Greening Schools

If you've got kids in school, you have an ideal place to combat climate change and the harsh effects it has on the developing world.

According to Statistics Canada, nearly 5.3 million children spend a good chunk of each weekday in public schools across Canada. Imagine the positive environmental impact if students and staff decided to go as green as possible in their schools.

Climate change has a disastrous effect on poor families around the world. For example, children and their parents in Africa who can least afford to cope with natural disasters are facing increased flooding and droughts. And scientists predict that this will only worsen unless steps are taken to stop global warming.

Fortunately, many Canadian schools are embracing the challenge to go green, knowing that the future of children here and around the world depends on it. The British Columbia Ministry of Education, for example, now offers guidelines and resources to help schools become eco-friendly.
Here are some simple ways to go green at your school. (These suggestions can also be used in community centres, arenas or any public gathering place.)

1. Start or join a committee comprised of students, parents and teachers. Begin by contacting your school board or checking its website for information. Think of ways you can motivate the entire student body to join in. Kids embrace causes-especially ones where they can see their immediate impact.
2. Contact a community service club that has conservation as its goal. Ontario, for example, has the Ontario Environmental Network that lists 500 environmental organizations across the province. When starting a movement at your school, you can benefit a great deal from an established organization's know-how.
3. Try to go “carbon neutral.” This simply involves estimating the green-house-gas emissions the school is responsible for (check out DavidSuzuki.org for online carbon calculators) and finding ways to compensate through projects like wind farms or reforestation projects. Organizing fundraisers will help you invest in these green projects.
4. Ban idling. Walk through any school parking lot and you will likely find an idling vehicle. According to Friends of the Earth, Canadians idle away $1.3 million in greenhouse-gas-producing fuel each year. Create a policy that urges parents, school-bus drivers and anyone else who visits your school to turn their vehicles off while waiting.
5. Do what you already know. Many steps that energy-efficient families use in their homes can translate into a school setting. Something as simple as switching off computer monitors when they are not in use can have a significant impact. The average desktop computer is estimated to consume 420 kilowatts of power each year. When you are talking about more than 1 million computers being used in Canadian schools, the energy savings add up.

Green Innovation by Cities: Examples for Other Levels of Government

Here is a an article by David Suzuki from the David Suzuki Foundation's , findingsolutions, Summer 2007, back page about how cities, by their innovation and creativity in dealing with global warming issues, are setting an example of the other levels of government. I couldn't agree with him more.

lastword Dr. David Suzuki

MUNICIPAL MAKEOVER
Climate change already threatens the infrastructure of Canada's cities and our health. But we can do something about it.

Cities are amazing things. Today, more than 80 per cent of Canadians live in them. And as much as three-quarters of Canada's carbon emissions are emitted within municipal boundaries. Our cities are our homes, but they are also huge consumers of energy. That's why the small changes we make in our cities have a tremendous effect on the rest of the country.

Climate change already threatens the infrastructure of Canada's cities and our health. But we can do something about it. Just as we renovate our homes and maintain them, we need to do the same with our cities if we're going to deal with global warming.

It's time for us to apply our ingenuity and creativity to enhancing our cities. I'm proud to report that we don't have to go far to see revolutionary ideas in action.

Toronto's Atmospheric Fund provides grants and loans to projects that combat global climate change and improve air quality. Calgary's public transit C-train is powered by wind energy. And in Vancouver, despite an increase of 50,000 new residents in the past decade, transit trips have increased by 50 per cent.

Small changes in our cities have big effects. Municipal bylaws are just one example. Bylaws and local regulations address garbage disposal, lighting, road systems, planning and transit availability. Action in these areas educates and informs communities, helops address environmental problems and helps build sustainable neighbourhoods.

Cities can also make a huge difference through smarter purchasing decisions. For example, replacing municipal light-duty cars and pickups with hybrid-electric vehicles saves taxpayers' money and reduces air pollution.

On a larger scale, we also need to rethink our approach to urban planning. Sprawl not only drains our precious free time and expands our waistlines, but requires the drivers spend more time in their cars. Many cities are establishing more bike lanes, which are safer than high-speed expressways. And improved transit options make it convenient for commuters to leave their cars a[t] home.

The ideas are all here. And so is the public will. We need to develop our own visions and actions, work with our residents, and cooperate with other levels of government to make our cities more livable and sustainable, and protect our communities and our health.

Our cities are hotbeds of creativity and innovation, of imagination and vision. Citizens, city councilors, architects and urban planners are all working to make their communities better places to live. And they are role models to the other levels of government.

