EcoSinners

Top 10 green living myths

2009-11-27T05:40:00.000-08:00

Top 10 green living myths

There is more to being green than driving a Prius and buying local produce.
Duncan Clark sheds further light on the eco-friendly messages we've come to take for granted

1. What they tell you: Turning off the lights saves CO2

What they don't tell you: It makes sense for individuals to use less electricity to help reduce the emissions of British power stations. However, it's worth bearing in mind that the total amount of CO2 that can be released by power plants and other industrial facilities across the EU between now and 2012 is fixed by the European Emissions Trading Scheme. This means that if the UK power sector reduces its emissions, extra carbon permits get freed up for use elsewhere, such as German power stations or French cement plants. In other words, the same amount of CO2 will be released, just from different sources. If you want to ensure that your electricity savings do make a real environmental difference, join Sandbag, a charity that will remove CO2 permits from the EU scheme to stop your good work being traded away on the carbon markets.

2. What they tell you: Buy a greener car

What they don't tell you: If you definitely need a new car, it makes perfect sense to buy a small, super-efficient model with low CO2 emissions. However, making a new car – including mining and processing the metals and manufacturing and assembling the components – takes a huge amount of energy. According to an expert at the Stockholm Environment Institute, the production of a typical modern car causes around 8 tonnes of CO2, equivalent to driving 23,000 miles. Because of this, unless you currently drive a lot in a highly inefficient car, it will often be greener to stick to your existing vehicle than to sell it and buy a new one.

3. What they tell you: Going veggie cuts emissions

What they don't tell you: It's true that animal products tend to have much higher carbon footprint than food produced from plants. Hence vegetarianism tends to be a good idea from an environmental point of view. The devil is in the detail, however, because certain dairy products are more "carbon intensive" than some meats. In particular hard cheese, which takes a lot of milk to produce, can have a bigger footprint per kilo than chicken. So while cutting out meat – especially beef and lamb – definitely makes ecological sense, the benefit will be reduced if you make up the calories by consuming more dairy. The most effective way to reduce the emissions of your diet is to go vegan – or as close as you can get.

4. What they tell you: Don't overfill the kettle

What they don't tell you: It's not just how much water you boil that determines the carbon footprint of your tea or coffee, but also the type of kettle you use. Jug kettles are fast and convenient, but their fuel – electricity from the national grid – produces almost three times more greenhouse gas for each unit of heat than burning gas in the home does. Hence switching to a stove-top kettle on a gas cooker will usually reduce emissions – especially in colder months when any heat from the flames that escapes around the side of the kettle will warm the room, reducing the burden on the central heating system.

5. What they tell you: Use more efficient appliances

What they don't tell you: Choosing highly energy-efficient appliances is one good way to ensure that routine tasks such as dishwashing and laundry don't create more carbon pollution than necessary. But there are other ways, too, such as simply running your machines at night. In the daytime, when electricity consumption is at its highest, the dirtiest, least efficient power stations are rolled out to help meet peak demand. At night, when demand is lower, these power stations can be switched off, which means that each unit of electricity has a lower carbon footprint. Turning your washing machine and dishwasher on before you go to bed therefore shaves a little off your carbon footprint by "spreading the load" on the electricity grid – though the difference isn't as huge as some websites have claimed.

6. What they tell you: Sign up with us, we provide 100% renewable electricity

What they don't tell you: Various electricity companies promise to provide customers with power from renewable sources. This gives the impression that by signing up you'll be increasing the amount of clean electricity being produced. The truth is rather more complex. The government requires a certain proportion of UK electricity to come from renewable sources. If an electricity company exceeds this target by generating most or all of its power from renewables it can sell its extra green electricity credits to other companies which in turn can avoid producing any green power themselves. The net effect is that not very much changes. That's not to say don't sign up, but if you do use a green power supplier don't expect your electricity to suddenly be carbon-neutral, no matter what the adverts suggest.

