The Condé Nast Building or the 4 Times Square in New York City is an environmentally responsible building. “All building systems and construction technology have been evaluated for their impact on occupant health, environmental sensitivity, and energy reduction, making Four Times Square the first project of its size to adopt state-of-the-art standards for energy conservation, indoor air quality, recycling systems, and the use of sustainable manufacturing processes. The building features environmentally efficient gas-fired absorption chillers and a state of the art curtain wall with excellent shading and insulating performance. The air delivery system will provide 50% more fresh air than industry codes, and a network of recycling chutes will serve the entire building. Stringent procedures have been followed during construction as well as in the day-to-day operation of the building in order to maintain these standards. A comprehensive set of tenant guidelines has been developed as well.”
This is an extremely impressive building and one that has inspired many architects to do similar work in the city!
If you’re interested in more green design, check out “e2 – the economics of being environmentally conscious.” It’s an ongoing PBS series about maintaining environmental integrity with technology, design, and more. It’s definitely worth a watch!
I love to camp and it’s important to me to remember that you can respect the environment and be green while camping, whether it’s car camping or backcountry camping. One of the ways to stay green while camping is purchasing items from a company that is committed to our planet. Guyot Designs is one of those companies.
Their MicroBites 5-in-1 Utility for Cooking & Eating is a prime example of how they have committed their company to respecting the world in which we love to discover through camping, hiking, climbing, paddling, etc. The 5-in-1 is an eating utensil that works as a spoon, fork, knife, spatula, and spreader. It’s extremely light weight and made of high-temperature, nylon polymer. Don’t be fooled, they can withstand up to 450 degrees Farenheiht.
What’s best about the set is it’s carbon negative! It carries more than 25 pounds of verified green house emissions reductions, which is part of their C-minus program. The program was created in partnership with the Environmental Resources Trust. Guyot Designs will purchase and retire carbon offsets through ERT’s greenhouse registry. Plus, 2% of sales from every Guyot Design product goes to the Rocky Mountain Institute which also supports sustainable business ideals.
This is a smart, green, durable buy!
Guyot Design’s mission is dedicated to the environment….
“Our Philosophy
Guyot Designs is a holistic company incorporating ideas, lifestyle, culture and individuality. Our core belief is that it’s possible and profitable to invent fantastic outdoor products while fostering a corporate culture that focuses on the aspirations of our partners. Maintaining that balance creates an environment where great ideas are generated and people feel valued.
Guyot Designs is the business created by Joshua Guyot, CEO and inventor of the SplashGuard and Sloan Russell, President. They have combined Josh’s years of design experience with Sloan’s vision of evironmental responsibility and corporate ethics to create an new type of outdoor design company—
One where ideas are treated with dignity and enthusiasm while people and the environment are treated with reverence.
Closing the Loop
We accept responsibility for keeping our products out of the waste stream. If you have a Guyot Designs product that you’re finished with, – don’t send it to the dump, send it to us. We’re working hard to find recycling markets for every component of all of our products. If you have a product you no longer want, but don’t want to throw away, contact us for collection information.
Environmental Statement
Our core belief is that economic power can and should be used to fund the best and cleanest technologies, the fairest and most sustainable labor practices and the design of products which enhance peoples’ experience and understanding of the natural world. We will reclaim any of our products at the end of their useful life and incorporate them into the manufacturing of new products.
Labor
We believe in using economic power as a force for change. We therefore exclusively use factories which abide by the strictest labor and environmental standards.”
