GroovyGreen.com – Start Today :: Save Tomorrow

Faced with invasion by alien plants, the Izaak Walton League calls upon the goat justice league (well, not the real goat justice league…) to help save them from being overrun at their 33 acre property in Gaithersburg, MD.  This selective grazing technique will be employed to control the populations of Japanese honeysuckle, Garlic Mustard, Autumn Olive, and Oriental Bittersweet.

From their website:

Eliminating invasive plants – permanently – improves wildlife habitat as well as human habitat. But traditional methods of doing this over large areas involve repeated application of chemicals that could leach into our waterways. A new program is fighting nature with nature.

Eco-Goats brings a herd of goats to large properties infested with invasive species. The goats are contained within an electric fence to tackle invasive plants one acre at a time. Goats eat the invasive plants down to the ground, and goat handlers either dig up stumps or kill them with very targeted use of an herbicide.

We wish them luck, and are curious to see how this selective grazing turns out!

The goat army prepares for battle with aliens

[super goat pic snagged from this charity website.  Consider helping to enlist goat power to help fight poverty.]

Google is ramping up their efforts to help conservation organizations monitor deforestation around the world.

The search engine giant announced during the Copenhagen Climate Conference a new “cloud-based” online technology that will allow global-scale observation and measurement of changes in the earth’s forests. The service will be provided to the world as a not-for-profit service, the company stated. From Eweek,

The technology uses the help satellite imagery to track deforestation over a period of time and measure the level of loss. While it is possible to view levels of deforestation at different times, Google.org’s engineering managers, Rebecca Moore and Dr. Amy Luers, said there hasn’t been a way to calculate how quickly the world’s forests are disappearing. “With this technology, it’s now possible for scientists to analyze raw satellite imagery data and extract meaningful information about the world’s forests, such as locations and measurements of deforestation or even regeneration of a forest,” they wrote on the company’s blog.

The system will take advantage of Google Earth imagery and overlay the data analysis tech on top. “On a top-of-the-line desktop computer, it can take days or weeks to analyze deforestation over the Amazon,” the Google blog states. “Using our cloud-based computing power, we can reduce that time to seconds. Being able to detect illegal logging activities faster can help support local law enforcement and prevent further deforestation from happening.”

Google expects to roll out the new monitoring tech sometime next year. For more, hit their official announcement here.

Environmental Research Web recently posted “Calculating the real carbon footprint of vehicles“, an article by Mikhail V Chester and Arpad Horvath of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of California, which looks at the environmental impact of various forms of transportation (Planes, Trains, Buses and Automobiles) over their entire lifetime, to determine overall greenhouse gasses and energy used.  The study includes vehicle manufacture, infrastructure, fuel, delivery of fuel and operation of the vehicle.

The energy usage numbers were simplified into MJ/PKT, mega-joules per passenger-kilometer-traveled. When looked at this way, many passengers riding a single vehicle, even if relatively inefficient, actually use less fuel each.  2 people riding an SUV (.9 MJ/PKT) can use less energy, per passenger, than 5 riders in a standard city bus (4 MJ/PKT); however, the numbers change once the bus is full (.5 MJ/PKT). Large Jet aircraft (1.4 MJ/PKT) compare quite favorably, simply because of how many passengers they can carry.

Energy consumption and GHG emissions per PKT (image from study)

My take-away from the article is that finding ways to share rides, rather than simply focusing on miles-per-gallon, can go along way toward conservation.

A PDF of the complete report can be downloaded from IOP Electronic Journals here.  What’s your take?

Ever forward on my mission to get more people using rain barrels, I wanted to draw some attention today to the beauty of rain chains. Since aesthetics outside the home is often of great importance to some, plastic or metal downspouts can sometimes be less than pleasing going into your rustic rain barrel. Rain chains are a nice alternative if you’re looking for something else to complete the picture. Harvest H20 gives us a great description of how they work:

They are hung from the corners of your roof or canale to guide the flow of water into large barrels to catch the water from the roof for household purposes and gardening. They have been used for hundreds of years in Japan, and are a perfect expression of the Japanese knack for combining aesthetics and practicality. The principle is simple – rain chains do exactly what downspouts do, but they do it in a way that brings visual pleasure and delight. Rain swirls and flows down, creating a mesmerizing sense of motion and tranquility right outside your window. And they are beautiful on dry days too, as over time, copper rain chains develop a rich blue-green patina.

It should be noted that rain chains are not recommended for areas prone to severe rain storms — or where gathering every drop is crucial. Downspouts are most efficient for that type of climate. However, if you’re still contemplating adding a rain barrel to the mix — but want the system to blend a bit better with your home — something like a rain chain might be a great idea. For a good selection, jump here – or try here.

Cindy Collette!  C’mon down.  You’re the winner of the Programmable thermostat giveaway sponsored by Home Depot.  We want to thank everyone for their entries and comments.  We hope our new visitors will keep reading Groovy Green.

Please send us a picture after you get your new thermostat installed.

Note:  If I ever run this contest again, I’ll have to change the rules and run the “oldest thermostat” contest!  There were a few beauties sent in to us.  Thanks again for reading.

UPDATE:  One last day to enter!  Send me your pics today for a chance to win!  (see contest rules below)

Time for a great giveaway at Groovy Green.  Home Depot is showcasing its energy saving products, and now is your chance to upgrade your old thermostat.  This Ritetemp 7-day programmable thermostat mounts flush to your wall, is mercury free, and can save you up to $150 per year on your heating and cooling costs.

Here’s the contest rules:

• You must live in the United States.
• You have to be over 18.
• You must be willing to send us a picture of the thermostat after you’ve installed it.