7. What they tell you: Wood fires are green

What they don't tell you: If you burn the wood in an open fire, the majority of the energy in the wood will be lost up the chimney. Assuming it comes from properly managed forests, however, wood is a green fuel because the CO2 released when it gets burned will be sucked from the air by the trees planted to replace the felled ones. The inefficient burning typical in a fireplace also creates plenty of soot. Like CO2, soot warms the atmosphere by absorbing heat from the sun – and it can also travel thousands of miles to settle on Arctic ice, where it accelerates melting by darkening the surface. A much better option environmentally is a log-burning stove. These capture most of the heat from the fuel, greatly reducing the amount of wood required, and they slash soot emissions too. Some modern stoves are so clean-burning that they can even be used in smoke-free zones.

8. What they tell you: Use eco detergents

What they don't tell you: "Ecological" washing up liquids and clothes detergents offer an environmental benefit by favouring rapidly biodegradable, low-toxicity, plant-based ingredients over harsher synthetic ones. However, when it comes to climate change, most of the footprint of washing up or cleaning clothes is not caused by producing the detergent but by heating the water. Hence the most effective way to cut emissions is simply to be sparing with hot water when washing up and to use low temperature cycles for laundry. If you find a 30-degree wash sufficient with an ecological powder, then that's ideal; if not, then arguably it would be better to use a more powerful detergent rather than turn up the temperature dial.

9. What they tell you: Reusable nappies are better for the planet

What they don't tell you: It's true that disposable nappies occupy a lot of space in landfill sites and consume a fairly large amount of oil in their production. However, an in-depth study from the Environment Agency (pdf) found that the total impact on global warming could be slightly higher for washables than for disposables. Washables can have a lower carbon footprint, but only if you have an energy-efficient washing machine, use a 60-degree wash cycle, limit yourself to 24 nappies, and don't tumble dry or iron them. Nappy washing services have the highest footprint of all.

10. What they tell you: Buy local

What they don't tell you: The transport of goods accounts for a small but significant proportion of the human impact on the climate. It generally makes environmental sense, therefore, to favour local food and other products. However, it's not always true that local is best. One study suggested that lamb from New Zealand, with its clean energy and rich pastures, has a lower footprint when consumed in the UK than locally produced lamb, despite the long-distance shipping. Another study showed that cut flowers sold in Britain that had been grown in distant but sunny Kenya had a smaller carbon footprint than those grown in heated greenhouses in Holland. So while transport is important, it's not the only factor to consider.

• The examples above are all drawn from the Rough Guide to Green Living, which was published this month.

from:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/green-living-blog/2009/nov/26/top-10-green-living-myths

2009-10-13T15:04:00.000-07:00

5 Things You Don’t Know About IKEA (But Should!)
by Mac Carey

just how popular is IKEA? It’s estimated that 10% of living Europeans were conceived on an IKEA-produced bed. It’s time you learned a little more about the company, its reclusive owner Ingvar Kamprad (who may or may not be worth more than Bill Gates), and his continuing quest to install flat pack, streamlined fixtures across the seven continents.

1. It All Started With a Car

The inspiration for IKEA’s design philosophy came when taking the legs off of a chair to fit it into a car. IKEA founder Ingvar Kamprad was so irritated by the experience that he developed the concept of flat pack design. The novel packing method had a twofold appeal: it allowed easier shopping for urban Europeans who depended on public transportation, and it also lowered the company’s shipping costs dramatically. But the store wasn’t an immediate success. IKEA floundered in Sweden for thirty years (THIRTY YEARS!) before finding an international audience.

2. The Company Had Some Dark Secrets

IngvarKamprad.jpgWhile we’ve written about IKEA cloaking itself as a charitable institution, that isn’t the blue and yellow über-store’s only dirty secret. While Kamprad today is known as a frugal billionaire who drives a ‘93 Volvo, eats at middle-class restaurants, and outfits his home entirely in affordable IKEA products, his legacy is tainted by his past involvement with pro-Nazi organizations. Between 1942 and 1945, Kamprad joined, fund-raised, and recruited members for a fascist, Nazi-sympathizing group in Sweden. The news only came out in 1994, when his personal correspondence with fascist Per Engdahl was released to the public. Kamprad immediately apologized for his involvement and claimed it was the biggest regret of his young life. He also wrote to every Jewish employee on his staff to issue a personal apology.