“Approximately 43% of the global population, especially the lower-income populace in the remote and rural parts of the developing world, is deprived of household safe piped water.” This means around 900 million people are without access to safe, clean drinking water and 1.5 million of those people are children who die from diarrheal diseases…which can be prevented with access to clean drinking water, sanitation, and hygiene education. Point-of-use (POU) treatment, treating the water at it’s immediate source, is an alternative approach. The LifeStraw and Family LifeStraw, produced by Vestergaard Frandsen, are prime examples of successful approaches to POU treatment. The LifeStraw is just that…a life-saving tool in the form of a large straw that filters water as people suck dirty water into it. Some of it’s benefits are:
Filters at least 1000L of contaminated water
Removes minimum 99.9999% of waterborne bacteria (>LOG 6 reduction)
Removes minimum 99.9% of waterborne protozoan parasites (>LOG 3 reduction)
Reduces turbidity by filtering particles of approximately 0.2 microns
Contains no chemicals
Has a high flow rate
Requires no electrical power, batteries or replacement parts
One of the LifeStraw’s best benefits is that it empowers people to control the quality of their drinking water. “Treating water at the household level or other point of use also reduces the risk of waterborne disease arising from recontamination during collection, transport, and use in the home, a well-known cause of water-quality degradation3. In many rural and urban areas of the developing world, household water-quality interventions can reduce diarrhoea morbidity by more than 40%.”
I hope to raise funds next year with the WaterAid Chapter at Texas State University in order to purchase some of these amazing, imaginative, and life-saving tools! For more information click HERE.
Imagine walking the streets of New York and you find yourself walking up a flight of stairs to a train track…but once you get to the platform, instead of seeing trains, metal, and hordes of people, you see grass and plants covering the tracks with people riding their bikes by. You have found the High Line.
The High Line in New York was constructed in 1930 to lift dangerous freight trains off the streets of Manhattan; it transported agricultural goods and meat to the meatpacking district. Section 1 of the High Line is now open as a public park thanks to the non-profit group Friends of the High Line who formed the park in 1999 when the rail was facing demolition after seeing no train traffic since the 1980′s. The park is now owned by the City of New York and operated under the jurisdiction of the New York City Department of Parks & Recreation.
The High Line project is still under construction with Section 2 to be complete this year; when all sections are complete the High Line, “will be a mile-and-a-half-long elevated park, running through the West Side neighborhoods of the Meatpacking District, West Chelsea and Clinton/Hell’s Kitchen.” It landscaping is functional with flowing concrete pathways and vegetation, fixed and movable seating, lighting, and equipped with plenty of bike racks.
Friends of the High Line wanted to save the space as a testament to New York’s industrial past and use the old line as a safe way for people to enjoy the city and to hopefully set an example for other states. Currently, major roadways and old train tracks are beginning to break down and cities across the country are having to make the decision between rebuilding roads, taking them out, or reusing them like Friends of the High Line did. Some cities have realized it costs less to reconstruct the roads as a park or as a pedestrian area than to rebuild a major highway.
Not only can one walk “the line’ and enjoy the views of the Hudson and the skyline, but pedestrians will be able to choose from innovative, creative, thoughtful food vendors in the near future. There are also “viewing stations” located in the park with public art displays. Friends of the High Line also offers school groups or educational tours of the line where children can learn the history, nature, or design of the line.
For more information and a gallery of photos, please click HERE.
After attending Texas River Protection Association’s annual board meeting this morning, I realized just how important it is to take action NOW with regards to local water issues. The state of Texas has a long, difficult road ahead of it if it doesn’t take the necessary steps now to preserve our water for the future. To help protect Texas rivers please click HERE to become a supporting member of TRPA. With a membership of $25 or more you gain access to some of the best rapids in the state of Texas called Hidalgo Falls. TRPA purchased the land a few years back and have transformed the property into a “paddler’s paradise” while also helping connect Texans to nature.
Local NGO’s in Texas aren’t the only groups that realize this is such an important issue. Patagonia has launched a new campaign called Our Common Waters; they are taking a hard look at the cost of running their business and how it effects the world’s water supply. Their goal is to “connect water use, the consumer society and threats to biodiversity.” Last year they partnered with New Belgium Brewery, “along with seven other companies and foundations in raising funding and awareness for the severely threatened Colorado River. This campaign will donate money to environmental nonprofits in the Colorado River basin, working to promote water conservation and protect the river.”
