Wall-E, I thought it would be something of a robotic version of Nemo.  Having loved Nemo, I was excited to detach from my work-week stress load and calmly watch the movie.

Little did I know I was in for one of the most moving, gorgeous, and dare I say “important” movie experiences I have had for a long, long while.  This movie is a blatant and powerful indictment of our environmental destruction, and it is also a completely entertaining and warm love story. I humbly encourage everyone to see it.  

**While this will be a glowing review, please scroll down to read my two complaints about the film as well.

Wall-E is the last remaining trash-collecting robot left on an abandoned planet Earth. He roams the smoggy, trash-covered landscape of our destroyed planet, crushing refuse and hanging out with his only friend, a plucky cockroach.  But Wall-E has a video of Hello Dolly that he watches on endless loop, and he longs for something more:  singing, dancing, and inter-personal (or inter-machine) contact.  In short, he is love-sick.

Where have all the humans gone? We learn that they were forced to flee their dying planet over 700 years ago in a huge space-craft called The Axiom.  On the ship they have become obese, immobile blob-beings who can only sit in their spaceship deck chairs and consume what is shown to them on their personal video monitors.  The scenes on the Axiom are scarily reminiscent of present-day Las Vegas: the over-fed humans are detached from their daily cares and are free to sit on their backsides, consume, and be constantly entertained.

I won’t spoil the plot for you, but let’s just say that a beguiling robot named Eve comes from the Axiom down to Earth in search of life forms.  She and Wall-E meet and indeed find a little sprout of a plant growing in an old boot.  Life blooms on Earth, love blooms for Wall-E and Eve, and great changes befall the humans quietly sipping their smoothies on the Axiom.

But I do have two beefs with Wall-E:

   +  Why did Pixar pass up the opportunity to help people learn what they can do to become better stewards of the planet??  The movie is an inspirational environmental call to action, and yet there is no mention of HOW or WHERE people can learn to cut carbon emissions, save water, reduce their trash production, etc.  Why didn’t Pixar put up a simple screen with “ten recommendations for loving planet Earth” at the end of the film– or a link to a site with educational information? It pains me that MILLIONS of people will see this movie and learn nothing about what they can do to save the planet!

   +  I also find the message at the end of the film a bit troubling. The humans return to Earth and it seems as if everything will just be hunky-dory. Yes they have some clean up to do, but it won’t be that bad.  I was sad to see that Pixar took this easy out; we don’t need to be telling Americans that our environmental practices can be swept away with some kind of simple big broom. 

Please share your comments on what you thought of the movie!

Utah has been a second home to me for nearly 20 years. In fact, as I write this, I am looking forward to spending a week at our house near Park City for the upcoming holiday. The state has also long been home to silver mines that continue to taint the local water supplies and force residents to install double osmosis filtering systems just to have potable water.

Public lands within the Utah region and elsewhere have been a longtime target for oil drilling and government granted leases but always with the understand that wilderness and public lands in close proximity to national parks were typically off limits. That is, until the Bush administration decided to green light drilling near national parks in Moab, Utah in 2002. Although park scientists protested that the national parks could take decades to recover from the shock waves caused by local oil derricks, the administration claimed that parks would “barely notice changes,” according to a New York Times article published on February 8, 2002.

In February of this year, proposed oil drilling in the Great Salt Lake region was met with great resistance from residents and local and national environmental groups, such as The Friends of the Great Salt Lake and the Wilderness Conservancy who at the time I wrote this had received nearly 10,000 signatures in protest of the drilling from around the world.

By allowing drilling in this area, we threaten to harm and destroy wetlands that house over 6 million birds during migration season and more than 250 bird species that call the Great Salt Lake region home according to the Nature Conservancy. The wetlands are important to national scientists and the local economy, serving as one of the top places in the nation for bird watching and eco-tourism. Drilling would also potentially damage the “Spiral Jetty,” one of the most famous examples of the Land Art movement developed by Robert Smithson in the 70’s. A recent New York Times article discusses how the Dia Art Foundation is involved in talks to protect Smithson’s masterpiece and stall drilling in such close proximity.

Given the current oil crisis, US residents may wonder why we aren’t becoming more independent and drilling at home. In reality, oil prices are not entirely being driven up by supply/demand issues. I would highly recommend that those people spend more time educating themselves about the economic and market factors involved by visiting our sister site, Gas 2.0 for more information on the politics behind the high prices at the pump as well as read up on the dangerous environmental repercussions from drilling in our backyards.

Cutting-edge sustainable fashion design house Nau sadly announced over a month ago that they were closing their doors. Those of us in the green community were shocked and saddened.  To learn more about this store, click here. To learn more about Nau’s commitment to sustainability, click here.

But NAU they’re open again– hurray!

They’ve been bought by apparel company Horny Toad, and they are relaunching the Nau brand. But here’s the great news– all current Nau clothing is 50% off through July! Click here to shop Nau now.