Of course, none of this stopped the information from being a point of controversy when the store first arrived in Israel, but the world seems to have forgiven him. Today IKEA is one of the only international companies to spread to both Israel and Arab countries. In fact, the store is so popular in the Middle East that three people were trampled to death at the store’s 2004 grand opening in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

3. The Dining Tables Were Too Small for a Turkey

The beginnings of IKEA in America were inauspicious, with European compact efficiency conflicting with America’s “bigger is better” creed. In the 1980s, for example, many customers bought vases, mistaking them for water glasses. They were also wary of a dining room table that couldn’t hold the girth of a full size Thanksgiving turkey. IKEA’s designers only changed their mindset in how they approached American design after the head of US operations made a stunt of it: He handed out t-shirts to Swedish designers that declared “size matters.” They apparently got the message.

4. The IKEA Catalogue Is Bigger Than the Bible

The IKEA catalogue was and is the company’s greatest weapon in its arsenal. A 300-page missionary text, it goes out to over 180 million people in 27 different languages. Each year, there are more copies of the IKEA catalogue printed than the Bible. A bit of a cult following has also developed around the catalogues, with earnest readers on the lookout for hidden messages in the pictures, such as running references to Mickey Mouse and weird, obscure books on the bookshelves.

5. It’s a Hipster Hangout

Despite early stumbles in America, twenty years later, the store has so ingrained itself into our society that a trend amongst urban hipsters is to host dinner parties at the stores. A meal of lingonberry jam and meatballs at the cafeteria for the host and guests, and the living room displays make perfect venues for a round of Taboo and Pictionary. A blog posting chronicling the first party in Sacramento led to a string of copycats across the country. So far, IKEA management doesn’t seem to be complaining.

from http://blogs.static.mentalfloss.com/blogs/archives/31198.html

2009-10-13T14:37:00.000-07:00

Dumpster Swimming
by Jill Harness

WebUrbanist recently ran a fantastic piece on upcycled dumpsters and their wide array of uses. My personal favorite are these mini-swimming pools, which give a whole new meaning to the words “dumpster diving.” Funny enough, this isn’t the only place you may have read about turning dumpsters into pools, the New York Times has also written about a new movement in the Northeast where people are turning huge storage dumpsters into pools and even holding swim parties in them.

There are other great uses for these little trash bins in the WebUrbanist post, including skateboarding ramps, a living room and an urban garden. Next time you see a dumpster, consider what else it could be used for.

from http://www.mentalfloss.com/blogs/archives/36213

One's Trash is Another's Treasure

2009-10-07T08:07:00.000-07:00

There are so many disadvantages to the way that we fuel our everyday needs. Oil and gasoline are causing huge problems in our world today. Gasoline is made from crude-oil which is a natural resource that is rapidly becoming scarce. Most experts agree that at least half of the recoverable oil on our planet has already been used. At the rate that we are consuming it, it will only take about 40 more years for it to completely disappear. It is obvious that we must find a safe, reliable and logical alternative to gasoline. I believe that if we could somehow find a way to turn our everyday trash into an all-purpose fuel to power all of our luxuries that we have today, all of our worries about gasoline would disappear.
Eighty percent of the garbage that the world produces goes into landfills. To the naked eye, they seem like a pretty good place for our waste and garbage; but if you look a little further into it, the cons of landfills definitely outweigh the pros. To make a landfill, one must destroy wildlife and trees. Landfills produce bad odors and they are an eyesore to all people that are forced to see them. Another disadvantage of landfills is that the runoff can pollute area rivers and streams. Although all pollution would not be extinct, making trash into an all purpose fuel would cut down on air pollution and pollution of our environment noticeably.

