Fighting for a hybrid in every garage is cake compared to the battle to allow an outdoor clothesline in every yard. Still,  advocacy groups like Project Laundry List are urging a return to the days before newfangled cleaning machines drained our electric bills and resources – a time when nobody flinched at the sight of a big bra or jockey shorts flapping in the wind.

Why do these soldiers refuse to fold?

The advocacy group New American Dream calculates that if every American home switched to cold water for four out …

Tags: advocacy , air drying , America , carbon , clotheslines , cold water , electricity , energy , laundry , Obama , ordinances , savings , White House

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From organic cotton garb to reusable serving ware, they have raised the bar in San Francisco this week as more than 1,500 Jewish teen athletes from 40 U.S. cities and four international countries (Mexico, Guatemala, Israel and Canada) compete in the Maccabi Games 2009.

This year, for the first time, organizers introduced a Green Team – a committee chaired by Miriam Gordon, an environmental activist, and games director, Jackie Lewis. Their game plan: a zero-waste event that completely circumvents the dreaded landfill.

Instead of the usual bottled water …

Tags: athletes , carbon , compost , Conserve , garbage , golf , Jewish , Jewish Community Center , Jewish National Fund , Maccabi Games , organic cotton , pins , recycle , reuse , San Francisco , soccer , water bottles , zero-waste

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Like many of us, I rely on the computer and internet for work and, increasingly, for pleasure. Switching it off is not really an option.

Yet, I am also concerned by the fact that the IT industry is a growing contributor to the world’s greenhouse emissions. I am trying to do my part – cutting back my usage (curbing my addiction) and not indulging my love of gadgets by upgrading to the shiniest new toys as soon as they become available.

Now I have found another solution. Click …

Tags: carbon , Click 4 Carbon , energy , impact , internet , search , social activism , web

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These days, making your house energy efficient makes sense not only because it’s good for the environment, but also because it’s good for the household budget. But figuring  out what needs to be done, how to get it done, and working out the costs can be as daunting as trying to find your way out of a maze in the dark.

Luckily, the Sierra Club has taken the guesswork out of greening your home with their new interactive Green Home website. It’s the brainchild of Carl Pope, Sierra …

Tags: carbon , Carl Pope , footprint , green , Green Home , home , Sierra Club

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The Walt Disney Company is telling the world it plans to be greener. It’s recently released an environmental plan; one of the highlights is a goal of halving the company’s carbon emissions from fuels by 2012. Eventually, the organization hopes to have all its offices, retail complexes, theme parks and cruise lines functioning with zero direct greenhouse emissions.

Other goals released include reducing waste and reducing water usage. Presently, much of the 300,000 tons of waste created annually ends up being sent to landfill. Plans are now in the making to ensure that this …

Tags: carbon , Disney , Disneyland , Disneyworld , environment , green , impact , sustainability , Walt Disney

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The good news is that there are more green-minded consumers than ever before and travel companies are taking note. The bad news in that in the rush to offer eco-tourism, sometimes the eco part gets diluted or even trampled on.

Eco-tourism doesn’t just mean tourism in a wilderness area. If it did, then tourist space flights would qualify – despite the obvious energy cost involved in blasting into orbit.

In my book the number one rule for eco-tourism is to do no harm. Exploring beautiful wilderness areas is fantastic – …

Tags: carbon , eco tourism , greenwash , travel

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Imagine capturing the CO2 people exhale and converting it into biofuel to power diesel vehicles and heating systems. It’s all part of an experiment that’s taking place at the Liverpool John Lennon Airport in the UK.

The Eco-Box, designed by scientists from Origo Industries, works by capturing CO2 through a photo-bioreactor. This CO2 becomes feedstock for algae which then produces a biomass that can be refined and converted into green fuel.

The Eco-Box carbon recycling system was installed at the airport in January, with a goal of harnessing 24,000 during its …

Tags: algae , alternative fuel , biofuel , carbon , eco-box , emissions , Origo , transportation

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If you were to update the list of the Seven Wonders of the Modern World, the internet would almost certainly make the cut. With the exception of antibiotics I can think of very few other 20th century inventions that have changed society and people’s lives for good quite so profoundly.

Yet our digital addiction is also taking its toll on the environment. Coming up with hard numbers on a global scale is quite a challenge but that doesn’t stop people trying. A few days ago a UK Sunday Times article reported a surprising …

Tags: carbon , computers , environment , Google , search , web

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