Here’s what you need to do to enter:

• Leave a comment letting us know you’d like to enter this contest
• In your comment, let us know how long you’ve been reading Groovy Green (it doesn’t matter if it is 2 years, or two days… we’d like to know)
• Take a picture of your current thermostat.  Hold up a recent newspaper in the pic, just to let us know that you’re not just using flickr or a stock photo
• Email your picture to steve [at] groovygreen {dot} com

The winner will be chosen at random from the entries that satisfy the above rules.  Contest ends February 2nd, 2009.  Good luck!

UPDATE:  Please remember to send in your picture.  We’ve received numerous comments to enter the contest, but only a few pictures of your old thermostats!

Since the nation has entered the recession to end all recessions, it’s time to do a little self-reflection on what we’ve been spending our money on over the past decade…  Joel Stein of the L.A. Times has come out with his list of the “relics of the good old days“.  I heard about this on a radio program (I won’t say which one) and had to look it up.  Some of the best and snarkiest commentary on our society…

In the clear recessionary morning, all that stuff we’ve been binge buying suddenly looks gaudy and ridiculous. It’s been a 25-year blur of fluorescent Frankie Sez shirts, logo handbags, Hummers and ring tones. We need to have one giant national garage sale and invite the world.

If there are pictures of you with any of the things listed below on Facebook, immediately remove them. Replace them with one of those stately, unsmiling group portraits our grandparents and great-grandparents took that made us feel like we came from important stock. You don’t want your descendants to lose all hope when they realize that Great-Grandpa Jaden was flashing fake gang signs at Treasure Island while downing a Grey Goose and Red Bull before his “American Idol” audition.

Tasting menus: The idea that an appetizer, entree and dessert wasn’t enough — that you had to taste everything — was a pretty clear sign we were on our way toward being a fat, indebted nation. If Morgan Spurlock had tried to follow up “Super Size Me” with a movie in which he had to go 30 days eating only tasting menus — and accept the wine pairings if they were offered — he would have died by Week 2. I went with four people to Per Se in New York, and two of them barfed as soon as we got home. To be fair, it was the most delicious barf they’d ever had.

Stainless steel: Every appliance we touched had to be covered in stainless steel, as if we were low-rent King Midases. How the lamest of metals became the way to show off your wealth is going to confuse the hell out of archaeologists. “No, they actually had gold and silver. And plastics of many colors. They were just easily distracted by cheap, shiny things.” Thank God the recession came, because we were about two years from having to sit on cold stainless steel toilet seats.

Please read on…

This column got me thinking, “what would I look back upon and think, oh God, how did I waste my money on that?”  You know what?  It was actually a little hard to come up with a list.  I guess that is a good thing.  But here goes.  I expect your list in the comments, I don’t want to be the only one confessing.

• Computer/Gadgets.  My biggest weakness.  Some day I’ll be cursing the cold, wondering why I spent money on iPhones, laptops, and palm pilots instead of putting in that wood stove I keep talking about.
• Dinners out.  Our gastronomical weakness.  I have to admit we were “stocking up” on good dining experiences prior to the arrival of our lovely daughter.  But $9 for a glass of wine or booze?  Yikes.
• Kitchen crap.  I don’t mean the good stuff or the essentials.  We’ve got a closet full of miscellaneous equipment, pans, etc. that rarely sees the light of day.  A pan for poaching eggs?  Tartlet pans?  A George Foreman grill?  Sheesh.
• Vice.  Nights out on the town in New York cost us a bundle, and made buying a beer in Syracuse seem ultra cheap…  Wait, am I feeling guilty for having a good time when I was young?   Scratch this one off the list!  I do admit, the cigarettes in my younger years where a big waste of moola.

Hmmm… I am straining to think of other examples (though I am sure there’s a few).  I am happy to say that I don’t own stainless steel appliances, I’ve shunned bottled water, and I’ve never bought a pair of designer jeans or a “ringtone”.  I’m sure the rest will come to me, when I’m older, and broker, and wondering where the heck my money went.

Alright, your turn to come clean.  What are your reflections on the “stainless steel” age?

The Guardian in the UK featured a story yesterday about a new type of font that is earth friendly because it uses less ink.

From the article:

The Ecofont saves on printing ink by … well, using less of it. Letters in the freely downloadable typeface contain multiple small circular holes, meaning that each letter requires less ink to be printed. As the designers put it: “After Dutch holey cheese, there now is a Dutch font with holes as well.” Quite.

Though rather striking, the typeface is wholly readable (no pun intended) and is, apparently, most effective at nine or 10 point. It’s also sans serif, because, of course, the little flourishes on serif fonts will use up more ink when being printed.

It sounds interesting.  What do you think Groovy Greeners?  Is this something that may make us all a little more green?

Vampire power is a big problem, even though you hit power off on that remote it doesn’t mean your television isn’t still sucking energy from the grid. Electronic appliances in standby mode can add up to 10% of your electric bill.

Good for You, Good for the Planet, a company based in Madrid, Spain, has developed a product to bring an end to the wasted electricity of standby mode. When the user desires to power the system up again it will power it up again without having to send the appliance through its start-up sequence again.

NH Hoteles SA of Spain has been testing a prototype of Mr. García’s gadget at some of the chain’s 350 hotels in 22 countries. It hopes to install the device in its 50,000 rooms as part of a drive to cut energy use by 20% by 2012.

“We’re very interested in this product and are seeing how we can implement it in the short or medium term,” says Luis Ortega, the chain’s director of environment and engineering. “That small saving, multiplied by 24 hours, 365 days a year, makes quite a big difference — especially when you’re talking about 50,000 television sets.”

Until technology like this becomes mainstream, you can kill vampire power in your home or office simply by unplugging or switching off your plug-strips.

via: The Wall Street Journal
image: limonada

 Susan Carpenter, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer  shares her DIY greywater installation experience:

Check out her original article here.

via: re-nest