What You Can Do: Tips To Improve Fuel Economy

From the Monday, August 13, 2007, Metro, page 14:

Tips to Improve Fuel Economy

Automotive manufacturers continue to make improvements to the internal combustion engine to maximize fuel efficiency and reduce both smog and greenhouse gas emissions.

Priority focus has also been placed on developing new, environmentally-friendly technologies including hybrids, biofuels, electric vehicles and fuel cells.

Here are some steps drivers can take to improve the fuel efficiency of their vehicles every day:

1. Plan your trips and driving routes to avoid traffic congestion.
2. Observe speed limits.
3. Accelerate smoothly.
4. Maintain steady speeds.
5. Limit the use of accessories.
6. Don't carry more than you need.
7. Make sure your vehicle is properly maintained -- proper tire pressure, clean your air filter, etc.

News Canada

From the Summer 2007, Issue #7, of the bullfrog Buzz, the big voice on green power that's making a difference in the world we share information on a new sustainable clothing line by Cotton Ginny:

bullfrogpowered
Here are just a few of the many organizations that have made the switch to Bullfrog Power since our last newsletter. Bullfrog Power thanks all of its customers for their support.

Sustainable style

This spring, Cotton Ginny launched “OLOGY”, a new sustainable clothing line. The OLOGY collection is part of Cotton's Ginny's commitment to offering affordable eco-friendly fashions. Bamboo-ology, Soy-ology and Corn-ology, the first three collections in the OLOGY line, are made from 100 per cent sustainable fibers. By combining sustainable fibers such as bamboo, soy and corn with certified organic cotton, Cotton Ginny wants to expand the sustainable apparel landscape while continuing to offer comfortable, quality clothing. Five Cotton Ginny locations are now bullfrogpowered: Calgary (Westhills Town Centre) and Edmonton (West Edmonton Mall) in Alberta; and Collingwood, Guelph (Stone Road Mall) and North York (Yorkdale Plaza) in Ontario.

www.cottonginny.ca
www.cgology.ca

Alberta Tar Sands & South Dakota Refineries

Since the tar sands are an ecological nightmare, there's nothing worse than seeing a joint Canada - U.S. project to pipe oil from the tar sands to a U.S. refinery, instead of money going into more renewable energy development. Here is a Tuesday, October 23, 2007, Toronto Star article from the Business section, page B6:

ALBERTA'S TAR SANDS TO SUPPLY SOUTH DAKOTA'S OIL PROJECTS
Pipeline, refinery would tap into Canadian crude

Dirk Lammers
Associate Press

Sioux Falls, S.D. -- As oil hovers around $90 (U.S.) a barrel, the race is on to tap more heavily into the world's second-largest oil reserve, and South Dakota -- a major ethanol producer that typically sits on the alternative side of the fuel industry -- is finding itself at the crossroads of two major oil projects.

One is a 590,000-barrel-a-day pipeline with plans to deliver Canadian crude to Patoka, Ill. and Cushing, Okla. The other is a proposed refinery that would be the first new U.S. refinery location in more than 25 years.

Supply for both projects would come from the oil sands of northern Alberta, home to some 175 billion barrels of crude, putting the region second only in terms of the world's oil reserves.

U.S. refiners are converting their plants to handle thicker Canadian crude, and pipeline specialists such as Calgary-based TransCanada Corp. are looking to connect supply with demand.

TransCanada plans to begin construction this spring on the Keystone pipeline, a 3,456-kilometre route passing through the Dakotas, Nebraska, Kansas and Missouri.

Robert Jones, a TransCanada vice-president and a director of the Keystone project, said transporting crude oil by rail or trucks is less environmentally friendly than moving it underground.

New pipelines are critical infrastructure if North America is to achieve greater energy independence, he said.

"The U.S. refiners have to do something to respond to increasing energy demands in the U.S." Jones said. "So their choices are, import more oil offshore from foreign sources, or look to Canada and have a reliable source of crude oil to supply the refineries."

Jones and TransCanada already have firm, long-term contracts for nearly 500,000 and 590,000 barrels that will be transported along the route each day.

That means passage along Keystone is nearly booked, and the line won't be able to supply South Dakota's other potential oil project -- the Hyperion Energy Center.

Privately held Hyperion Resources of Dallas wants to build a 400,000-barrel-a-day oil refinery in either Elk Point -- which sits less than 80 kilometres from the planned Keystone route -- or in another undisclosed Midwest site.

The refinery would be built to handle Canadian crude and the most obvious way to get it to a refinery is by pipeline, said J.L. (Corky) Frank, a Hyperion project executive.

