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Welcome to the world of Green! Alive, Refreshing and Healthy living are the thoughts that come to mind when I ponder the meaning of Green.It is said there is nobody converted like the newly converted and that would describe me. In my recent certification as an EcoBroker I have learned a tremendous amount about the changes in how we use our resources to improve our lives. The awareness is increasing and changes are taking place across the United States and around the world.

Some key trigger words you will hear in the Go Green movement are: Energy efficiency, energy savings, renewable energy and Energy Star Certified and Earth Advantage Homes. You will read and hear about alternative fuels, renewable resources, and recycling, recyclable materials.

There will be phrases such as Energy trust of Oregon with its’ energy tax incentives, energy tax credits, energy rebates, energy efficient mortgages, Green mortgages and Green housing. Indoor air quality, low VOC paint, Recycled carpet, bamboo flooring, low formaldehyde glues, air filtration systems, hybrid heating and air conditioning, and energy efficient appliances. And the list goes on. Read the rest of this entry »

Living green doesn’t mean you have to wave goodbye to all the niceties and luxuries of modern life. There are plenty of things you can do which will help you to live green without total sacrifice.

1. Re-use: the bags you get every time you shop are good for more than one trip. Re-use them or, better yet, buy a “bag for life” and use that.
2. Re-cycle: you probably already have a recycling collection service. If not, look out for recycling places local to you and drop off your newspapers, bottles, cans, etc next time you are passing. Don’t make a special trip though. For larger items, if they’re still usable then look up Freecycle for your local area. Read the rest of this entry »

I just stumbled onto something quite interesting. A gentleman named Harry L. Schoell has just developed a new engine that will run on just about anything that can burn.

This engine is compact, quiet, clean burning and at the time of this writing, seems to be as efficient as our good old internal combustion engine. From what I understand, this is a high tech steam engine which draws it’s heat from a cyclonic-type burner. It can also deliver large amounts of torque at low RPM, seemingly enough to eliminate the need for a transmission when used as an automobile power plant,.

What caught my eye though, is that they claim that it does not need highly a refined fuel to run. Anything that burns will do. It seems they even have had it running on coal dust. This means that it would be a prime candidate for transforming all kinds of bio-wastes into valuable usable energy.This, I like! We can turn our trash into valuable fuel! What a powerful incentive to clean up our planet!

And even if we chose to use fossil fuels, if we can skip the refining step in oil production, we save a bundle at the pump on refining costs. Plus, the fuel that was not used to run the refinery is available at the pump. So we win on both counts. Read the rest of this entry »

The world is increasingly warming. This is largely due to the emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases from human activities including industrial processes, fossil fuel combustion and changes in land use, such as deforestation. These are the findings contained in the latest report of the UN-backed intergovernmental panel on Climate Change which was released in February 2007. The Indian environmentalist Dr. R.K.P., the director General of Energy and resources Institute is the Chairman of the panel.

The report warns that continuations of historical trends of green house gas emissions will result in additional warning over the 21 century, with current projections of a global increase of 2.5 F to 10.4 F by 2100. Read the rest of this entry »

Lundy Island, a granite outpost off the coast of north Devon, is one of Britain’s great green success stories. Measuring just three- and-a-half miles long, it marks the spot where the Bristol Channel meets the white horses of the Atlantic ocean. Its wild waters are teeming with marine life; jellyfish and sponges drift in and out of its underwater sea caves, basking sharks patrol its reefs and rare long-clawed lobsters call its sandbanks home. These lobsters are among the luckiest in the world - Lundy is Britain’s only statutory marine nature reserve and every species here is given the chance to thrive.

Lundy’s no-take zone, the first of its kind in the UK, was introduced in 2003 to try to reverse the problems caused by over- fishing. Four years on, the results are already being seen. “We have seen a threefold increase in the numbers of lobsters within the no- take zone since it was established,” says Chris Davis, a marine conversation officer for English Nature. Now a new report produced by the World Wildlife Fund together with the Marine Biology Association (MBA) has called for more biodiversity hot spots like Lundy to be established across the UK. A total of 120 locations rich in underwater activity but susceptible to such threats as over- fishing and pollution have been identified.

Kate Reeves, of WWF, says: “Our seas are becoming busier than ever before due to an increase in human activities threatening the marine environment, from fishing and shipping to dredging and wind farms.” Dr Keith Hiscock, one of the authors of the report, says the neglect of Britain’s ocean treasures is a threat to more than just the survival of our marine species; the briny may be teeming with treasures we have yet to discover. To date, the UK has 56 Special Areas of Conservation which include marine habitat. Not enough, says Guy Baker of the MBA. “Less than 0.001 per cent of the UK seabed has full legal protection at a time when marine biodiversity is under increasing pressure from our activities. The WWF report uses objective scientific information to prioritise vital conservation efforts.”

MULL.

Standing proudly on an exposed clifftop on the Isle of Mull is MacCulloch’s fossil tree, believed to be between 50 and 60 million years old. At at height of 12m, the tree, coated in lava during the Tertiary period and now partly exposed, towers above the powdery sand beaches of this Inner Hebridean island. If one were to climb it - impossible, of course - the view would be quite something. From the snow-capped peak of Ben More to Calgary in the northernmost tip, red deer and wild white goats wander across the open moors. The calls of buzzards and great eagles drift out to sea, where atlantic grey seals, bottlenose dolphins, minke whales, harbour porpoises and even orca are regularly spotted. On the adjacent islet of Staffa is Fingal’s cave, a subterranean sea cave worth writing poetry about; its basaltic pillars and abundance of marine life have inspired Wordsworth, Keats, Tennyson and Mendelssohn.

DOGGER BANK.

Dogger Bank is a large sub littoral sandbank formed in the southern North Sea by glacial processes and submergence through sea- level rise. A piece of living history, it is part of the remains of a large landmass known as Dogger land, which existed during the last ice age and connected Britain to the European mainland. Read the rest of this entry »