Green Daily

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg's vision of a 2012 where every taxi cab is a hybrid was recently cut short by a judge's disappointing ruling.

If passed, each of the city's 13,000 plus cabs would have been, at minimum, twice as fuel efficient by the end of three years' time.

Because every taxi cab must be replaced every three years by regulation, each vehicle would have been swapped at the appropriate time for a hybrid.

A statement given by the mayor ensured citizens that "greening the taxi fleet is a major priority," and that a plan was in the works "to develop a program with strong incentives for the use of fuel-efficient vehicles and heavy disincentives for the use of inefficient vehicles."

On Friday, November 14th, details of this program began to surface.

The New York Times ran an interesting piece this week about a family of three spreading the green gospel in a motor home. The Janssens slowly downsized from a 1,600 square foot home to a recreational vehicle. They then took to the road fueling their vehicle with vegetable oil from greasy spoons across the nation.

Recreational vehicles do not pop into my mind when I think of "green travel." The mammoths of the highway only get about eight miles per gallon. In addition, the interiors of many of these homes are full of formaldahyde and other toxins in the furnishings that make long term living a bad idea. The Janssens got around this by renovating their mobile home complete with bamboo floors and non-toxic paints.

Living in an RV has kept the Janssens conserving. The hot water tank on board only holds six gallons of water (yikes) and there is no impulse to buy anything as they don't have any extra storage space. Sara Janssen estimates that they have saved over $25,000 by using vegetable oil instead of conventional fuel. You can follow their current travels on their website.

Do you think that you could get rid of it all and move your family into a 36 foot RV?

If you live in New York City, head on over to Gust Organics and check out the new bar. It's 100% USDA Certified Organic.

That means all the liquor is organic, and the fruit in the fruity drinks is organic too. If that isn't worth a few rounds, I don't know what is.

By day you can visit the restaurant and try all the organic deliciousness in regular, vegetarian and vegan varieties. They even offer organic baby food for delivery and dine-in. All in all, it looks like a fabulous place to eat any time of the day.

[Via Treehugger]

Giant cruise ships stuffed with food, tourists and featuring multiple swimming pools and even grass on deck don't exactly make me think of a green vacation. There are things you can do to choose the greenest options out there when picking a cruise vacation.

• Choose a cruise that leaves from a port close to where you live. If you don't live close to a cruise port, at least fly nonstop to your departure city since planes use the most fuel in take-offs and landings.
  
• Find out cruise line policies on wastewater treatment. Some cruise lines have high tech, eco-friendly wastewater treatment on all ships and other lines are still implementing the changes.
  
• Find a cruise line, or destination that focuses on eco-tourism as much as possible. The overall services and facilities should be more eco-conscious.
  
• Finally, to really minimize your impact, sail on a ship with 150 or fewer passengers. You won't have all the big cruise ship amenities but you will have a much smaller impact on the environment.

You may have seen shows featuring America's top diners or magazines telling you the best places in the country to lay your head but the latest issue of Travel and Leisure offers something different. The publication has compiled a list of Must-See Green American Landmarks. Some of these places have altered the landscape drastically or worked with the earth to create something that is sustainable and that makes it beautiful.

The landmarks aren't what you'd expect. You won't see platinum certified office buildings or biodomes. Travel and Leisure features an abandoned freight rail turned nature walk, the first LEED certified ballpark, and a parking garage to name of few of the unexpected winners. Hop in your electric car or tune-up your bike and make a road trip to see what these greenest sites have to offer.

Check out our gallery for some of the top picks.



[via: The Canadian Press]

We've all picked up a seashell and slipped it in a pocket as a memento of a beach vacation. But someone in the Caribbean is taking this a giant step further and stealing truckfuls of sand from the beaches that are the islands' primary tourist attraction.

Ironically, it's tourism and a building boom that are creating the underlying market for the fine sand, which is used to create smooth surfaces on construction projects.

There is an ecological cost to the sand thievery. So much sand has been removed from beaches on islands like Grenada that there's no buffer zone from rough seas.

In Jamaica protected mangroves and a limestone forest no longer have protection from the elements. And on other islands over-excavation has damaged water supplies and left towns vulnerable to flooding.

One more thing to think about when you're selecting a vacation destination. And definitely don't take home any sand!

Sometimes when I travel I am happy to wait and see what lovely lotions and bath gels the hotel has in store for me. Other times I pack my full compliment of daily care items. And sometimes, when I am trying to pack light, I want to have a few small items, just in case.

The Golden Earth travel kit is perfect for when I want to make sure I have just a few key items on hand for my trip. It's small, compact and all the items are in 1 ounce or smaller bottles so I don't have to worry about carrying them on a plane.

The kit contains organic aromatherapy lotion for hands, body and feet as well as bath gel and an essential oil blend meant to reduce the symptoms of jet lag. All of the products are very lightly scented, making them nice for the sometimes close quarters in planes and trains. Your seatmates may not even notice you have applied a scented lotion and you can enjoy getting a subtle scent here and there.

The lotions are all very nice and of course, you need lotion when traveling, especially by plane. The bath gel is scented with sandalwood and cedar wood and would be great for guys or girls. The Trek foot creme with a minty scent and the Nourish hand creme (which seems to be unscented as far as I can tell) would also be guy friendly.

The Love body moisturizer, with its jasmine and lavender scent is very nice, but might not be what a guy wants to put on. Otherwise, this would be great for that traveler on your list, whether it is a girl or a guy.

The famous Eiffel Tower in Paris is ready to do its part to be more Earth-friendly. The tower, covered in 20,000 light bulbs, usually twinkles for 10 minutes every hour throughout the evening.

The practice started in January of 2000. Now, the tower is going to cut back on the twinkles and only twinkle for 5 minutes of every evening hour. Tower managers say it won't actually make much difference because the lights don't use all that much electricity but, it's the thought that counts.