It wouldn't be very expensive to produce and it would be very efficient. In addition to the other benefits of alternative fuel, making an inflammable fuel would make operating and riding in vehicles less dangerous. Sometimes the gasoline that drivers use to fuel their cars with can catch on fire because of an accident. Another safe factor about this new kind of fuel is that it would not be flammable, therefore it would make driving in general safer. The first step in creating this new system of fueling would be establishing factories where the trash could be turned into fuel. There would have to be many different labs for changing different kinds of trash into fuel. For example, paper products and glass products could not possibly be in the same lab since their make ups are so different.

Instead of garbage men taking the garbage to the dump on their pick-up days, they would take it to the factory. In turn for trash, the companies could form some sort of debit system where for every bag of trash the provider donates, the provider receives a free gallon of fuel.
As the system gets more and more advanced, it could be possible to someday make self-serve centers. At these centers, customers would first put their trash into the machine. The machine would then separate all of the different kinds of trash and then make them all into fuel. The customer would then fuel the car with his or her own garbage. I feel as if this invention would stop many problems we have with gasoline today and it would benefit our society in many ways.
by Emily D'Atri from http://www.helium.com/items/368682-recycling-effect-on-cost-consumption-of-gasoline-energy

Recycling: Effect on cost & consumption of gasoline & energy

2009-10-07T08:03:00.000-07:00

The production of recyclable materials consumes more fossil fuel than all of the cars in the United Sates. By reducing the amount of virgin polythene for plastic containers, glass from sand & feldspar, fresh paper from trees, and aluminum, tin and steel cans from ore, everyone can control fuel consumption by recycling. By exercising the law of supply and demand, consumers have direct control over the cost of their own energy consumption, both electric and gasoline.

~ Recycling aluminum cans consumes 96% less energy than producing from ore, produces 95% less air pollution and produces 97% less water pollution.

~ Recycling one glass bottle will light a 100 watt light bulb for 4 hours. Producing glass from recycled glass reduces solid waste by 75% and air pollution by up to 20%.

~ Recycling one ton of plastic bottles reduces oil consumption by 1.8 tons. Recycling one pound of PET plastic (soda & water bottles) saves 12,000 BTU of energy. Recycling one plastic bottle conserves enough energy to fuel a 60 watt light bulb for almost six hours.

~ Recycling one ton of paper saves 380 gallons of oil- enough to drive a car 1,260 miles- and conserves 4,077 kilowatt hours of energy or enough to heat and cool an average American home for 6 months.

~ Recycling the 39,000,000 appliances last year produced enough steel to build 160 football stadiums. Of the 100,000,000 steel and tin cans used in America everyday, enough cans are thrown away to build all of the cars in America.

Plastic production is the single largest consumer of oil at 8% of the world's total oil consumption. Recycling of one-tenth of American HDPE bottles (detergent, milk and shampoo bottles) would keep 200,000,000 pounds of solid waste out of land fills and all of the gasoline necessary to transport it.

Aluminum recycling of one ton of cans will conserve 12,725 kilowatt hours, equal to the amount of the electricity used in the average American home in 10 years. This energy is the equivalent to 2,350 gallons of gasoline, or enough to drive a new car 82,250 miles.

Producing glass from only 50% post consumer recycled glass saves 1,330 pounds of sand, 151 pounds of feldspar, 433 pounds of soda ash, 433 pounds of limestone and 288 pounds of mining waste, as well as all of the fuel necessary to transport and process these materials.

Of the 62,000,000 newspapers printed today, 44,000,000 will be thrown away- the equivalent of 30,000,000 trees. Recycling one ton of paper reduces the use of processed energy by a minimum of 64% in addition to the savings of the fuel consumed by transporting and processing the trees.