Excerpts from The Little Green Book by Ron Neilson

In his book, The Little Green Handbook, Ron Nielson lists “seven groups of critical global trends and events… that have four common features:

1. They are associated with a hastened deterioration of the environment, both physical and social.

2. They show that, for the first time in human history, we are approaching and crossing global limited: the ecological limits of our planet…. and the limits of human-induced damage to the planet.

3. They are happening in a relatively short time. They began about 200 years ago….

4. They docus on an even shorter time: the second or third quarter of the 21st century. They show that we are likely to experience dramatic changes, with the possibility of a global collapse of life-supporting systems."

So what are the seven groups of critical global trends and events listed in the book?

1. The population explosion
2. Diminishing land resources
3. Diminishing water resources
4. The destruction of the atmosphere
5. The approaching energy crisis
6. Social decline
7. Conflicts and increasing killer power

For those of you who like statistics and charts to back up a writer's points, this book is full of them. For those who aren't fond of charts, you will still get the bleak picture even without looking at statistical charts.

The book contains the following quotation from U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower about the effects of war and the costs of war on society at large:

“Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. This world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its labourers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children. The cost of one modern heavy bomber is this: a modern brick school in more than 30 cities. It is two electric power plants, each serving a town of 60,000 population. It is two fine, fully equipped hopsitals. It is some 50 miles of concrete highway. We pay for a single fighter with a half million bushels of wheat. We pay for a single destroyer with new homes that could have housed more than 8000 people. This, I repeat, is the best way of life to be found on the road the world has been taking. This is not a way of life at all, in any true sense. Under the cloud of threatending war, it is humanity hanging from a cross of iron.”

Environmentally Friendly Dishwasher & Laundry Soaps

From the Gaia Community at Zaadz, here is an article on environmentally friendly dishwasher and laundry detergent:

Eco-Friendly Detergents
What You Need to Know

A Q&A with EarthTalk, republished with permission.

Q. What are the best kinds of dishwasher and laundry soaps to use, considering where all the wastewater goes? --Jessica Weichert, Waterford, CA

A. The average North American produces between 60 and 150 gallons of wastewater every day, much of it as a result of washing dishes and clothes. Municipal water treatment facilities do their best to filter out the synthetic chemicals common in most mainstream dishwasher and laundry soaps, but some of these pollutants inevitably get into rivers, lakes and coastal areas, where they can cause a wide range of problems.

Perhaps the most worrisome of these pollutants, phosphates, can cause large build-ups of algae and bacteria that rob water bodies of oxygen and thus choke out other life forms.

In response to just such a problem occuring in Lakes Ontario and Erie in the late 1960s and early 1970s, the U.S. and Canada signed the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement in 1972. The agreement banned the use of phosphates in laundry detergents and dish soaps used in the region, and resulted in a significant decrease in algae blooms throughout the Great Lakes.

Despite the success of the agreement, phosphates and other synthetic chemicals continue to be widely used in laundry and dish soaps throughout the world. Aside from their effect on water bodies, these ingredients also trigger allergies, irritate the skin and eyes and carry other health risks.

Fortunately, consumers now have more environmentally friendly choices than ever. Companies such as Seventh Generation, Ecover, Bioshield and Naturally Yours make safer dishwasher and laundry soaps that do not contain phosphates or other harmful synethetic chemicals.

According to Seventh Generation's CEO Jeffrey Hollander, consumers interested in doing the right thing for the environment should look at ingredients, not slogans. "Just because a product says it is natural doesn't mean it is nontoxic," he says.

Environmentally friendly ingredients to look for include grain alcohol, coconut or other plant oils, rosemary and sage. Synthetic ingredients to avoid include butyl cellosave, petroleum, triclosan and phosphates.

It is best to avoid detergents that employ fragrances, as they can contain chemicals known as phthalates that have been linked to cancer.

Household-cleaning chores can often be accomplished with non-toxic, household alternatives -- such as water mixed with borax, lemon juice, baking soda, vinegar or washing soda.

Laundry and automative dishwashing soaps are not so easily replaced with home concoctions. But Emily Main, senior editor at "The Greener Guide," recommends adding one-quarter cup of baking soda or white vinegar to clothes washes to act as a fabric softener. For stain removal she suggests soaking fabrics in water mixed with either borax, lemon juice, hydrogen peroxide or white vinegar.

As to home remedies for dishwashing, some hardcore homesteaders recommend trying an equal mix of borax and baking soda, but this is probably best used only in a pinch as the abrasiveness of such a mixture can scratch glassware over time.

GOT AN ENVIRONMENTAL QUESTION?

Send it to: EarthTalk, c/o E/The Environmental Magazine, P.O. Box 5098, Westport, CT 06881; submit it online, or send an e-mail. To read past columns, visit the EarthTalk archives.

Article Sourced from http://community.gaiam.com