Modern Hippie Mag » Technology

The Good, the Bad and the Not So Pretty

Jaszy McAllister — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 17:00:07 +0000

Well eco-peeps we have some news for ya. The good news is that tomorrow is ‘Food’ day and as you’ve come to expect, we have a super yummy raw food dessert from Natalia in our video series In the Kitchen with Natalia of Glowing Temple. I won’t spoil it, but it’s really easy to make and very chocolate-y!

The bad news is that next week Modern Hippie Mag will be offline for a few days, but for a very good reason. We’re going green, people!! We are making the transition to iPage, a Green Certified Hosting Company. iPage reduces its carbon footprint by purchasing Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs) generated by wind power. That means that their servers, offices and data centers are powered by 100% wind energy. iPage’s energy efficiency is equivalent to planting 2,390 acres of trees or removing 510 cars from the road! We’re pretty excited about it!

But that brings me to the “Not So Pretty”.

Although I have complete confidence in the folks over at iPage, I’m gonna be freakin’ out just a tad as we get it all sorted out. Your patience and words of soothing comfort would be greatly appreciated.

I hope that you will still connect with us on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. Also, be sure to catch up on our videos on YouTube and our podcast interviews while we make the transition.

Thanks so much for continuing to support Modern Hippie Mag and for being a part of our community of eco-peeps!!

The Good, the Bad and the Not So Pretty is a post from Modern Hippie Mag your online resource dedicated to hip, healthy conscious living & environmental sustainability.

Help the Environment and Save Money with ecofreek

Guest Contributor — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 17:00:39 +0000

ecofreek is a new company dedicated to advancing the recycling movement by providing a simple method to find free and swap items online.

Many peoples understanding of recycling is limited to just bottles, cans and paper; however, it’s not just trash that can be recycled, perfectly good items like clothing, furniture and electronics can be recycled as well. ecofreek’s mission is to encourage users to reuse pre-owned items, as well as give away items they no longer want, in order to reduce landfill waste.

ecofreek feels that newer is not necessarily better- but that free is better, especially considering the current issue of over-consumption and wastefulness. Also, with the uncertain economic climate, many people are looking for more ways to save money.

ecofreek (founded January 2010) is a search engine that locates free and swap items from over 45 websites; such as, Craigslist, Pennysaver, and public Freecycle sites, making ecofreek the most extensive way to find free items on the web. With ecofreek, users can easily find a free sofa, kitchen table, books or kitten in their area OR trade material or services with someone; for example, trading yard labor for a pool table.

Users can search by a keyword, city, or region (state/country), allowing results to easily be narrowed down. In addition, results can be sorted by how old the listing is, listings with images first, and more. Once the user has found an item they like, they only need to click the listing to be taken to the original posting to contact the the owner.

Unlike many classifieds, ecofreek uses a filter for spam and false listings, and also has an easy way to mark listings to be taken down.

ecofreek’s service is easy to use and full of extra features, such as driving directions so you can see how far away an item is from you. Plus, if you can’t find what you’re looking for at first, you can easily sign up for free email alerts and cell phone text alerts to be notified when a new item is listed that fits your keyword.

Soon, the company will be offering merchandise, such as t-shirts and re-usable grocery bags, to give away when users donate (at this stage the company is supported only by donation) .

Craig J. Stadler, co-founder said- “ecofreek encourages people to ask the question: Why buy a new piano, moving boxes or a desk when you can pick up a free one nearby, save money and feel good about helping the environment all at once?”

Nicole Boivin, nicole@ecofreek.com, (510) 768-7952.

Help the Environment and Save Money with ecofreek is a post from Modern Hippie Mag your online resource dedicated to hip, healthy conscious living & environmental sustainability.

GE’s Investments in Green are Paying Off

Guest Contributor — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 20:00:02 +0000

General Electric Co. (GE) said revenue from its green products and services will grow at twice the rate of total company revenue in the next five years.

GE recently announced that its plan to pour $5 billion in investments into energy efficient and environmentally oriented projects has been met a year ahead of schedule. It also said it is committed to spend an additional $10 billion by 2015.

GE’s portfolio of greener products and services is now up to 90, ranging from aircraft engines, locomotives and wind turbines to energy-efficient home improvement loans.

