The Effects of Global Warming on Wildlife

Effects of Global Warming

foxYou probably learned a little bit about global warming from Al Gore’s popular documentary An Inconvenient Truth. And even though some of the evidence presented in his power point presentation has since been discredited, it doesn’t really undermine the fact that we are, in fact, deeply enmeshed in a global warming situation.

It’s not that our planet’s atmosphere is becoming super-heated (as some infer from the term “global warming”). The truth is that the greenhouse gases we spew en masse into the atmosphere have begun to affect our weather patterns, making them more extreme.

So yes, there are going to be times when the temperature climbs higher. Summers may be hotter and last longer. But winter temperatures could also be lower than normal, and rain, snow, and other types of storms (hurricanes, tornadoes, blizzards, etc.), could be longer-lasting, more intense, and occur more frequently; that’s the real result of global warming. Continue reading

Green Vehicle Disposal

Green Vehicle Disposal: Eco-Friendly Auto Recycler Network

Green Vehicle Disposal Logo

In North America, every year 12 million vehicle reach their End of Life and are discarded. While 75% of an old car is recyclable, much of it is hazardous and contain pollutants that continue to affect the environment.

Green Vehicle Disposal offers a de-pollution solution for End of Life Vehicles; removing the battery; draining and properly containing fuel, engine oil, and all other fluids; removing the wheels and tires. The process only takes about 15- 20 minutes and primes the vehicle to be recycled.

When your vehicle comes to the end of its useful life, Green Vehicle Disposal can pick it up from your residence and take it to one of their Authorized Treatment Facilities. The company’s mission is directly stated on their website, “Our aim is to systematically reduce or eliminate the amount of waste produced by End Of Life Vehicles, made possible by our extensive coverage of areas across North America. We hope to have affiliates covering every possible area in North America, so that whenever there is a vehicle that has come to the end of its useful life, one of our affiliates will be able to pick it up and dispose of it accordingly.” Continue reading

Easy Ways to Reduce Energy Costs

Saving Money and Going Even More Green

Energy Efficient Home DiagramIn today’s energy markets, debate and innovation reign supreme. As the time of peak oil quickly fades into the proverbial rear view mirror, deep sea drilling and ever-more dangerous and less efficient means of discovering new deposits of oil reserves become the norm.

Discussions over natural gas and how to effectively and safely bring that material from the ground and into the energy supply abound. Dirty coal as the new clean energy, solar panel and solar power capacity, wind power and more — the talk of the day is energy efficiency, from the government all the way down to the ordinary citizen, staring dumbfounded at an ever-rising power bill.

So what can you do to save more money and increase the energy efficiency of your home and or office? It’s a difficult but terribly important question to ask yourself.

Of course, doing some sort of home or business audit to gauge where you use the most energy, and where your family or colleagues can cut costs is an excellent starting point. Consider total water usage, heat usage during colder winter months, what kind of lights are used throughout the space, and how many appliances might be plugged in to the wall outlets at any given time. Paper printing, ink use, and other such considerations might be more pertinent to the office environment, and should also be considered. Continue reading

EPA Air Permits for Arctic Ocean Drilling Fail the Environment

Tuesday, 29 November 2011, ENews Park Forest

ANCHORAGE, Alaska–(ENEWSPF)–November 29 -

Arctic Oil Drilling Rig on IceWith the last few years’ worth of man-made environmental devastation and destruction as their fuel, a wide-reaching coalition of protesters raised the attention of the U.S. EPA. It seems the department’s recent approval of Shell Oil’s Kulluk drilling unit air permit (Nov. 28, 2011), was another in a long line of “last straws.”

The appeal to the Environmental Appeals Board has its voice heard only one month after the groups filed a similar appeal. Last time, more air pollution permits issued to Shell (that time for their Discoverer drill ship) rustled environmentalists’ feathers. In terms of their purpose, Shell’s vessels are set to drill in remote, icy and fragile waters of the American Arctic Ocean starting next summer.

The broad coalition of supporters released the following statement:

“Approving the Kulluk and Discoverer permits may set an important precedent for other companies seeking to conduct exploration drilling, and the EPA has not complied with the law. The EPA’s approval of the air permits is a green light from the agency for dangerous offshore oil drilling in the Arctic Ocean as early as summer 2012. Drilling for oil in the remote and often dangerous waters of the Arctic Ocean, where 20-foot swells and hurricane-force winds accompany months-long winter darkness, is being approved despite an acknowledged lack of basic science and preparedness. Were drilling to result in an oil spill, clean-up could be nearly impossible, as the Coast Guard and other experts acknowledge.”

Read the rest: Appeal filed challenging decision to allow Kulluk drilling unit to proceed with drilling next summer

[Photo Via: stephenleahy.net]

Top Five Eco New Year’s Resolutions for 2012

A Press Release From Ethical Community Co-Founders

Ethical Community Logo

The New Year is both a time for reflecting on events across 2011 whilst looking forward to the exciting things that 2012 might bring. But what makes up a good New Year’s Resolution? Before you follow the crowds and rush out to join a gym, this year you might want to consider looking at how the things you choose to eat can impact our planet. Small changes can make a huge impact across the year and certainly are easier to stick with than promising yourself to look like Arnold Schwarzenegger by the end of the year!

A new fast growing website, Ethical Community launched last year which aims to help us all purchase eco-friendly and natural products, direct from the people that make them. Natural food lovers can browse from over 7,000 products, learn about the story and person behind each product, so we decided to quiz them on their top eco food resolutions. Continue reading

Portland Composts!

Adding Simple Composting to the Mix and Reducing Trash

pdx Bureau of Planning and SustainabilityIt was almost amazing to travel from Portland down to Los Angeles earlier this month, after having only been gone for a year and a half, not a day more. Why? Simply put, the culture shock. And it’s the little things too, not just the awful behavior of most motorists, either.

The total immersion in a Portland culture that focuses very heavily on greener measures across the board was starkly contrasted with a Los Angeles that still doesn’t really have separate bins for recyclable plastics and other materials — just trash cans, regular old trash cans that used to seem so all-inclusive — in a lot of places.

In Portland, and maybe this has as much to do with the over-abundance of take out and street cart food, or just a general emphasis on restaurant culture, it seems that there’s almost a mini-unspoken-competition among food sellers, to see who can be the greenest. Recyclable and compostable packaging for take out, tons of bins for separate recycling and composting in restaurants, etc. And now, we’re being asked to compost food scraps in the home. And the transition, given the supportive culture up here, isn’t that bad at all. Continue reading