Steel and tin recycling currently saves enough electrical energy each year to light Los Angeles (18,000,000 homes) for eight years. Recycling one car saves 1,400 pounds of coal, 120 pounds of limestone, 2,500 pounds of iron ore and all of the fuel to mine and transport the raw materials.

Take on oil companies by reducing the need for oil. One recycled aluminum can will save enough gasoline to fill the can half full, and recycling one six pack of aluminum cans would save enough gasoline to drive 5 miles. Producing plastic grocery bags from recycled plastic reduces energy consumption by 67%.

Recycling is more than just conserving the air, trees, coal, natural resources and oil on Earth. It is keeping money in your pocket.
by Ann Marie Dwyer from http://www.helium.com/items/231396-recycling-effect-on-cost-consumption-of-gasoline-energy

Aluminum is Potential Cause of Thirty-Five Million with Dementia Worldwide

2009-10-07T07:57:00.000-07:00

A recent report found that 35 million people around the world have Alzheimer's or other forms of dementia. The number is expected to double every 20 years "unless there is a medical breakthrough." Dementia rates have grown 10% over what was predicted just a few years back, and this is attributed to faster than expected growth rates in developing countries. However, far more important than any medical breakthrough would be the widespread understanding of the common things people do each day that cause and contribute to brain dysfunction and dementia. The obvious next step then, is to end those destructive habits.

Aluminum in the brain is commonly associated with Alzheimer's disease and most people apply aluminum to their skin each day in the form of deodorant. Even worse, females regularly apply aluminum-based deodorant to freshly shaven pits, which are likely to have small nicks and cuts in them. Even without those little cuts, most of what is applied to the skin ends up in the bloodstream, and this applies to ingredients in lotion, make-up and to the aluminum in deodorant.

Aluminum is also common in cooking, and aluminum pots and pans are common in homes and restaurants. However, when heated, the toxic heavy metal leaches into your food and from there, it ends up inside your body.

Particularly in developing countries, toxic cookware can be the only option available. The choices are often Teflon or aluminum, both of which are associated with serious problems, and problems that are growing at tremendous rates. In fact, this may account for the unexpected increase of dementia in developing countries.

Many people also see fit to wrap, or worse, cook foods in aluminum foil. Especially when heated, the toxic heavy metal will find its way right into your diet, and perhaps become lodged in your brain. Food packaged in aluminum cans and soft drinks are also part of the problem.

Soft drinks in aluminum cans are disturbing because soft drinks are so acidic, that they are known to eat through metal. In fact, a study in 1993 showed that rats fed soda from aluminum cans had "significantly higher" levels of aluminum in their blood, liver and bones, when compared to rats fed soda from a glass bottle.

The same study found "a 69% higher bone aluminum concentration and 16% lower femur weight in rats fed aluminum canned soft drinks" when compared to rats given distilled water. The reduced femur (large leg bone) weight is likely connected to the acidic nature of soft drinks, because acids in the body contribute to bone loss. It's also interesting that in soil, aluminum is far more toxic in acidic, rather than alkaline, environments.

If there wasn't enough to be concerned about with genetically modified foods, one of the things they are working on is producing plants that can be grown in highly toxic environments. According to Wired Magazine, this includes growing our foods in areas that are polluted with aluminum. Normally, aluminum damages the plant's root structure, but they're finding ways to grow our food there anyway. A pro-GMO blog even ran an article with the title "GM Crops that Can Grow on Poisonous Soil."

Because genetically modified foods don't require labeling in much of the world, by consuming plants that have been altered to grow in poisonous environments, most people will never have a clue how they'll have been contributing to their own brain failure when it eventually comes about. Unfortunately, this particular type of brain failure will destroy your quality of life and often the quality of life of your loved ones, while sucking every penny dry for constant care.

While dementia is associated with aging, it's not really aging that gets people. It's the fact that older people have had a longer time to accumulate poisons, including aluminum, in their brains and bodies. In fact, a nine year old girl has been diagnosed with dementia, showing that age is far from the only factor in who is tormented by the disease.