I think it's pretty impressive any time the Eiffel Tower wants to make a statement. I wonder if people will actually notice or if only people that have read about it will notice (and know it isn't actually making all that much difference).

How many times have you come home from vacation and started looking at that cool trinket you got, only to turn it over and see the Made in China sticker stuck to the bottom? Kinda of ruins the idea of the cute thing from wherever you just visited (unless of course it was China).

It is always tempting to bring home souvenirs from trips for yourself, your children, and those that didn't get to go with you - the office, the grandparents, the dog-sitter, etc. Bringing home all that stuff fills up your house with things that may eventually get thrown away and causes all kinds of problems unless you know the item was sustainably produced.

How can you compromise? There are a lot of options. At our house there are two or three things we will almost always buy. A magnet for the fridge - in squares or rectangles if possible so they look neat and tidy together, and a patch for our "camping blanket." Basically a sturdy quilt I made to take on camping trips which we sew travel patches onto. The third item, if I find something like, is a small charm for my charm bracelet.

Take a tip from the Unclutterer blog and try a Flat Stanley type approach. Take a certain item, maybe a child's stuffed animal, and take photos of it everywhere you go. This can be a great way for parents on business trips to involved children without bringing home lots of stuff.

If you must bring home something for the office, try something edible and minimally packaged. Go for locally produced if possible as well. The biggest hit from my trip to Costa Rica was the locally grown coffee I brought home and the handmade local soap with local coffee in it. And from San Fransisco we brought home locally made chocolates.

It can be done. Just make sure you don't leave your "normal" shopping habits at home. Buying less is always a good idea for the planet and for your home.

[Via The Simple Dollar]

Planning to fly this holiday season? Here are 3 easy ways to be greener doing it:

If you read this blog often, you probably know that we're total geeks for any electronic gadget that operates on alternative energy. Well here's an energy-independent gizmo that would make a pretty awesome gift for a man who's constantly on the move -- a wind-up electric razor. The Powerplus Piranha razor allows you to convert an impromptu cardio session into raw, beard-grinding action, eliminating the need for either a disposable razor or a energy-sucking wall charger.

You never have to wait for Piranha double-headed razor to charge, just crank the dynamo and start clearing that stubble. Now, it is a pretty neat item for that reclusive someone who lives in the mountains with no electricity, but it's also a pretty nice green gadget for someone like me -- who forgets to bring a charger every time they go on a trip. Instead of buying an emergency throw-away, you've got instant off-the-grid power. The Piranha does come with a standard AC wall charger -- but seriously, it's got to be like 10 times more fun to crank it up.

[via Treehugger]

Can global warming be an ethical money maker?

Warming Island is now a tourist destination. Until 2005 the island didn't exist. Warming Island is off the coast of Greenland, it broke free as temperatures in the region warmed. Now, Betchart Expeditions offers tours to the island. Betchart specializes in trips for adventurers, and visiting a brand new island fits the bill.

But ecotourism isn't the only budding economy. The melting Arctic is prompting some countries to consider new trade routes. In Norway the melting ice has led to a flush of would-be oil drillers. The region is estimated to contain a quarter of the world's oil reserves, global melting will allow oil companies to get at it.

What's the problem with profiting from a warming Earth? It depends on how you look at it. Air and water in cold climates is more dense, which means spilling oil or spewing carbon dioxide into the air has a greater, stickier impact to that region. It would likely speed the warming pattern in that region and potentially cause other environmental degradation.

Furthermore, some environmentalists say when you look to profit from doom you take your eye off mitigating the problem and instead look for ways to encourage it.

[via Salon]

The October issue of National Geographic featured 50 ways to make your travel more sustainable. There is the obvious answer which would be to "stay home" and prevent C02 emissions from airplanes and excessive washing of hotel bed linens. However, I am a big fan of travel. It's something that I am not going to give up but I am pleased to find some green travel tips that I had not considered before.

Here are a few of my favorites:

During a recent trip to Northern Indiana to visit family, we decided to tour the facilities of the Fair Oaks Dairy Farm located in Fair Oaks, Indiana. This farm is open year-round to tours and outings for anyone to see the entire dairy process. This ranges from witnessing the birth of a calf to watching the creation of cheese and yogurt being made (and sold) on location. Fair Oaks is home to 30,000 dairy cows on ten separate dairy sites. They perform more than 80,000 milkings every day, in a 24-hour, 365 day-a-year routine.

Let me preface any further opinion by stating that I am not a cow milk drinker. I don't agree with keeping cows continuously pregnant for their milk, and I realize that milk is not the miraculous wonder food that we're led to believe through millions of dollars in government-funded advertising campaigns. That said, I agreed to go because you can't talk the talk unless you see first hand what truly goes on; that's what I believe.

I once had a summer job that took me around the eastern half of the United States and part of Canada. I logged in a great number of miles zigzagging from Texas to Minnesota, over to Quebec and down to Florida. I was surviving on Pop Tarts and Mountain Dew because of the limited gas station food choices. It got to the point where I would have given a weeks pay for a fresh, fruit salad -- or at least an apple. If only I had the Eat Well Guide to show me how many sustainable eateries were right off -- and on -- the major highways.

The Eat Well Guide is an amazing resource for anyone looking to plan a road trip or visit a new city. Their search will find you "wholesome, fresh, sustainable food" anywhere in the U.S. or Canada. You can search two ways. The first is to type in the name of a city or zip code of where you are looking for healthy eats. I entered my own zip code and did a search within 20 miles. The results surprised me. I learned about a restaurant about 15 miles away that serves only cage free, vegetarian fed meat including beef, chicken, rabbit and Venison. They also grow some of their own produce and the rest is supplemented by local farms.