| 'GARBAGE WARRIOR' ...the trailer |
[Jul. 28th, 2007|07:54 pm] |
Can't wait to see this movie!!
if you've been reading this for long you know how much i love earthships (if not, here, look), so yeah, psyched to see this movie! It's still in the festival circuit (and getting some pretty good nods) but now being made into a 35mm for theatrical release ....Keep your eyes open for Michael Reynolds, in: GARBAGE WARRIOR! |
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| Center for Green Technolgies goes INTENSIVE! |
[Jun. 1st, 2006|06:18 am] |
The Chicago Center for Green Technology, CCGT already had a 3,000 sqft green roof, but as you all know extensive roofs are not quite as, well intense as intensive roofs. sure succulent plants are neat, but can they compare to trees and veggies? i think not. and the CCGT obviously thinks not too, 'cause now TectaGreen green is putting an intensiove roof up there as well.... so the best of both green worlds at the center for green technologies |
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| Garden In A City; th 'first' urban garden show |
[May. 13th, 2006|01:17 pm] |
Billed as the nation's first urban garden show, it features displays, workshops and practical "grow-too" information for city residents interested in greening up their yards, decks, parkways, balconies, windows and rooftops. "It's the first show in the nation designed to show our residents practical ideas for planting small gardens," Mayor Daley said by way of introducing the event. (and if you are a regular HUGGer you know that there's going to be a few debuts there, like GeenGrids new modular sytems...) |
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| and the winner is.... well, we all are! |
[May. 3rd, 2006|04:21 am] |
greenies feeling the love at city hall
Last night was the 2nd Annual Green Toronto Awards. The event was held at city hall, packed to the rafters, and brimming with so much charged energy that you might have thought at some point that that funny building was actually going to take off and fly!
(it does look a little like a flying saucer). Anyway, this was a beautiful event! From the opening invite-only cocktails before the show, to the actual (open to the public) ceremony, green entrepreneurs and activists were rubbing elbows with city officials and the odd nosey eavesdropping blogger...
And I'm not kidding when i say that something was in the air. It was electric! And a big part of the charge was the congregation of business people --Green Business people-- who are visibly succeeding in their own uphill battles getting sustainability to market, and to the hearts of our citizenry. Sara Harmer graced us with her song "Escarpment Blues," and media matron Ann Rhomer brought tears to many eyes, reminding people that it was one year ago to the day that Toronto Green Legend Bob Hunter lost his battle with cancer. Hunter, one of the original founders of Greenpeace brought a human face and heart to ecological consciousness to all Torontonians daily as his role as a breakfast pundit, appearing on TV in his bathrobe every morning discussing daily events, while never giving up on his eco concerns. Bob got a posthumous round of applause, everyone in the house knowing how proud he would have been of us, and the green scene which has grown so wide and healthy! A beautiful night, celebrating both community and business initiatives!
( ok. The Winners: ) |
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| the Cmhizzle with the Nzehzzzle..... |
[Apr. 29th, 2006|08:33 pm] |
CMHC's new NZEHH Program for net zero energy homes
Apparently the CMHC just unveiled a Net Zero Energy Healthy Housing (NZEHH) Program! They'll give $50,000 grants for a dozen multi-disciplinary teams to design and build zero-energy demonstration homes (thats not a lot of money), comleted by June 2007. Builders must team up with architects, engineers and even municipal officials to qualify for the grants. The zero-energy program aims to create homes that will have no impact on air, land and water. The homes will have passive heating and cooling, they'll be flooded with natural daylight, will have on-site energy-generating systems, and must preserve water, land, and the natural habitat. I love the CMHC (Canadian Morgetage and Housing Comission, they once gave my team $30K to do an integrated design process for a green development. |
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| green inside & out! |
[Mar. 31st, 2006|01:24 pm] |
"Green building" saves 70% energy cost
 
BEIJING, March 30 (Xinhua) The Beijing Sci & Tech Green energy-efficient building has used about 30 percent of the energy of other comparable building and saves 10,000 tons of water each year, its developers reported yesterday. They said the cost savings over the building's 70-year life is enough to build a similar sized building(!)