The U.S. Alzheimer's Association is urging for increased spending to research the disease - from just over $400 million to one billion dollars. They want to study the plaque that develops in brains with dementia, while ignoring several studies that show aluminum causes this plaque to grow. According to Dr. John McDougall, MD, aluminum has been found at the center of each of these plaques. If Dr. McDougall is correct, it's likely that the body forms the plaque as a protective measure against the poison, and to keep it away from the tissue. But, as with many of the body's efforts to contain and protect us from the abundant poisons that the average person keeps taking in, these protective measures will cause problems over time too.

from: http://www.naturalnews.com/027072_aluminum_dementia_cleansing.html

some statistics on metals...

2009-10-07T07:37:00.000-07:00

Steel and aluminium are common metals in the UK and are produced and exist in large quantities. Their uses and usefulness were discovered thousands of years ago. Longevity, malleability, strength and conductivity -their properties have been used over the ages to provide us with the many goods we see today. They may be found in items as varied as cars, computers, buildings and packaging. Although UK per capita consumption of steel has dropped since the 1970s, aluminium use is still growing. Metals may remain for many years as viable products and so the environmental effects of their production will be lessened relative to using less durable materials.

World primary production of aluminium is around 24 million tonnes on average a year. The largest producer of aluminium is Australia, although other producer countries include Jamaica, Brazil, Guinea, China and parts of Europe.

World crude steel production stood at 1.05 billion tonnes in 2004. This represented a worldwide increase in production of 8.8% compared to 2003. Excluding China, world production rose by 4.5% in 2004.

Why bother?
Metals can be recycled indefinitely without loosing any of their properties. They make up around 8% of the average household dustbin yet in 2003 the recycling rates for aluminium and ferrous metals as a percentage of their consumption were only 33% and 26% respectively.

Steel Facts and Figures

• Each household uses approximately 600 steel cans per year
• There are over 300million cans used per week over the xmas period
• The thinnest part of the can wall measures only 0.07mm thick - that's thinner than a human hair
• It would take 1087 steel drinks cans stacked end to end to reach the top of the London Eye or 2818 to reach the top of the Eiffel Tower
• The value of used steel cans in the waste stream is £28 milllion per annum which is available to collectors.
• Don't forget that 1.8 billion drinks cans are made of steel
• Millions of steel cans are collected every day by using huge magnets to pull them out of dustbin waste
• The recycling rate of all steel packaging is 46%; aluminum has a 23.4% packaging recycle rate .
• Steel cans are becoming lighter with the average weight of a soft drinks can in 2004 expected to be only 21.4g .In 1980 it was 31.2g
• There are over 2.5 billion cans recycled in the UK each year - [That's a saving of 125,000tonnes of solid waste every year] that's equivalent to the weight of 18,000 double decker buses!!
• All steel cans are 100% recyclable
• All steel cans contain up to 25% recycled steel
• Its not just food and drink cans made from steel! - most of your deodorants, hairsprays, polishes, paint cans and other household and DIY products are made out of steel too!
• Recycling one tone of steels cans saves 1.5 tonnes of iron ore ,0.5 tonnes of coal & 40% water usage
• Two-thirds of all cans on supermarkets shelves are made from steel
• Recycling 1 tonne of steel scrap saves 80% of the CO2 emissions produced when making steel from iron ore
• Recycling seven steel cans saves enough energy to power a 60-watt light bulb for 26 hours

Every tonne of steel packaging recycled makes the following environmental savings:

1.5 tonnes of iron ore
0.5 tonnes of coal
40% of the water required in production
75% of the energy needed to make steel from virgin material
1.28 tonnes of solid waste Reduction of air emissions by 86%
Reduction of water pollution by 76%

75% of all canned drinks sold in the UK are packaged in aluminium. In 2001 the UK consumed 5 billion aluminium drinks cans, of which 42% were recycled. Although this is a great improvement on the 2% recycled in 1989, there were still a massive 3 billion cans that were landfilled.

