PicoCool

Jim Goldstein’s photo above shows “an oil tanker making its way out to sea from the San Francisco Bay. In the foreground is a trail closed sign due to oil spill above Baker Beach.” See the latest about the oil spill at SFGate.

Network: flickr

This fantastic low impact home was built by a family in Wales.  “It was built by myself and my father in law with help from passers by and visiting friends. 4 months after starting we were moved in and cosy. I estimate 1000-1500 man hours and 3000 pounds put in to this point. Not really so much in house buying terms (roughly 60 pounds/sq m excluding labour)...The house was built with maximum regard for the environment and by reciprocation gives us a unique opportunity to live close to nature. Being your own (have a go) architect is a lot of fun and allows you to create and enjoy something which is part of yourself and the land rather than, at worst, a mass produced box designed for maximum profit and convenience of the construction industry. Building from natural materials does away with producers profits and the cocktail of carcinogenic poisons that fill most modern buildings.” Their story is inspirational and full of happiness.  Everyone should try this. (Thanks to Max Kiesler for the tip)

Network: blogs

”Lights Out San Francisco is a citywide energy conservation event on October 20, 2007. On this night, we invite the entire city of San Francisco to turn off all non-essential lighting for one hour. To promote long-lasting energy saving, we plan to distribute free compact fluorescent light bulbs throughout the city...We were inspired by a similar event recently held in Sydney, Australia, called Earth Hour. In Sydney, 2.2 million people participated. Their one hour of lights out meant that 24.86 tons of carbon dioxide were not released into the air - the equivalent of taking 48,613 cars off the road for one hour.” We’ll be turning our lights off to participate. Even Google is going dark today.

Network: blogs

The USB Ecostrip has been popular in Europe since 2005 and is about to come out for U.S. consumers as well. It works like a normal power strip and surge protector but the USB feature means that once your computer turns off or goes to sleep, power is also shut down to peripherals, saving unused electricity.  The strip is expected to cost $34.95 plus shipping with discounts for volume sales. Let’s hope major corporations and organizations switch to these power strips in their offices. Imagine the savings and conservation benefits if each Ecostrip is estimated to save $70 on average for peripherals on stand-by time.  (via EverythingUSB)

Network: blogs

Charity is “a nonprofit organization stimulating greater global awareness about extreme poverty, educating the public, and provoking compassionate and intelligent giving.” Their first mission is focused on providing clean water through the construction of more than 158 wells in 6 African countries. Part of the program is to teach well maintenance and other facets so the new water source can continue at maximum capacity.  The public awareness campaign and direct action works at low-cost level. Buy a virtual bottle of water for $20. All of that donation goes to well projects in Africa. It can take anywhere from 200 to 500 bottles to build a well. It’s an easy way to get involved in solving one of our world’s main problems.

Network: blogs

Along comes something that’s better than Zip Car, Flexicar, and all the other car share services that have cropped up. The Bike Dispenser comes to us from an innovative company in Amsterdam. Now cities and towns can install these bike dispensers in convenient locations where you could rent one for a reasonable fee, ride it around to your destination(s) and conveniently return it to another bike dispenser location.  If they were placed in residential and urban/work areas, these could become the commute method of choice - great exercise and zero emissions. You also don’t have to worry about your bike being stolen. [via Coolhunter]

Network: blogs

In his post today, Colin Beavan, aka No Impact Man, describes his typical day living a zero impact lifestyle in New York City with his wife, Michelle, their 2 year old daughter, and their dog, Frankie.  That means no trash, no carbon emissions, no toxins in the water, no elevators, no subway, no products in packaging, no plastics, no air conditioning.  In spite of (or we like to think, because of) all the things they won’t/don’t do, their life is full and rich with experience. See A Day in Our Life.

Network: blogs