GE’s annual report indicated that revenues from its “ecomagination” program increased 6 percent to $18 billion in 2009 and that it has reduced emissions of greenhouse gases.
The company said its $5 billion investment has generated revenue of $70 billion (GE’s revenue totaled $156.8 billion last year).

According to Jeffrey Immelt, GE’s chairman and CEO, and Steven Fludder, vice president of ecomagination. “We are doubling down to drive even faster impact and to deliver our contribution to a 21st century energy transformation.”

GE is helping to solve the world’s biggest environmental challenges while driving profitable growth for GE and its customers.

GE’s Investments in Green are Paying Off originally appeared in The GREEN MARKET blog.

Richard Matthews is a Marketing Consultant and author of The GREEN MARKET, a blog dedicated to green investing and the economy. Richard hails from Quebec Canada. He enjoys hiking, canoeing, and rock-climbing.

GE’s Investments in Green are Paying Off is a post from Modern Hippie Mag your online resource dedicated to hip, healthy conscious living & environmental sustainability.

5 Ways to a Greener Website

Julie Urlaub — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 17:00:32 +0000

After all the energy audits and establishing sustainable business strategies have been done, don’t forget to include your Web site. Corporate sustainability managers are looking to use the company Web site to communicate and engage with key stakeholders. Doesn’t it make sense to have the website reflect sustainability values?

Resources to make your website Green, Sustainable, Eco-Friendly:

Web Hosting:

Photo by H Berends

There are web hosts that are powered by solar panel, wind, or some type of combination of traditional and natural power.

Green web hosting typically involves several of the following elements:
Servers directly powered by renewable energy.
Energy use offset using a carbon credit.
Energy use offset using a Renewable Energy Credit (REC).
Hosting servers optimized for energy efficiency.

Offset Your Carbon Usage:

Companies like CO2Stats will “offset” your dirty energy use by contributing a proportionate amount to a program that will remove greenhouse gases from the atmosphere or insert renewable energy into the grid equal to your non-renewable energy usage. The program also claims to drive traffic to your site and help you improve its energy efficiency.

Green Energy:

Your computers, servers, and data centers will need to consider green power.

Energy Star Program
How to green your electricity: More tips to improve consumer and corporate energy
EPA’s Green Power Partnership

Computer and Server Recycling:

Computers only have a limited shelf life, so what happens to those out of date pieces of hardware?

Computer Recycling & Reuse: Various resources
Ten Tips for Donating a Computer
How to: Recycle Your Computer

Social Media for Stakeholder Engagement:

As viewed in our professional consulting, many websites succeed in presenting basic information about their business sustainability programs by offering access to stand-alone annual sustainability report. However, we encourage clients to leverage social media for stakeholder engagement. Engaging stakeholders is not only a means of building sustainable business, but it is also a powerful way to master clear communication of the environmental business initiatives your company is pursuing.

Resources: http://www.web-strategist.com/blog/2007/05/12/resources-to-create-a-green-website/

5 Ways to a Greener Website originally appeared on the Taiga Company blog.

Julie

Julie Urlaub is Founder & Managing Partner of Taiga Company, a sustainability consulting firm located in Houston, Texas dedicated to accelerating the integration of sustainability concepts in business. Today, Julie speaks, writes, and advises clients on a variety of issues related to the intersection between environmental stewardship, and sustainable business practices. Her writing has been featured in SocialYell’s Corporate Advice, the GreenEcomonyPost, the Business Exchange and, the ThinkGreenAlliance. Connect with Taiga Company on Facebook and Twitter. Also Find Julie on LinkedIn.

5 Ways to a Greener Website is a post from Modern Hippie Mag your online resource dedicated to hip, healthy conscious living & environmental sustainability.

Minimizing Cell Phone Radiation

EarthTalk — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 13:00:43 +0000

EarthTalk®
From the Editors of E/The Environmental Magazine

Dear EarthTalk: OK, so are cell phones emitting dangerous radiation or not? If so, which phones are safer that others and what do we do to minimize exposure? — Luke Alderman, Santa Fe, NM

The jury is still out as to whether or not the radiation emitted by cell phones can cause negative health effects for callers. Mobile phones emit signals to communicate with cellular towers via radio waves, which are comprised of radio-frequency (RF) energy, a form of electromagnetic radiation.

courtesy Thinkstock

The U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) limits the amount of radiation any phone sold in the U.S. can emit to what it considers a safe level of 1.6 watts per kilogram of body weight (a measure of the energy absorbed by the body when using a wireless device). But some health practitioners are concerned that even this level of exposure may be too high, resulting in people unwittingly exposing themselves to potentially harmful radiation every time they make or take a call.