The building, which belongs to the Ministry of Science and Technology, was awarded "the green building" by the U.S.-based Natural Resources Defense Council on Thursday. Yang Guoxiong, an official who oversees the buildings operation, said that the building has combined various kinds of energy-saving technologies, green technologies and intelligent technologies, while maintaining a comparatively low cost of construction. The architectural design and exterior structure are designed to collecting daylight. Air conditioning, air ventilation, lighting and lift controls are all environmentally friendly, and lead to annual power saving of 900,000 kwh. Pretty hot! |
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| peace boxes... |
[Mar. 2nd, 2006|08:51 pm] |
Annie St Pierre, Bruno Choinard and GOLIATH (I think that one's a dog) have found a way to meld their activism, their peaceful orientations and their desire to find a meaningful yet ecological way of life, has led to the BoitesDeLaPaix (the boxes of peace). And as you can see, they look nice! As you can tell from them being on my blog they are either recycled or some other green material (recycled wood). But what makes these Peace Boxes even nicer, is that old sword to plowshares story... These are munitions boxes. These used to be holding tools to kill people, and now they have been skillfully reworked and made into CDholders and Wine holders (I know I know... whats a CD?? well, kids, it's like an LP with no street cred). I am sorry but couldn't find an english side to their site, so here's the link and good luck with the french. If you have any problems, just ask, i'll translate... |
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| be green, and be hassle-free |
[Feb. 24th, 2006|04:30 pm] |
Santa Cruz -always ahead of the curve- hatch a great scheme
...Sometimes there are other incentives aside from tax credits and rebates. And the City of Santa Cruz',Green Building Working Group (GBWG) has enacted just one more way to encourage green behavior. Sharon Sarris, Monterey Bay co-chair of the US Green Building Council, says that as of 2007, the city of Santa Cruz will require all residents filing for construction permits to complete a checklist of green building items like water, efficiency, and insulated pipes, and that only those with a minimum number of points will receive a permit, while those scoring higher will have their permit process expedited.
So it's your choice, apparently, design/build intelligently and save loads of energy, waste-water and money, or be stubborn, and uh, stand in line.... |
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| "1st" web-based eco "TV station" |
[Feb. 23rd, 2006|06:25 pm] |
Canada's EkosTV now on the air!
....well I always shy away from saying something is the "first" and just because they say they are, means nothing to me. But really I could care less if its the first or not. What I care about is what do they do? And in this case EkosTV does it, and does it well! So say hello to British Columbia's EkosTV. I am super enjoying it.... They produce a TV show, have multiblogs, and even an online forum. And of course with a name like that and a plug on my LJ, you know what the theme is, right? It's educational, entertaining, and inspiring.... ((they do want you to subscribe ($75/yr gets you hires versions of the show))) but that's not bad....
Exec Producer Rick Searle, Patricia Sims, Prarie Blake and others are busy creating radical easy to swallow TV to help you get your eco-literacy 101. Looking at episode one there's a mix of great and so-so, but even the so-so is pretty good. The great in Episode 1 includes an awesome Eco-Condo, and a series of climate change PSAs done by kids... Searle's personal vblog moment (sitting in a tree) is endearing and unedited, so really honest, but not quite as riveting as the other pieces... still its a pretty amazing show to even exist and wether you want to become a memeber or not, it's totally worth it to check out episode one of EkosTV (oh and hey, no doom and/or gloom!!) |
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| a little bit country, a little bit rock and roll.... all green! |
[Feb. 20th, 2006|12:41 pm] |
Green Building's hidden benefits: the healthy happy worker!
I was just reading this nice article from the Salt Lake Tribune called "Green Works Better" (hey, I like 'em all-- besides while most people I know from Salt Lake are ex saltlakers, or as they say, Latter Day Ain'ts, it still is a reaaaly clean place.. right?)
Anyway, They were talking about the 498 LEED certified offices and buildings there are now, (and the 3,000 that are about to get certified), and of course I mention it not because they had all the good starts about how fast a green buildingcan pat for itself and all that--rather they had a great take on it. How much more one gets out of a green building by the fact that the employees are happier and even healthier in a healthy house. Great! Lots of facts and figures ...and annecdotes. Here's a nice ironic slice for you:
At the Occupational Safety and Health Administration's new lab in Sandy, scientists analyze air-quality samples and materials from workplaces around the country. Before moving in two years ago, the employees worked in an old warehouse where only a few management offices had windows. "Everybody lived on anti-depressants because we were in a cave," says Lynn Kenison, a senior chemist at the OSHA Technical Center." |
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| conference news |
[Feb. 18th, 2006|11:31 am] |
OK there are only like, a thousand green conferences happening nowadays... (with problems like these.... life's pretty LG). Still, EnvironDesign 10 at Toronto's National Tade Center (April 25, 26, 27) sounds like a winner. And not just 'cause I'm here, because I would have traveled here for a show like this (then again, i get in for free, media and all... so maybe that doesn't count)!
