Green Eco Services

ReUse Dumpsters- A New Way Of Dumpster Diving

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(Photo: David Belt)

An avid fan of dumpster diving and reusing old dumpsters, I really loved what New York did with reusing dumpsters and making swimming pools as part of their annual Summer Streets program. The first pool was created by Marco Sea as a test for re-inventing old strip malls. More information on Yahoo Green

Optical WebBlog and Business

Cost Of Illegal Dumping In Austin, Texas= $450,000/ year

Austin will soon have eyes all over the city watching for illegal dumping. Code compliance officers now have eight new surveillance cameras and you may never know they are there.

Code officers showed KVUE dozens of photos of people pulling into a dead end road in East Austin dumping unwanted items. They only thought it was the perfect spot, but the entire time a hidden camera was snapping away.

Most of the violators end up being cited with a misdemeanor and fined around $400. However, two are now involved in a criminal investigation for dumping a motorcycle reported stolen from Beaumont.

“We want the message to get out that it’s cheaper and more prudent to go to the landfill,” said Austin Code Compliance Officer Ron Potts.

Potts is getting ready to drive the message home. He spent Wednesday morning unpacking eight new surveillance cameras. All were purchased with a grant from the TCEQ and the Capital Area Council of Governments.

The cameras are solar powered and can even snap clear pictures in the dark.

“Once someone drives in their view, they’ll start recording and taking pictures. We download those pictures and we’ll pursue the person off either their license plate or their personal identity,” Potts said.

Potts says illegal dumping is such a big problem, that the city budgets $450,000 a year to clean it up.

Read full story at KVUE News

Wave Tribe- A Green And Eco Friendly Surf Company

I have done several posts on Eco Friendly Surfing and Surf Aid and recycling Wetsuits of course we have our local Eco Surfer, Rob Machado. In the course of the blogs, I ran across Wave Tribe an all in one Green and Eco Friendly Surf Company. I follow them on Twitter and Facebook, have shared their videos and they sound like the coolest bunch of surfers and someday I hope to meet them! As a person who grew up on the water and lives by the ocean, one of the things that disturbs me greatly is the amount of trash people leave on the beach, especially surfers. You would think that surfer a totally natural communique with nature that surfers would be protective of the ocean. Instead many leave behind broken surfboards, broken leashes, bathing suits, towels and all the leftover stuff that surfing entails.

It does my heart good when a surfing company like Wave Tribe wakes up one day and goes DUH, all that plastic and starts a Green and Eco Surfing Company, and gets out of plastic and into hemp surfboard bags, cork traction pads, hemp backpacks and sustainable surfboards.

I love this message on their site,

‘Wave Tribe is learning as we go, we are a stoked company of surf crazed human being looking to do the right thing in a market place driven by big brands, corporate companies, and small margins. Like everyone else we are making our product overseas, but we are doing it differently.

Wave Tribe is committed to using sustainable materials and partners with companies that maintain an ethical work environment—‘we’ as consumers have forced companies to deliver lower and lower priced products. The reality is that ‘how’ a purchase impacts ones wallet is more decisive than ‘how’ the product influences the environment. We need to change how we think, how we look, how we consume, and how we live.

It’s up to all of us to join this tribal movement and to recognize the importance of walking (and surfing) differently. Our oceans and planet deserve and demand an immediate action, our lives are intimately connected to the health of our planet and if we don’t act now we’ll all be surfing in wave pools filled with bogie borders and chlorinated water.’

Not only do they clean up beaches, they educate surfers and non- surfers on being green. Beside all of that I love the small company feel, I love their posts on Facebook, I watch every one of the videos and admire these guys who have taken on a green message and seem to have fun doing it. Kudos To WaveTribe!

Chevron Illegally Dumps Billions of Gallons of Toxic Waste Into Amazon

We are all upset about the BP Oil Spill, but isn’t this the same? Chevron dumped billions of gallons of toxic waste into the Amazon?