Such radiation is known to heat up living tissue it comes into close contact with by a fraction of a degree, but this level of temperature increase is less than that caused by exposure to direct sunlight, and the brain’s blood circulation typically disperses this excess heat quickly by increasing local blood flow.

Some recent studies have found higher risks for brain and salivary gland tumors among people using cell phones for 10 years or longer, while other research has found little if any risk. Other research has looked at the reproductive, cognitive and sleep effects of RF energy at levels similar to what cell/smart phones emit. Results have been mixed. More studies are now underway to resolve whether or not cell phones are safe for people to use, but some electronics manufacturers aren’t waiting around to cut down on the radiation emissions of the phones they make and sell.

If you are in the market for a new cell phone, check out the nonprofit Environmental Working Group’s (EWG’s) rundown on which of the thousand or so popular cell/smart phone models give off the most and least radiation. Levels vary widely, from as little as 0.3 to the legal limit of 1.6 watts per kilogram of body weight. Sanyo’s Katana II, Samsung’s Rugby, Nokia’s 7710, and the Blackberry Storm, among others, get top marks from EWG for giving off lower amounts of radiation (in the 0.3 range). Meanwhile, more than a dozen different cell/smart phones (including some of the most popular models such as Motorola’s Droid, Blackberry’s Bold 9700, LG’s Chocolate Touch and HTC’s Nexus One by Google) are categorized as “worst” by EWG for giving off larger amounts of radiation (pushing the 1.6 limit). Apple’s iPhone 3Gs is in the middle of the spectrum, leaking between 0.52 and 1.19, depending on usage.

Regardless of which cell/smart phone you use, you can minimize your exposure to RF radiation by taking a few simple precautions. For one, using a headset (these give off significantly less radiation) or speaker phone keeps the phone itself away from your head. Also, your phone emits far less radiation when used to text instead of call—and the phone isn’t next to your brain when texting—so the more you tap (just not while driving, please!) instead of talk the better. Also, a poor signal (fewer bars) means that your phone has to work harder—and emit more radiation—to connect up to a wireless tower, so wait to make that call until you are somewhere with a stronger connection.

CONTACTS: FCC, www.fcc.gov; Environmental Working Group, www.ewg.org.

SEND YOUR ENVIRONMENTAL QUESTIONS TO: EarthTalk®, c/o E – The Environmental Magazine, P.O. Box 5098, Westport, CT 06881; earthtalk@emagazine.com. E is a nonprofit publication. Subscribe: www.emagazine.com/subscribe; Request a Free Trial Issue: www.emagazine.com/trial.

Minimizing Cell Phone Radiation is a post from Modern Hippie Mag your online resource dedicated to hip, healthy conscious living & environmental sustainability.

The Florida House Goes Solar

Jaszy McAllister — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 13:00:30 +0000

Florida Learning House

Built as a testament to sustainable living, the Florida House opened in 1994 to showcase to the public alternative energy options featuring the latest technologies in water and energy conservation, environmental landscaping, and to support local economic development.

Lennox SunSource

Last week, we were on hand for the Florida House’s newest addition, a state-of-the-art Lennox SunSource Home Energy System, a solar powered air conditioning system that will be the first of its kind in Florida. Because air conditioning can account for nearly 56 percent of an average household’s electricity consumption, the Florida House hopes to show homeowners that installing a solar powered air conditioning system can not only contribute to lowering electric bills but can also offset other utility demands because the solar system stores energy for when the sun isn’t shining and can produce electricity for other household demands.

The system was donated by Tri-County Air Conditioning and Heating, Inc., one of the largest air conditioning service and replacement companies in Florida.

Check out our video to learn more about the Florida House and its solar powered air conditioning unit debut.

Jaszy McAllister

Jaszy McAllister is the woman behind the curtain of Modern Hippie Mag. She is also the host for ModernHippieMag.com video and podcast interview profiles and a Green Guru for TheGreenGirls.com. Find her on Twitter, @msjaszy. Read more articles by Jaszy.