To learn more and to get involved in their current campaign, please click HERE.
The other day it came to me: “I don’t put my veggies in plastic bags when I go to the grocery store and usually only run water over them before I eat them at home…that can’t be enough.” When you think about everywhere that item has been, you realize how much you need to clean it! So then I got to thinking, how can I make a natural, safe vegetable wash for the veggies/fruits I buy at the grocery store? Well, here’s how:
For “hard-skinned” fruits and veggies:
1. fill spray bottle with 1/2 white vinegar and 1/2 water
2. spray your solution onto fruits/veggies, rub it in, and rinse it off
For “soft-skinned” fruits and veggies:
1. fill a bowl with 1/2 white vinegar and 1/2 water
2. then soak your fruits/veggies in the solution for 1-2 mins and then rinse
I am so lucky to be working at El Ranchito, a “nature-immersion summer camp for young people entering 4th through 12th grades… created specifically to serve children and youth from low-income families.” Not only do we get to camp out for two weeks straight but the kids, or young-adults get to:
work hands-on to maintain hiking tails and protect and restore wildlife habitat
participate in age-appropriate environmental learning and outdoor adventure programs
enjoy high adventures like kayaking and rock-climbing
assist with programs for younger El Ranchito campers
learn basic job skills as they prepare to enter the workforce as young adults (www.elranchito.org)
The camp is located on the historic Shield Ranch southwest of Austin, TX. The campers will enjoy being surrounded by old oak trees and “cedars” that grow along a tributary to Barton Creek. They will be immersed in nature which is designed to nuture their “mind, body, and spirit.” For many of the campers, this will be a completely new experience. Which is why I feel so lucky to be apart of their experience of enjoying nature and learning about themselves.
You may have seen them while browsing your local health food store or you may have passed them by while on your way to the bulk food dispensers in HEB. But next time, you may want to stop, pick up that little box of goodness, and buy you some!
Traditional Medicinals, “offers Herbal Dietary Supplements, Natural Health Products, OTC Medicines and Traditional Herbal Medicinal Products for the global market. ” What you’ve mostly likely seen is the later of their products, traditional medicinal teas. They have a wide variety of teas that serve a variety of different functions from women’s teas to calming teas to digestive or heartburn teas. For anything that ale’s you, there’s a tea! So what’s so great about traditional medicines?
Traditional Herbal Medicine (THM) is a practice of, “protecting and restoring health that existed before the relatively recent arrival of modern medicine.” THM is one piece of the puzzle that is comprehensive medicine which involves the “use of the plant, animal, and mineral based medicines, spiritual therapies, regulation of diet and exercise, and manual techniques (like acupuncture or massage) to maintain health but also to prevent and treat illnesses.” The use of THM in industrialized countries is spreading but is commonly reffered to as alternative medicine or “complimentary” medicines and sometimes as “herbal dietary supplements or natural health products.” Although it might seem like an alternative route or a “new age” thing, it really isn’t. THM is used by 80% of the world population! There are several systems of THM that are used around our world, some of those include:
Traditional Chinese Medicine
Traditional Unani Medicine
Traditional Western Herbal Medicine
Traditional Tibetan Buddhist Medicine
For more information on these different systems of THM, click HERE.
Not only is THM great for your body it is also great for our environment. Using the “fruits of our Earth” instead of creating harmful chemicals that can find their way back into our environment and harm other living creatures is much more sustainable and ecologically conscience. Traditional Medicinals the company is also a great leader in sustainability. They use solar power, wind power, organic products, they are Fair Trade certified, FairWild certified, they use sustainable partners for sourcing, reduce their impact by using appropriate packaging, and they are constantly working on preservation efforts. Their completion of a large solar power system at their headquarters in Sonoma County makes Traditional Medicinals the largest solar powered tea factory on earth!
So next time your strolling through HEB, take a second to check this brand out and do something good for your body and our environment.