Court Filing: Chevron’s Own Audits Prove Company Lied About Massive Pollution In Ecuador: Evidence Of Chevron’s “Stunning Hypocrisy” And Lies To U.S. Federal Courts

A U.S. Federal Court has been presented with two separate audits conducted at Chevron’s request that show “clear and convincing evidence” that the oil giant knowingly dumped billions of gallons of toxic waste directly into the Amazon and subsequently lied to cover it up, according to a legal brief by the 30,000 Ecuadorian rainforest residents suing the company for the illegal dumping.

The two separate audits, commissioned by Chevron’s predecessor company Texaco as it was wrapping up operations in Ecuador from 1990-92, found that the oil contamination “require[d] remediation at all production facilities.” The audits also demonstrate deliberate contamination by Texaco, noting that the company failed to protect surface water quality and intentionally dumped untreated toxic waste directly into the streams and rivers of the jungle.

The findings of the audits – presented for the first time in a U.S. federal court as part of a battle over various discovery requests related to the Ecuador litigation – stand in stark contrast to Chevron´s numerous sworn statements that there is “no evidence that Chevron is responsible for any environmental damage” in Ecuador, made in multiple filings in recent weeks in several different federal courts.

Chevron’s public denials of damage to the region given the extraordinary findings in its audits are “shocking and cynical,” according to Ilann Maazel, an attorney for the Amazon residents. “These audits definitively prove that Chevron is guilty of contaminating Ecuador´s rainforest and that the company is now shamelessly lying about that undisputed fact to U.S courts,” he said.

“It is incredible that Chevron lawyers have stated in US courts that there is no damage in the region even while their own audits unequivocally state the exact opposite,” said Maazel. “Chevron has consistently and intentionally made such false statements to federal judges in a cynical attempt to hide the extent of the contamination caused by its operations.”

Some of the shocking findings of the audits, which were conducted by two Chevron sub-contractors and paid for by the company, are:

• “All twenty-two production stations are currently, or have at some time, discharged oily produced water to the environment and flared excess gas. The stations have produced a total of approximately 1.4 billion barrels of oil, 250 million cubic feet of gas and 375 million barrels of produced water during the period 1964 to 1990.”
• “The audit identified hydrocarbon contamination requiring remediation at all production facilities and a majority of the drill sites.”
• “Produced water (which contains carcinogens and toxic heavy metals) is being discharged to the environment in all cases.”
• “Produced waste is then passed through a series of open, unlined pits. The remaining oil emulsion and produced water is discharged into a local creek or river or in some instances directly into the jungle…Produced water has historically not been tested prior to disposal…”
• “Contamination of soil and water was observed at well sites, production stations and along roadways, flowlines and secondary pipelines.”
• “Workover, completion wastes, salt solutions and oil/water emulsions have historically been disposed of into well site pits. … Little maintenance has reportedly been done on any of the pits at the well sites.”
• “[Texaco’s] operation included the intentional burning of crude oil from spills and contained in pits. This operation usually created large amounts of black smoke and soot that can potentially impair the environment and human health.”

Both audits were relied upon by a court-ordered damages assessment report that found Chevron could be responsible for up to $27.3 billion in environmental damages and remediation costs. Chevron’s lawyers have called the report “scientifically bankrupt” but thus far have refused to comment on their own audits, which were conducted in the early 1990s as the company was winding down its operations in Ecuador.

The audits were conducted by HBT Agra and Fugro McClelland, two Chevron sub-contractors. They are part of the evidence in the Ecuador trial. Chevron, through its predecessor company Texaco, operated in Ecuador from 1964-1990. The lawsuit, originally filed by 30,000 Ecuadorians in New York in 1993, was transferred to Ecuador at Chevron’s request. Since the trial began in Ecuador, more than 64,000 scientific sampling results and a 200,000-page trial record, has created a mountain of evidence demonstrating Chevron’s responsibility for the environmental devastation in the region, said Maazel.

Source Indigenous People Issues

The audits can be downloaded here and here (.pdf)

Green Transportation- Alternatives for Getting From A to B

MDI Car

Travel has undergone a revolution over the last several years as people strive to reduce the damage they are doing to the environment in the form of harmful carbon emissions that are polluting our air and contributing to global warming. The government has embraced the concept of alternative fuel, offering incentives on both federal and local levels to companies and individuals willing to experiment with a different type of vehicle. And people everywhere are going green in a broad spectrum of areas, including transportation. However, there are still a large number of people who seem to have no idea that a change is taking place in the auto industry. Or perhaps they just think it’s too much work to switch. But nothing could be further from the truth. There are plenty of ways to get from point A to point B with less (or no) pollution.

