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Sustainy drops by the Eco House at the Minnesota State Fair iPhone picture of the gutter/rain garden portion of the eco house We popped by the eco experience at the Minnesota State fair last week and snapped a couple pictures of the net zero eco house. It was an open walk through design, set up to [...] So, I’m a little late in bringing this up, but recently, there was news around a new type of synthetic tree that will capture CO2 and let humans sequester it where ever we find the space. Many people wrote about this magical “tree” that will cheerfully sit in parks around the world (or tucked away in [...]  Harvesting Rain in LA? http://www.flickr.com/photos/stephanieasher/ / CC BY-NC-SA 2.0 I can’t tell if this is irony or good urban planning, but Los Angeles has started a rainwater harvesting program, and backed it with some city funding. In an attempt to curb storm water run off, residents are encouraged to save money, lower stormwater pollution and take a short survey to see if they qualify for the program. If your home’s gutter configuration fits the bill, they will supply you with a rainwater barrel for collection and help you apply your newly recycled water to irrigation and other uses. The program is funded by a local initiative, (Prop 12, passed in 2000) and will apparently start with 600 residents. But in a city with an average rainfall of 15 inches per year, sustainy figures you better have significant roof acreage to really have an impact in offsetting the the drain on the municipal water reservoirs. Homeowners, check your chances here. If you’re accepted, let us know how it goes! For an informative video on stormwater treatment with the illustrious Bill Nye the Science Guy, hit the jump. Lately, Audi has been doing really big things with clean diesel engines. Similarly, a German auto-nerd has just set a world record for the fastest car driven by bio-gas using… an Audi sedan. This story over at autoblog.com tells a little more as to how Jürgen Hohenester, a German race car drive, tweaked his Audi to [...]
 The EPA's new MyEnvironment site The EPA recently launched a new section to their site with more info than any sustainy reader could ever want. MyEnvironment takes an up close look at local areas around the country. Simply plug in an address, zip code, city and it will populate a plethora of info on the environmental statistics available for that area. A map will populate nearby sites that are monitored by the EPA (manufacturing, hospitals, chemical plants, etc.), also a clear clear series of drop down menus let you click through to everything you could hope to know about the state of the environment in your area. It ranges from stuff that’s easy to comprehend, like air quality monitors and drinking water sources, to super crazy hypocondriatic stats like particulate matter and nearby superfund sites. It’ s pretty remarkable. You could spend the better part of an entire evening exploring the environmental minutia of your ‘hood on this site (I know, because I just did). While it takes some patience and focus to root through the stats and pages that follow the initial search, it’s pretty admirable that the EPA is going to such lengths to provide this much information at the click of a button. It’s a good thing too as you, the individual, are the one who is going to be responsible for voicing, voting and changing the environmental state of your community. One of my favorite parts of the sustainability movement is that it is so simple for individuals to start small with their focus. By looking at your house, your block, your neighborhood and so on, you can really get a handle on not only what your impact has on your space, but what hundreds and millions of you can do to impact the world. While big businesses are one of the largest polluters and contributors to the environmental crisis we’ve created, the individual and their communities still a major change agent in affecting things on the ground. The MyEnvironment site is an incredibly powerful tool to help people educate and motivate and a great step forward in empowerment from the EPA. Click through for a complete list of what you’ll find on the site and to try it for yourself. |
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