Aluminium cans are recycled into new aluminium cans. Used beverage cans are normally back on supermarket shelves as new beverage cans in 6-8 weeks. With a growing percentage of cans made from aluminium, because of its lightweight qualities, this ensures a healthy market for aluminium can recycling.

more on http://www.wasteonline.org.uk/resources/InformationSheets/metals.htm

Criminal recycling

2009-10-07T07:27:00.001-07:00

Have you ever thought that recycling will be called a crime?
well... neither have I ;-)

...What do beer kegs, boat propellers, utility wires and a 200-ton metal bridge have in common? They all have been stolen by a brand of thieves called criminal recyclers. No, they're not recyclers who neglect to flatten their cardboard boxes or to separate their glass from their plastic. They belong to a growing group of lawbreakers who steal recyclable items (primarily metals) that they exchange for cash at a recycling facility....

...As much as we would like to believe that recycling is a selfless act fueled by the desire to care for Mother Nature, much of it is driven by cold, hard cash. When this article was written, copper was selling at about $3.94 per pound, three times as much as it was a few years ago [source: MetalPrices.com]. Other metals like aluminum are following a similar trend, thanks to demand from industrializing nations like China. In the United States, the scrap recycling industry generated $65 billion and processed roughly 145 million tons of materials in 2006 [source: ISRI]. It was only a matter of time before enterprising criminals cashed in on the moneymaking machine...

...Thousands of miles away, thieves set their sites on an even heftier goal. In Russia, employees of a heating plant had to find an alternate route to work after the bridge that provided them their only direct access was stolen by scrap thieves during a nighttime heist. The heating company estimated that the 200-ton steel bridge would cost almost $40,000 to replace -- this time with concrete [source: Daily Mail]. ...

you can read the article on http://people.howstuffworks.com/criminal-recycling.htm/printable

New designs in recycling

2009-10-07T07:24:00.000-07:00

Ovetto Recycling Bin is presented at London Design Festival by an Italian architect and designer Gianluca Soldi. This colorful and beautiful piece of architect is made up of recycled polypropylene offering 3 different containers to make recycling easy and much more organized. This concept is named after an Italian Word Ovetto which means “Egg” and therefore the shape of this recycling bin is also based on the natural shape of egg. The bin comes with appliqué stickers for easy recognition of the compartments. This bin is surely going to make your store or apartment modern and classy.

Eco-confession

2009-10-07T07:14:00.000-07:00

Priest offers festival-goers the chance to confess their green sins
(Richard Mills/The Times)
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/faith/article2349163.ece

Nine out of ten people tell little green lies about how much they recycle and how little they consume, according to a recent survey

Forgotten to recycle any newspapers or tin cans recently? Feeling guilty because you neglected to carbon offset your flight to somewhere, anywhere, outside England this summer?

The Roman Catholic Church is at hand with a new line in “green confessions” to help eco-sinners to find forgiveness.

Dom Anthony Sutch, the Benedictine monk who resigned as head of Downside School to become a parish priest in Suffolk, will be at the county’s Waveney Greenpeace festival this weekend to hear eco-confessions in what is thought to be the first dedicated confessional booth of its kind.

Vested in a green chasuble-style garment made from recycled curtains, and in a booth constructed of recycled doors, he will hear the sins of of those who have not recycled the things they ought to have done and who have consumed the things they ought not to have done.

Related Links
Like it or not, thou shalt recycle thy rotting food
Exposed: the great recycling con trick
Father Sutch tries to practise what he preaches but has turned the heating down so low at his church of St Benet’s that at least one parishioner has fled to the warmer care of a neighbouring priest for winter services.

He told The Times: “It is not, I hope, blasphemous to do this. I do not think it is. It is just an attempt to make people conscious of the way they live. The Church is aware of green issues and of how aware we have to be of how we treat the environment.

“I know the Pope has now set up his own airline, but I am told the Vatican will be planting trees every time it flies. I do think the way we treat our environment is important.