To start with, there are quite a few options when it comes to green vehicles. For most people, the thought of giving up a car, which has become synonymous with the both freedom and status, is abhorrent. To that end, many car companies have begun experimenting with alternate-fuel vehicles. Hybrid and electric cars (which utilize batteries) are now widely available and sometimes come with incentives like tax breaks or carpool exemption. Biodiesel is, as the name suggests, a fuel made from biomass (or biological material like soybean, canola oil, animal fat, or even recycled cooking oil). B20 (20 biomass, 80% diesel) can be used in current diesel engines, and although testing is ongoing, some cities have adopted it for mass transit like buses. Hydrogen, although not yet commercially available, looks to be an excellent alternative fuel in the future as it can be made with electricity and if a green energy source like solar or wind power is used, it is almost entirely emission-free. Methanol (M85, which is 85% methanol and 15% unleaded) is a flex-fuel which requires only slight tweaking to automobile engines and current gas pumps to implement on a large scale. And finally, there is ethanol, which is created by fermenting biomass (generally corn) which in itself produces no greenhouse gases (although E85 is still 15% gasoline). The nice thing is that as more people purchase these vehicles, the price of production goes down, a savings that gets passed on to customers, and more fueling stations appear across the country. And of course, one of the best ways to cut down pollution and still use your car is to carpool.

For those who are willing to take their commitment to eco-friendly transportation a step further, there are even better options. For starters, walking is a great way to get around locally. Not only do you get your exercise while you go to the grocery store or coffee shop, you are supporting local businesses and you are likely to find some neat spots that you never would have noticed while zipping by in your automobile. Same deal for bike-riding, which may be a better alternative for getting to places that are more than a mile or so away (purely for reasons of expediency). And if you really do need a vehicle, look into something small like a scooter or a smart car, which use far less fuel than larger vehicles and are super easy to park!

Kyle Simpson writes for a trucking company called Trucker to Trucker. The company is making a considerable effort to go green. You can visit their website to find trucks for sale and you can even sell trucks.

Eco Dating For Earth Lovers Looking For Love

Photo:animatiopnnewport.blogspot.com

If you’re a certified friend of nature, a tree-hugging greenie who puts the planet first, then perhaps you’ve noticed a decided lack of suitable mates who share the scope of your environmentally conscious sensibilities. Of course, the dating scene is not totally devoid of those who reduce, reuse, and recycle, but finding another eco-devotee who is willing to go on a totally green date (walk to local vegan restaurant that runs exclusively on clean energy) has not been as easy as you supposed. However, like every other sector of society, eco-activists looking for love can find help from some likely sources; namely the internet.’

1. Green Singles. This long-standing website makes the bold (and somewhat amusing) claim that it was made with 100% recycled electrons and that nary and animal or tree was harmed in production. That should give you an idea of the approach they take to green dating. They are serious, but they don’t take themselves too seriously. The site is devoted to providing a connection for those who are concerned with the environment and animal rights, and their list of possible qualifiers contains pursuits that are both environmentally and spiritually conscious. This is a good place to start if you’ve been looking for love in all the wrong places. Plus, it’s free.

2. Green Passions. The great thing about this dating service for eco-friendly patrons on the prowl is that it is 100% free (unlike many sites that will charge you a fee to find love). It is concurrently advertised as a social networking site, and to that end there are both chats and forums to meet up with other singles or simply air grievances about the sorry state of our planet.

3. Earth Wise Singles. If you’re a friend of Mother Earth, an environmentally responsible adult, you’re concerned about world peace (Miss America candidates welcome!), or all of the above, then apparently this website was created to help you find your soul mate for the low price of only $14.95 every three months). There is a one-week free trial, but a membership will net you advanced search options (to avoid wading through pages and pages of listings) and access to sister site Veggie Singles for You (tailor made for vegetarian members).