Hemp fiber has been “found in tombs dating up to 8,000 years old,” making hemp one of the oldest fibers around. More recently, Betsy Ross sewed the first American flag from hemp fiber and it was used by Levi Strauss “as a lightweight duck canvas for the very first pair of jeans made in California.”
In the middle of the 1980′s, “researchers developed an enzymatic process to successfully remove lignin from the hemp fiber without compromising its strength.” This de-gummed the hemp fiber meaning it could be spun alone or with other fibers to produce various textiles. It also softened the fiber without compromising it’s strength; “This technological breakthrough has catapulted hemp to the forefront of modern textile design and fashion.”
So why is hemp a superior fiber?
It is one of the strongest and most durable of all natural textile fibers
Hemp products outlast their competition by many years
Hemp holds its shape, meaning less stretch
The more hemp is used, the softer is becomes
Hemp doesn’t wear out
Naturally resistant to mold and ultraviolet light
Hemp is more absorbent meaning once dyed, it retains color better
Hemp “breathes” in warm weather and warm in cooler weather
(www.HempTraders.com)
I already touched on hemp’s environmental properties, like the fact that hemp is an extremely fast growing crop, “producing more fiber yield per acre than any other source. Hemp can produce 250% more fiber than cotton and 600% more fiber than flax using the same amount of land.” These are all wonderful properties of a fiber, especially one that could be mass produced!
It's all hemp!
So what are your options in terms of clothing? Endless!
Hemp socks, sandals, pants, shorts, underwear, t-shirts, dresses…the list can go on and on!
Here’s a list I compiled of some great hemp clothing providers:
The second part of this five part series is about hemp and paper.
According to naihc.org, there are over 25,000 different products that can be made using hemp, one of those is paper. To give you an idea of how long hemp has been around: hemp as a textile industry began in 8,000 B.C. and the Chinese invented hemp paper in 100 B.C. By 600 A.D., according to hemphousemaui.com, the Vikings, Franks, and Germans are all using the hemp fiber. In 1150 AD, hemp is used in the first paper mill and for the next 700 years almost all paper is made from hemp. And in 1631, hemp is used as money in the American colonies.
What’s so bad about the current paper industry? Paper mills produce a lot of stinky smells which are caused by gaseous sulfur compounds and given the right weather conditions when those smells can become concentrated, it proves a big problem to those with issues like emphysema. I’ve gone through old paper mill towns and I can tell you, it stinks like rotten eggs! The paper industry is also a large source of toxic pollution, according to the Clean Water Action Council. The run off from their mills contains toxins that are deadly to wildlife and our drinking water. Not to mention, the paper mill process requires a lot of energy adding to our air pollution problem because they typically have to build their own power plants. The paper industry also requires a lot of water for the production of paper and it creates a lot of solid waste.
According to Hemphasis.net, “Making paper from trees is kind of a joke, because trees are made up of only 30% cellulose. The other 70% of the tree must be removed using toxic chemicals, until the cellulose can be formed into paper. The higher the percentage of cellulose in a plant, the better, because fewer chemicals need to be used, and less work needs to be done before the paper can be made. Almost any plant in nature with a strong stalk is better suited to make paper than trees, especially hemp because it can be 85% cellulose (Hemphasis.net).”
And why is hemp a great alternative? Hemp makes stronger paper and lasts centuries longer. Hemp paper does not yellow, crack, or otherwise deteriorate like tree paper does because of the acids which are needed in wood paper production. Hemp paper does not require bleaching which means it does not poison the water supply with dioxins or chlorine like a regular paper mill. Hemp can be made without ANY chemicals, the only draw back to that is that the process takes a little bit longer. “One acre of hemp can produce as much paper as 4 to 10 acres of trees over a 20-year cycle, but hemp stalks only take four months to mature, whereas trees take 20 to 80 years. This information was known in 1916, according to a USDA report.” Many believe that hemp can single handedly solve worldwide deforestation. Hemp paper is also more recyclable than tree paper, according to hempmuseum.org.
