Earth Rated Products

While I applaud the plethora of high profile folks currently using their celebrity to bring attention to the importance of moving toward less carbon-heavy lifestyles, I still get a good laugh at what giant hypocrites the majority of them are…

• George Clooney - cuts back on CO2 emissions by driving a Prius. Seems that CO2 emissions only count on terra firma though. He still feels okay flying around on a Gulfstream. Somehow, releasing the pollution directly into the atmosphere makes it better. Even his lovely girlfriend, Sarah Larson, is confused by the contradiction.

UPDATE: About 2 days after Sarah’s interview was made public, news broke that George and Sarah had broken up… think he’s upset she outted his hypocrisy?

• (more…)

Geez, now that we’ve pretty much blown by the $4 per gallon mark (I filled up this morning for $4.10/gallon), looks like the next milestone is $5 per gallon. While it might seem insane to our country of SUV-lovin’, exercise/walking adverse cheap gas addicts, our petrol is still relatively affordable compared to what Europeans have been used to for decades. I remember spending about $80 to fill up a little go-cart-of-a-car when I lived in Europe almost 15 years ago (makes me sound OLD, doesn’t it?). I’m still not to $80 to fill up a much larger vehicle, and gas tank, here yet. But, I see it coming…

Right on cue, after my $4.10 per gallon experience this morning, I saw an article in MSN Autos for Volvo’s latest concept plug-in hybrid based on its C30 model. As with all things still in concept, this little gem has been given the somewhat cool name of ReCharge. Though, knowing Volvo, the actual production name will be something entirely more bland like R30.

Some interesting highlights for the ReCharge include:

• No central motor! Rather, each wheel is driven by its own electric motor. (more…)

Sure. Everyone’s heard the standard tips on how to be greener…

• Change your little energy-sucking incandescent light bulbs for more efficient, lower-consuming CFLs (compact fluorescent light bulbs)

• Recycle everything that your city allows: typically paper, cardboard, glass bottles, aluminum cans, plastic bottles with the chasing arrows around a 1 or 2
• Don’t buy bottled water, buy a re-usable bottle and BYOW from home
• Turn off the water when brushing your teeth
• Turn off lights in unoccupied rooms
• Look for Energy Star stickers when replacing appliances

While all of these tips are great because they are such very do-able “little things”, not much is mentioned about what the next step in conservation should be. You know, once doing everything on the list above becomes a part of your routine. Usually its these baby steps, then on to discussing the giant leap to solar panels. However, with a little thought and patience, there are many additional things we can do to be just a little greener.

Here are five of the little things we’ve started doing at our house: (more…)

Interestingly enough, sunny San Diego wasn’t so sunny yesterday for the final day of the public portion of the Solar 2008 show. Still, there was plenty of good information and lots of cool displays for anyone interested in a little eco-education on a gray Sunday afternoon.

I found a couple of really interesting products in the tradeshow’s vendor fair yesterday that I’d love to have. Items that are actually working TODAY and that can be purchased TODAY. That’s right. Solar-powered, consumer-ready products that you can actually use - no vaporware that “might” be ready in early 2011, not the things that just sit on top of your roof that you only remember when you get your power bill or loan statement, and certainly not stuff that might potentially cause bodily harm if some portion of it inadvertently gets punctured or torn open.

First, I found a notebook style zip-up case that hides two durable solar panels that can be used to juice up pretty much any of our take-along toys: laptops, cell phones, pda’s, DS/PSPs, mp3 players, cameras, camcorders, gps devices. Just think. Now you can go on that 4 week camping/sailing trip, and still have juice for your gps without lugging along extra batteries! Or, even, bring that DS to play Brain Age so your grey stuff doesn’t turn to mush after a month away from Google News and The Daily Show. You might even bring along that laptop, but only if you promise to use it for downloading pics/movies, and NOT for work! Best of all, this magic source of power is very affordable. 15W for $149!! Check it out at Innergy Power.

Second item that will likely find its way into our household is a solar power assisted bicycle. PERFECT for helping you get up that killer hill that is really the only obstacle between you and your plans to bike to work a couple of times a week…. Well, so this one isn’t quite available at your neighborhood bike store, but we were assured that it could be cobbled together by a competent bike enthusiast who had the right equipment. Check out Seth Masia’s write-up of the bike : University of Florida Solar Trike.

Wow. Wow. Wow.

I’ve been getting acupuncture for YEARS, but somehow managed to miss this little gem…

Seems that instead of many the topical laser burn-treatments, nasty invasive chemicals (”naturally” derived or not), or even nastier invasive surgical procedures there is a much healthier, and probably much more affordable, solution to improve many of the inevitable issues associated to being over 30! Happy Day!

Much like acupuncture for other issues, the premise of an acupuncture facial is that the acupuncturist will treat your issues from the inside out by restoring the balance and flow of Qi (energy) - the blockage or stagnation of which is why you’re getting those nasty wrinkles, sags and bags. Physically, the treatment is carried out by using very thin needles in and around the problem spots to stimulate circulation, boost collagen production and plump fine lines.

I saw this procedure in action just yesterday when watching an episode of “10 Years Younger” on TLC. It was a really nice surprise too, since I think the show usually jumps too fast to using surgery as a solution. In this particular episode, the pre-aged lady had some serious double chin and eye baggage that was very drastically improved after acupuncture treatment. In fact, had I not seen the fact that they used acupuncture, I would have assumed they took their usual surgery route to achieve the results. While they didn’t mention how many sessions were required to achieve the results, it really can’t have been too many since I’m sure the show is filmed over the course of days rather than weeks or months.

Of course, detractors in the medical community scoff at the possibility that a bunch of tiny needles can be as effective as a nice fat injection of botox. In fact, there are even detractors within the acupuncture community who don’t agree with the facial-only treatments since they don’t treat the whole body - a key principle or Oriental medicine.

For me, after the amazing success I’ve had with acupuncture (longer post on that subject later), I’m willing to give it a try! I’m aiming for some time this summer, when I’m sure my face reflects the extreme sleep deprivation associated with the first few weeks after bringing Baby home! Gotta email my acupuncturist now to get his thoughts on some sessions….