4. Eco Dater. This one is a bit more fun, as it advertises for a diverse range of singles from organic farmers to eco travelers to anyone who engages in a natural, holistic lifestyle They claim to be benevolent and community oriented, unlike other dating sites that are inauthentic and manipulative. So that’s good news. They are also offering free lifetime membership for a limited time. Those who sign up once the offer is over will have to pay $4.95, but a portion of all proceeds will be donated to charitable community organizations.

5. Eco-functions. Contrary to popular belief, not all dating is done on the internet. If you’re keen to meet some like-minded singles in person, look for events in your area that have a green theme (attend rallies, volunteer at your community garden, or plan a door-to-door recycling day where you and some friends give information on recycling and pick up used items to take to the homeless shelter). Getting out in the community, spreading the word, and meeting other interested parties might just do double duty by delivering a potential date (or mate).

Kyle Simpson is a writer for Pickup Artist where you can find great tips and advice on dating.

Cloth Diapers: The Eco-Friendly Choice for a Healthy Baby

Photo:Flickr- Holly, Cloth Diapers

In your fervor to keep the planet clean and green for future generations, you have probably gone tog reat lengths to purchase eco-friendly baby products that are just as good for the planet as they are for the health of your child. You may have a crib and changing table made with bamboo and sealed with no-VOC paint. You probably have bedding and clothes made from organic cotton. And you’ve certainly made sure they’re ingesting only organic, free-range baby food. And yet, even parents who are on a mission to save the Earth from the pollutants its inhabitants seem determined to spew may find it hard to contemplate the switch to cloth diapers. Despite the fact that our landfills are bombarded with 18 billion non-recyclable disposable diapers each year, the thought of washing cloth diapers is repugnant to most people. However, opting for cloth is not as difficult an undertaking as one might think, and it’s not only the better choice for the planet, it’s a much healthier option for your baby.

For starters, cloth diapers are pretty easy to clean. You simply rinse them and throw them in the wash. Or if you find it too difficult to do what generations of women before you did by hand, then simply enlist the aid of a diaper-cleaning laundry service. Tossing them in a pail for weekly pick up is just as easy as throwing them in the wastebasket, so you really can’t complain. But even beyond the ease-of-use issue, there is the health of your child to be considered (and not just a nebulous future where the planet is a virtual dumping-ground of diapers). Cloth is, quite simply, a lot healthier for your child, and it has everything to do with how diapers are made.

Cloth diapers, as you may have guessed, are made of cloth (generally several layers of cotton). That’s it. No additives, preservatives, or toxins. They are soft, comfortable, and breathable and as long as you change them frequently and wash and sanitize them thoroughly, your baby shouldn’t suffer any adverse effects from usage. Disposable diapers are another matter entirely. They are made from plastics and synthetic fibers, not to mention freaky hydrophilic polymers that trap your child’s urine and turn it into a jelly-like substance. On top of that, they are saturated with chemicals and byproducts like bleaches, dyes, and fragrances. All of this can add up to a lot of irritation for your child, in the form of diaper rash, chemical burns, and even toxic shock syndrome in severe cases. Of course, mild allergic reactions are much more common, but do you really want to expose your baby to any of these possible outcomes?

In the long run, cloth diapers are not only better for the environment; they’re also a lot better for your child. And with modern advances making them more absorbent, cleaning services to remove the burden of washing, and the always important issue of lower cost (not to mention the re-usable factor) to make them more attractive, there’s really no reason at all to choose disposable.

Kyle Simpson is a writer for Cloth Diapers. The website is devoted to educating parents on the benefits, both eco and health related of cloth diapers for your baby.

Ban The Bag Video- Surfrider Foundation

Please CLICK LINK http://www.RAPSD.org for info on your STATE SENATORS.. Call them and tell them to say “YES” on
AB 1998 : http://www.RAPSD.org

http://thewileyone.com THE WILEY ONE in support of the BAN THE BAGS campaign with the Surfrider Foundation wants all of you in CA to call your senators!! Tell them to say “YES” on AB 1998 … start the nationwide trend.

If you live in San Diego here is a list of Senators and their numbers.