“There is a huge amount of greed in the West. We have to be aware of the consequences of how we live.”

Father Sutch said that he tried “very hard” to live a green lifestyle but admitted that it was difficult. “I try not to turn on my heating but people come and stay with me and demand it. I get attacked for having a cold church. I have cut my electricity bill by 30 per cent.

"I try to grow my own vegetables and I buy my food from the local area. But when I travel to London I have to drive my car 30 miles to the station to catch the train because I cannot get a bus. My parish is spread out so I have to drive around it by car. It can be difficult to be green. I am hoping to find out about more that I can do at the fair this weekend.

“I’ve had one or two comments about abuse of the confessional. One or two people have said, ‘Father, is this quite right?’ Luckily, more people see it as an excellent idea. As with all these things, we have to look in the mirror and see what we could stop consuming ourselves.”

Being green has become the new “socially correct” form of behaviour for many, resulting in dishonesty as Western consumers exaggerate their eco-friendliness to keep up with their neighbours. A new poll for Norwich Union found that nine out of ten people tell “little green lies” about how much they recycle and how little they consume. More than half think that unethical living is as socially taboo as drink driving.

The Waveney Greenpeace confessional concept is based on the Earthly Sins booth which has appeared at the Glastonbury festival and in the lobby of theatre performancs by the comic Rob Newman. A secular construct, Earthly Sins asks penitents to sign a pledge that they will switch to renewable energy or ethical banking.

At Waveney, Rupert Read, a local Norwich Green councillor, and Steve Peck, a Suffolk actor, will be standing by to offer post-confessional advice. Mr Read told the Eastern Daily Press: “It is a bit of a laugh but there is a serious underlying point. By doing this we hope people will think a bit more about what they might be doing to make their world a better place.

“I imaging people will be confessing to things like, ‘I have bought a new car even though I didn't need one’, or ‘I flew to Australia last year’. I have come up with some penances, such as making a donation to a green charity or telling ten other people what you have done.”

Graham Elliott, the fair organiser, said: “We are not expecting people to change their lifestyles dramatically, having stepped into the booth. We think they will treat it in a light-hearted way. If people are concerned about certain aspects of their lifestyles there will be information on hand, whether it is reducing energy use, renewable energy, reducing your travel impact, or ways to grow your own produce.”

The annual fair is the country’s biggest fundraising event for Greenpeace, raising more than £15,000. The fair, run entirely by volunteers, is at Hulver Farm, St Michael South Elmham, near Bungay, from 11am to midnight on Sunday.

Attractions include three stages of music, one of which has a sound system powered by a member of the audience riding an exercise bike. There will also be organic food, biodegradable beer cups and composting toilets that work without chemicals. Those wanting to get into the spirit of it by leaving their car at home can take the train to Halesworth, from where there is a free bus service to the fair. Bus passengers also get a £1 discount on entry.

Cultural probe research...

2009-10-07T06:38:00.000-07:00

i'm in my 4th year of Product Design in Edinburgh College of Art. In order to create something good for the environment, usefull and aesthetic i need to do some research. I have a strong interest in eco-design and eco-lifestyle, therefore I started noticing how much of an eco sinner I became. sometimes "eco" is a very misleading form used to increse sale, therefore consciousness is extremely important. we are all being targeted by greedy companies, who want to take advantage of a new eco-culture.
I put a lot of thinking in a form of my research and using the technology available is the only way to avoid using paper, ink, disposable cameras and petrol (royal mail uses cars to deliver mail).

The research is
a survey
a couple of tasks (for example to take some pictures around the house and send it back to me)
well... that's pretty much it.

so if you are interested in making your surrounding a better place, please send me your e-mail address with a title YES I DO so I could send you a questionnaire and tasks.
it's important to get as many people involved as it's possible so ... if you know anyone (either for or against being eco) please get them to contact me on... ecosinner@googlemail.com

many thanks
joanna