Want to have your company, product or service featured in a video or podcast? Contact us! Watch our video profiles and listen to our podcast interviews.

The Florida House Goes Solar is a post from Modern Hippie Mag your online resource dedicated to hip, healthy conscious living & environmental sustainability.

How Will We Fuel Our Future?

Steve McAllister — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 20:00:21 +0000

This month Americans celebrated our Independence. As far as we may have come, we still look forward to the day we can celebrate our independence from oil. We know that it is a pollutant, it’s toxic, it’s cancer causing, it’s not renewable, it’s a dirty industry through and through, and of course, the harsh reality is that we will one day run out of it… possibly sooner than we may think. Personally, I’m not looking to just decrease our addiction to foreign oil alone. It is not foreign oil that is currently spewing into the Gulf of Mexico and endangering the lives of millions of species and the livelihoods of millions of people. I look forward to the day when we are independent from ALL oil.

Fortunately, this dreamy-eyed hope of mine is actually a possibility. As featured in the film Fuel, which has recently been made available through hulu.com biodiesel is on the rise again. After a surge in popularity and a shining offering of hope, the possibility of biodiesel as a sustainable fuel source was brought into question after a few slanderous articles were released noting the deforestation that takes place in order to grow the crops to create it. However, new technology is emerging whereby biodiesel is being created not only from our waste, which is astoundingly plentiful in our land of the free, but also from algae, the main ingredient used to create crude oil in the first place (without the millions of years and the drilling).

Fuel offers several interesting facts about the oil industry, its ties to our government, and several methods of alternative energy that we can start using today. Did you know that the diesel engine was originally designed to run on corn? Did you know that Henry Ford designed his engines to run on plant based ethanol before Prohibition which was pushed forward by Standard Oil’s John D. Rockefeller, forcing him to switch to petroleum? Produced and directed by New College of Florida alum Josh Tickell, who now runs the Veggie Van Organization, the film offers an often emotional look at the history of our energy use and how we can create a cleaner, more sustainable future.

For the month of July, Modern Hippie Mag will give 100% of the proceeds from the sales of our Organic Cotton T-shirts to the Mote Marine Emergency Oil Spill Relief Fund. Not only will your purchase go toward cleaning up the Gulf of Mexico, it will help spread the message that we demand “Alternative Energy Now.” It is all too easy to sit back on our haunches and allow our government and corporate America to make the rules. As Gandhi said, “When the people lead, the leaders will follow.” Show your leadership and start demanding clean energy.

Steve McAllister

In addition to serving as Managing Editor and contributor to Modern Hippie Mag, Steve McAllister is an actor, musician, accomplished author and filmmaker. His most recent novel, The McAllister Code is available as an e-book at www.themcallistercode.com. Find Steve on Twitter, @InkenSoul. Read his reviews and articles here.

How Will We Fuel Our Future? is a post from Modern Hippie Mag your online resource dedicated to hip, healthy conscious living & environmental sustainability.

Solar in the Sunshine State

Steve McAllister — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 18:00:32 +0000

In light of the recent BP oil spill disaster many people are looking for ways that they can mitigate their carbon footprint by decreasing fossil fuel dependence. In the Sunshine State the choice seems pretty clear – solar energy. But is it really that simple? As a home or business owner where can you turn to find what solar energy systems are best suited for your circumstance?

Monica Kennedy

We spoke with Monica Kennedy, founder & CEO of Elite Solar Services to learn more about renewable energy programs, system installations, and government rebates. Licensed, insured, bonded, and LEED certified Elite Solar is poised to be the fastest growing solar system dealer network with a team of solar contractors, installers, designers, and engineers.

Watch our video interview to learn more about Monica and Elite Solar.

Solar in the Sunshine State from Modern Hippie on Vimeo.

Jaszy McAllister

Want to have your company, product or service featured in a video or podcast? Contact us! Watch our video profiles and listen to our podcast interviews.

Solar in the Sunshine State is a post from Modern Hippie Mag your online resource dedicated to hip, healthy conscious living & environmental sustainability.