Aside from great lectures and panel discussions, there will be tours of prefab and oldschool green buildings, a Stephen Peck "GreenRoofs 101" Workshop, and workshops with the following brilliant people, David W. Orr!!, Tom Haynes, David Gottfried, Alison Kinn Bennett, Henning Bloech , my pal Jillian Hovey, Huston Eubank, Jenifer Seal Cramer, Barbra Batshalom, Chandrashekhar Prabhu, Steve French, Dan Pink, Nellie Cheng, Steven Baumgartner Jayson Antonoff, Carl E. Smith, Joel Ann Todd, Jean-Pierre Simard , Robert Zimmerman, Dru Meadows, and Bill Walsh to name a few....
like I said, at this point there are thousands of green conferences around the planet but this is going to be a heavy one!!!
[EnvironDesign10] |
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| ...I almost wanna go back to school!!! |
[Feb. 18th, 2006|11:07 am] |
A new advanced degree program that puts a green spin on architectural design will be offered at Yale University next fall. The four-year joint degree program will focus on sustainable and restorative environmental design, which seeks to minimize adverse effects on the natural environment and human health and enhance the beneficial contact between people and nature in buildings. “Much of current design and development, especially in urban areas, has fostered environmental degradation, excessive waste, pollution and unsustainable resource use, while at the same time separating, if not alienating, people from the natural environment,” said Stephen Kellert, the Tweedy Ordway Professor of Social Ecology at the environment school. Students in the 126-credit program will take 90 course credits at the architecture school and 36 credits at the environment school, and upon graduation will receive master's degrees in architecture and environmental management.
“Schools of the environment are recognizing that they must also strive to be schools of sustainable development, and schools of architecture are recognizing that they need to address the biological and biophilic dimension of sustainable design,” said Kellert. “Consequently, students of the environment and of architecture are increasingly seeking to integrate and combine the knowledge and skills of these currently separate and independent disciplines, so that they may someday shape built environments that will sustain people and the planet. Can I get an amen?" (OK, he didn't say that last part).
I never really thought of The Yayo as cutting edge eco, but I have high hopes... Sure they don't have an Ambasz or a Yeang on the Archi faculty, but it's Yale, they can hire.... Besides they do have Gustav "Gus" Speth as the dean of the eco school(!)
That is pretty heavy. I gotta say, I've had the pleasure of being in Mr. Speth's company (with his pal, Maurice Strong, I mean those two are amazing!) and he is a unique person in this field! You don't even need to take a course just being near him you get it by osmosis! From 1993 to 1999, "Dean Speth" served as administrator of the United Nations Development Programme and chair of the UN Development Group. Prior to that, he was founder and president of WRI the World Resources Institute; professor of law at Georgetown University; chairman of the U.S. Council on Environmental Quality; and senior attorney and cofounder, Natural Resources Defense Council. With Gus in on it, I have high hopes for the school of architecture's new Green Building progarm at Yale! Yay! |
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| eco cubicles... |
[Feb. 17th, 2006|07:39 pm] |
Innovation & environmental awareness, Washington-based Ecowork LLC creates office furniture with 95 per cent recycled materials.
How recycled can your office get? Ecowork LLC has the answer. They create designer office furniture out of 95 per cent recycled and rapidly renewable material. Ecowork’s products push the envelope in developing functional, aesthetic and renewable products for office workspaces. But Scot Davidson, company founder, was not ready to stop there, He and his team consider many factors beyond form, cost and function. Eco-design considers the sustainable nature of core materials, energy used in transportation and production, safety in production, off-gassing characteristics, and end-of-life disposal.
The "Ecowork Workspace" is made primarily of recycled paper, cardboard, tires and waste wheat straw. It is designed to be colorful, attractive, just as durable as commercial products, and sturdy enough to bear the challenges of business use. Ecowork products are already used around the country in many challenging locations, and have received numerous design awards, and they have won praise from clients such as Smith & Hawken, the University of Colorado, and Environmental Defense.
“At Ecowork, our values drive us to create products that have minimum negative environmental impact but that are still a joy to own,” says Davidson. (well yeah, in this case, it's more realistic to aim for that, than to aim for being a joy to use) “Our products provide a functional, flexible and creative work environment for businesses that truly believe in social responsibility, forward thinking and a passion for the environment.” And I agree wholeheartedly, you can't run a green business and be offgassing at the same time.... |
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