Blogs & Ecology

Photo credit .Fabio

Working in a home office environment is great from a green perspective. It eliminates the necessity to drive to and from work, it limits the immense energy usage typical for a large office building, and reduces your own personal carbon footprint by as much as half in certain areas.

But the home office is not a perfect world......

Personal Computer Environments
Photo credit to ifyr

Voodoo Ergonomics
Tony Biafore of Ergonetics has been in the ergonomic business for 25 years, plus currently contracts with the U.S. Department of Labor to help with their in-house ergonomics program. Tony tells us, “There is no such thing as an ergonomic product—it is all in how you use things.”

Photo credit to Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com

Setting up a green office has a lot less to do with buying high tech ergonomic equipment, and a whole lot more with how you use them. We spoke with one of the experts of the forefront of office ergonomics, Tony Biafore, to find out some of the facts of setting up a proper office. But before we get to the interview featured in part 2, I think an introduction is in order of why good office ergonomics is so important, and how it can be best achieved....

Garbage is America's #1 export and possibly the biggest raw material source we have. But what is waste? And why do we make it?

In nature, waste does not exist - if it did we would not be here today since the creation of a material that another life form cannot use is not sustainable and would lead to the destruction of our eco-system. One way to look at waste is that it is a commodity with negative value. That is, it's a commodity that we are willing to pay to get rid of. It is a liability that has to be transported quickly and efficiently to a landfill.

Photo: AFP from Guardian

John recently noted that the recycling business is in the toilet in the US; Jaymi wrote that the same thing is happening in Britain; now they are drowning in paper that used to be shipped to China but that nobody wants now. The Confederation of Paper industries says in the Guardian:

Lets call recycling what it is- a fraud, a sham, a scam perpetrated by big business on the citizens and municipalities of America. Look who sponsors the National Recycling Coalition: behind America Recycles Day: Coca-Cola, Pepsico, Anheuser-Busch, Coors, Owens-Illinois, International Bottled Water Association, the same people who brought you that other fraud, Keep America Beautiful.

Recycling is simply the transfer of producer responsibility for what they produce to the taxpayer who has to pick it up and take it away.

...

While some important political, racial, and environmental red tape may have been broken in this election, this latest battle between red and blue was anything but green when it comes to the waste created by campaign entourages swinging through up to 7 states in one day.

Bioneers is a pretty huge conference, and we know what kind of carbon footprint conferences can make, what with energy use, waste, water use and so on.

But the instant I arrived at Bioneers, it was clear that the organizers walk the walk of sustainability, taking measures to ensure that there is a far bigger intellectual footprint made than a carbon one. ...

Photo credit: Image Source/Getty Images

School teachers, listen up! This is a call for help. You are one of the first lines of defense in the environmental movement. In a few short years, the upcoming generation will decide the fate of this planet. And when it comes to how to teach children science, math, and geography, you're the best at it. The interdisciplinary skills they learn today will be the planet-saving skills they enlist tomorrow. Now, we know that's a lot to bear on your shoulders, so we've put together a guide that will help you in the classroom -- and outside it, too.

:: GreenUpgrader encourages minimally packaged lunches like the Bento Box.

:: The EPA issues more stringent regulations for gas-powered lawn and garden equipment.

:: Eat Drink Better decodes eco-food labels.

:: Chicago hosts the Museum of Sustainable Style, an exhibition of green fashion.

:: We're reminded of the repercussions of peak oil and what we can do to help stop it.

:: Travel green in one of the world's most polluted cities: Mexico City.

:: Make a scrumptious and seasonal Green Bean Salad with Pumpkin Seed Dressing.

:: Instead of tossing your orange peels, put 'em to good use!...

Image source: Beautiful Silverlake

Silver Lake Chamber of Commerce - Green Committee (SLCC-GC) was working overtime at this year's Sunset Junction Street Festival to help both vendors and attendees "Think Before You Toss." As part of their Zero Waste Initiative, the SLCC-GC encouraged the over 25,000 attendees to not only sort their recycling but also to compost.

Image source: Eco My Party

We totally agree that carrying your own tupperware is better than those styrofoam clam shells, and that reusing is important. But what if you are holding a party and don't have 40 sets of tableware? The Eco-Party Pack, by Eco My Party, will come to your rescue. At the end of the party, everything can be thrown in the compost and is 100% biodegrade.

We'd like to give a quick nod to Big Ink. We know the printing world isn't always very green, and we appreciate their efforts to improve their operations and spread the word to their clients and others within their industry.

The Green Plan

We'd like to give a quick nod to Big Ink. We know the printing world isn't always very green, and we appreciate their efforts to improve their operations and spread the word to their clients and others within their industry.

The Green Plan