Envisioning Urbanism

Steve McAllister — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 13:00:30 +0000

As our population grows, our urban centers are starting to heat up. With all of that extra vehicular transportation, most of us have realized that our climate is heating up as well. However, as our culture starts moving back toward the Main Street mentality with people living, working, and shopping in downtown areas, it is imperative that we develop plans to create more livable environments that include better mass transit and pedestrian functionality. Steve Price of Urban Advantage allows us to envision what that might look like.

Steve Price

By transforming photographs with photo editing software, Urban Advantage offers visions of what is possible in urban environments. “The results are photo-realistic visualizations that make development visions palpably real and understandable.” By adding in trees, walking areas, store fronts, living spaces, and more, the images provided by Urban Advantage allow communities to get a glimpse of the potential for transforming urban gridlock into a greener, more inhabitable landscape.

We were very appreciative to have Steve speak with us about what Urban Advantage does and the future of urban living.

Urban Advantage

Modern Hippie Mag Podcast

Steve McAllister

Envisioning Urbanism is a post from Modern Hippie Mag your online resource dedicated to hip, healthy conscious living & environmental sustainability.

Ethanol as an auto fuel alternative?

EarthTalk — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 14:00:09 +0000

EarthTalk®
From the Editors of E/The Environmental Magazine

Dear EarthTalk: Where does ethanol as an automobile fuel fit into the alternative energy mix? Is it better for the environment than gasoline? – Donna Allgaier-Lamberti, Pullman, MI

Ethanol—a biofuel derived from corn and other feedstocks—is already playing a major role in helping to reduce emissions from many of the traditional gasoline-powered cars on the road today. According to the U.S. Department of Energy, nearly half of all the gasoline sold in the U.S. contains up to 10 percent ethanol, which not only boosts octane but also helps meet federally mandated air quality requirements. By promoting more complete fuel combustion, this small amount of ethanol mixed into gasoline reduces exhaust emissions of carbon monoxide—a regulated pollutant linked to smog, acid rain, global warming and other environmental problems—by as much as 30 percent compared with pure gasoline.

Also, a growing number of so-called “flex-fuel” vehicles now available can run on either straight unleaded gasoline or so-called E85, a mix of 85 percent ethanol and 15 percent gasoline. Ethanol proponents underscore emissions savings, cost stability (ethanol is distilled from domestically grown corn) and reduced reliance on (foreign) oil as benefits of more drivers filling up their tanks with E85 instead of gas.

But even though some eight million flex-fuel vehicles are now on U.S. roads, most of them are not near convenient ethanol refilling stations and are therefore mostly running on regular gasoline. (The U.S. Department of Energy website has a map-based listing of E85 refueling stations across the country—most are in the Midwest’s “corn belt.”) So while the capacity and perhaps demand for a cleaner burning fuel is there, supplies have not kept pace—some say because the federal government has subsidized ethanol producers only and not the distributors and retailers who get the product to customers.

But this may change. In May 2009 President Obama signed a Presidential Directive to advance research into biofuels like ethanol and expand their use. The resulting Biofuels Interagency Working Group is developing a plan to increase flex fuel vehicle use by making E85 and other biofuels more available.

While many environmental advocates view increasing ethanol use as a promising development (if drivers would actually fill up with it), others are not so sure. Cornell agriculture professor David Pimentel argues that producing ethanol actually creates a net energy loss. His research shows that a gallon of ethanol contains 77,000 BTUs of energy for engines to burn but requires 131,000 BTUs to process into usable fuel, not including additional BTUs burned from fossil fuel sources to power the farm equipment to grow the corn, and the barges, trains and trucks used to transport it to refineries and ultimately fueling stations.

Pimentel also says that powering a car for a single year on ethanol would require 11 acres of corn, which could alternatively feed at least seven people. If we step up our use of ethanol and begin putting our farmers’ yields into gas tanks instead of on dinner tables, we could see a shortage of domestically grown food and higher prices at the grocery store. To address this problem, biofuels producers are researching alternative non-food feedstocks such as algae, corn stalks, wood chips and switchgrass, though they would still make use of arable land that could grow food for human consumption.

CONTACTS: U.S. Department of Energy, www.energy.gov; Argonne National Laboratory, www.anl.gov; E85 Fueling Station Locations, www.afdc.energy.gov/afdc/ethanol/ethanol_locations.html.

Ethanol as an auto fuel alternative? is a post from Modern Hippie Mag your online resource dedicated to hip, healthy conscious living & environmental sustainability.