Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Corporate Responsibility


Would you like to start your company on the track to be environmentally responsible? Do you have ways to recycle in your workplace?




Don't know where to start? This site is an excellent resource!

These guys have a program for recycling options for corporations: MyGreenElectronics as well as other ways to help your company lessen its impact.

New ways to travel coming soon..

Fly in style. Eco-friendly and probably pretty fun! Check out this new product on the horizon!
Giant modern air ships.

Solar and diesel powered airship, low-flying for a fantastic view! This is the overseas flight I've been waiting for!

Of course...

I've been waiting to take that commercial ride into SPACE? Virgin Galactic is gearing up to take us there.



But where do you park a spaceship you ask? At the first Earth Commercial Space Port located in New Mexico! Under construction now....


Want try a little closer to the ground? Nissan has come out with a zero emissions electric car!



Another great eco-friendly vehicle has been suggested by Yamaha. An electric vehicle perfect for commuting....Unless it is snowing.






Or love playing on the lake? Try one of these new WaterCars.




This is going to be a lot of fun!!


Gym powered by excercise

This is such a great idea! Why not use all that energy put into exercising to run the place?

I want to explore more ways this kind of energy can be harnessed. Wouldn't people watch less TV if they had to power it with exercise? Would they? Or would they just be in better shape while they do it?





Also: get your clothes clean while riding your bike! I think this is a great option for developing nations. I want one of my own. Want clean clothes? Earn them, like they did for the hundreds of years before last, only more fun to do....






Now these guys have it all worked out! Use all of your exercise energy to add to the grid! I am going to check into carrying these models. Who wouldn't want one?

Top 10 Polluters

Ever wanted to know who the worst polluters in our nation are?

How about in China?

"China's top ten electric companies, which supplied almost 60 percent of China's total electricity last year, burned 20 percent of China's coal and emitted the equivalent of 1.44 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide," Guardian.co.uk says

How long have we been making electricity with coal? Oh really? Not more than a couple hundred years? Out of thousands.....?? Amazing, the destruction, caused by so small a section of history.
And they have known how dangerous it was since.....when?

"1891 Congress passed the first federal law to improve safety in mines. The law required ventilation in mines and made it illegal for companies to hire children under 12 years old to work in mines."-EIA










Coal miners- 1910



Check out this article in a newspaper from 1950. Unbelievable!


So years later they said forget mines! We'll just blow up the whole mountain instead!! Problem,
er, solved? Coal. I mean really.

Saturday, July 25, 2009

Composting to Reduce Waste

What is composting?

It is the process of compiling organic material to be turned into mulch for use in gardens and landscaping.

I ran across this gadget the other night and think it makes a great solution for the more unpleasant aspects of collecting kitchen compost!

NatureMill: Automatic Indoor Compost Bin | Automatic Composter







Shared via AddThis

There are other ways to compost as well. . .

Composting toilets are an eco-friendly way to dispose of human waste, and come in units that very much resemble toilets as we know them. No septic systems to run, no sewer back-ups to worry about, or water lines needed! When sized correctly, they are the modern "clean" outhouse, and seldom have to be emptied.



A composting toilet can be "homemade" or sophisticated machines that resemble everyday toilets.









This choice may seem extreme to you, but luckily it IS a choice- available for those folks who choose to go this route!

Welcome to the Sustainable Station

We, here at Sustainable Station, want to share with you a vision of the future.

A future that brings unity to communities
and proportions to our lives.
A future that measures the value
of a building by its

ecological footprint and energy efficiency rating.
A future borne of responsibility.
A future that WE can build.






What does your home do for you?
A "home" is often defined as:

-the place where one lives: a residence
-the dwelling places together with the family or social unit that occupies it: a household

-an environment offering security and happiness

What powers your home?


*Most likely your power company uses coal, gas, nuclear power, or hydro-electric power. Coal, gas, oil, and nuclear power deplete limited resources, AND cause pollution. Nuclear power is the cleanest, but takes quite a while and resources to build the plants. Not to mention the radioactive pollution it creates, that has to be stored forever.



Co
al mining known as mountaintop removal alone has destroyed the landscape, and habitats around 495 mountains here in the U.S. so far. Learn more about this @ I love mountains.org

Also Kilowatt Ours is an excellent resource for education on energy production. They offer a video that is well worth the donation and a free school course designed
to teach the next generation about the challenges we are facing.



Renewable Energy

Only a small portion of people in the world today are using the limitless resources of wind, the sun, water, geothermal power or biomass. These are also, unfortunately, currently the forms of producing electricity that is clean- and not as harmful to the environment.





What CAN your home do for you?
By carefully designing your home or making strategic changes to your existing home you can lower your energy costs and wean your household
off of dirty energy and onto clean power. Small things such as switching out your lightbulbs to more energy efficient measures, to larger projects such as powering your home with solar or wind can make a big difference.



How recycling can benefit your home.
Using gently used items or non-perfect items in your home should be a matter of pride. There are several services to help you locate items that can be re-used and where to offer items you are done with.

-Freecycle
-ReUseIt

-Craigslist


There are also many items made from recycled things- such as recycled glass counter tops, insulation made from recycled newspaper or denim, art projects, recycled paint, and plenty of other ways! What can you think of to make something from something else?

Where does trash go?
In spite of our efforts in recent years to reduce waste, littering, and preserving our streams, ponds, lakes, rivers, and oceans- there is still a blanket of trash created by ocean currents about twice the size of Texas floating above Hawaii? It is refereed to by marine biologists as a continent of trash. The majority of that garbage arrived in our generation's lifetime.


What is this energy from trash I keep hearing about?
Some communities are setting up plants to extract the methane gas produced by landfills to use it for energy rather than have it contribute to the problem. This is a great solution but we do not have unlimited space for landfills on this planet.
Keeping your plastic bottles, cans, cardboard, and newspapers separate from trash for the landfill will reduce waste and help preserve the environment of this planet we call home.

Do you need a big house with numerous rooms?
Space for all the "stuff" you have accumulated?
Do you just need somewhere to be your "home base?"

I'll explore the Tiny House Movement in a future post. Thanks for reading!

About this blog

For a future that brings unity to
co
mmunities
and proportions
to our lives.

A future that measures
the value of
each process by its

ecological footprint and
energy efficiency rating.

A future borne of responsibility.

A future that WE can build.

About Me

My photo
I am working on a dream to build sustainable communities in my home town area and elsewhere. I have designed and drawn up several of these. I will follow these adventures in research through the blog and hopefully meet up with like-minded individuals along the way.

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