San Diego:

District 36: Dennis Hollingsworth 619-596-3136
District 38: Mark Wyland 760-931-2455
District 39: Christine Kehoe 619-645-3133
District 40: Denis Moreno Ducheny 619-409-7690
Check out more from The Wiley One and their efforts to spread environmental awareness at http://thegreensong.com also check out our friends who are making a positive change.
http://acespace.org
http://zeroheroevents.com
http://surfrider.org
http://disneyplanetchallenge.com
http://essieyewear.com

Taxpayer Cost of Litter In Tennessee= Over $14.8 Million/ Year

Stop Litter

It is a shame that in this time of financial stress on people and government, the state of Tennessee should have to spend more than $3.8 million on an anti-litter campaign. We suggest the anti-litter money be used to drive home the enormous cost of litter. Appealing to people’s pocketbooks seems is a good way to get their attention. Litter is 100 percent preventable, and might be the most basic social responsibility. Even animals don’t foul their nests. Tennesseans surely can do better…….

We suggest this year’s anti-litter grants be used to tell people how much litter is costing them. Roadside signs, billboards, media advertising and fliers could outline how much taxpayers spend to clean up after litterbugs. Tennessee spends more than $11 million on litter cleanup each year. Local communities spend an additional amount. And you can add to that the $3.8 million for the anti-litter container tax. Littering is an expensive, nasty habit.

Source: Jackson Sun

Long-Term Health Benefits of Eating Organic

Look For This Label For Certified Organic Food

If you have an interest in health and fitness, or you’re tuned in to any type of media outlet, then you have no doubt heard that switching to an organic diet is good for you. Of course, you may not have the faintest idea what an organic diet entails or why it is better for your health, but the catchphrase “organic living” has probably made its way across your radar and imprinted itself on your psyche with a slew of positive (if nebulous) connotations. And although you may be skeptical about foods that look exactly the same as what you already buy, but cost more, then you should know that there are a lot of good reasons to learn the facts about organic foods and make an informed decision when it comes to the state of your long-term health.

1. Non-toxic. The most basic thing you should know about organic foods is that producers strive to make them 100% non-toxic. Fruits, vegetables, and other produce are grown without the use of chemical fertilizers, pesticide, herbicides or insecticides. Further, they are often raised on land that has eschewed the use of these toxic chemicals for at least several years (so that there are no residual elements in the soil). Animals that are used for meat or other products (dairy, eggs, etc.) are given no hormones or antibiotics and are fed only organic grains. This means that at every step of the process, these foods are in their natural state.

2. Better taste. Foods that mature naturally just taste better. Not only will you avoid the taste of trace chemicals that cannot be washed off your foods, but you may not be aware that most fruits and vegetables are picked early to avoid spoilage in shipment, and then treated with heat or chemicals to cause them to ripen rapidly for consumption. This not only ruins the taste in many cases, it can also be harmful to your health.

3. More nutritious. In many cases, organic foods have been shown to retain more vitamins, minerals, and essential fatty acids due to the fact that they have not undergone the same chemical alterations that “regular” foods are routinely exposed to.

4. It’s everywhere. Almost any food you can think of has an organic counterpart. Whether you’re interested in base ingredients like meats, vegetables, or whole grains, or if you want something already made like cereal, pizza, or ice cream, you can find an organic alternative. You may have to do a little research to locate brands at your local grocery store, or shop at specialty stores instead, but you can keep your favorite menu items even if you go fully organic.

5. Break the cycle. The chemical treatment of foods is a vicious cycle that affects the long- term health of not only people, but the planet. It starts with toxins used to treat crops. They seep into the soil and the groundwater, causing damage that is far-reaching and will continue even years after these additives are removed from usage. They infect not only the produce they treat, but any animals that eat them and the entire surrounding ecosystem. And they affect you, as well. When you put these toxins in your body, a portion may be expelled as waste, but some of them are stored in the fatty tissues of your body, causing who knows what kind of long-term damage. Eradicating these foods from your body will help you to become healthier, but choosing organic will also begin the long process of eradicating toxins from our planet, starting a chain of events that will lead to a healthier future for you and for generations to come.

Kyle Simpson is a writer for a culinary institute website where you can browse schools and the latest trends in the culinary arena.