Smart Car USA

Will Americans drive these Smart Cars?

Green Link

I stumbled on this today. Haven't had time to really read through the posts but I have seen a few that I'm going to go back and read. This is my pick of the day.

Examples of environmental performance indicators green consumers want to consider when shopping

I am pretty good and finding information on the Internet so I was surprised when I couldn't find an e-copy of the environmental performance indicators that I found in the book titled “Greening the Supply Chains” by Joseph Saris PhD. I hunted for a long time trying to find this list online. It's almost like it was a secret that the organizations didn't want to actually publish. The impression was that they were protecting us from the "TMI" (Too Much Information) syndrome. So I typed them up and will post them here. These are the things that consumers should consider when deciding whether or not something is green.

Biodegradable /compostable (%)
Commitment to periodical environmental
auditing
Contains no ozone depleting substances
Emission and waste (per
unit of product)
Energy efficient label
Environmentally-responsible
packaging
Global application of environmental standards
Hazardous air
emissions
Hazardous waste
Involvement in Superfund site
International
Organization of Standards (ISO) 14000 certification
Landfill-tons of waste
per year
Longer shelf life than industry standard
Number of hours of
training on environment per employee
Use of less hazardous alternative (% of
weight/volume)
On Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) 17 hazardous chemical
list
Ozone depleting Chemicals
Participation in voluntary EPA
Programs
Pre/Post consumer recyclable content (%)
Public disclosure of
environmental record
Received any EPA/(RCRA non compliance fines)
Second tier supplier environmental evaluation

Green Senior Citizombies please

I just spent about eight hours surfing the web today and six hours yesterday researching green trends, green blogs, green venture capitalists websites, green family blogs, green baby blogs, green activism websites, etc,. And I have to admit that sometimes I get rather discouraged. The blogs that really stand out to me are the blogs written by young people who are really making an effort to change their lifestyle and make a difference.

A few that good examples are No Impact Man , Green as a Thistle and Breakthrough Generation I am so awed by the enthusiasm, passion and dedication of so many young people I read about on the Internet. Though I was too young to be anything other than a passive observer during the 60’s, I feel conflicted by the youth zeal spilling out all over the electronic pages I read on the Internet. It is about their furture and their their children. I am sad because I know that this zeal is no longer burning inside me as it once did in my own youth days. The fire that burns now is more like a slow simmer.

A new word I discovered yesterday on a cartoon website was “Senior Citizombie.” The cartoon cast the older folks as semi-villains. And I don’t want to be a Senior Citizimbie. I want to be a part of the solution not part of the problem. But there are some things that I’m just not willing to give up. Unlike “No Impact Man”, I want the corporations to fix these problems by offering consumer choices. Don’t get me wrong, there are plenty of things that I do daily to live a more sustainable lifestyle, but I believe that the corporations need to be good stewards of the environment and provide consumer solutions to the problems we face.

I live in Florida and we worry about hurricanes. In 2005, Central Floridians learned that like the coastal communities, we too were at risk. More than half of the homes in our subdivision had roofs torn off in the three storms that hit. We had just put a new roof on our house about three months before the storms. My husband decided to not reinstall pool solar panels for maintenance reasons. Our house was the only house on our cul-de-sac that did not have roof damage. A lot of people decided after the storms to NOT put solar heaters on their roofs and unfortunately opted for heat pumps instead. We did not choose to put a heat pump on our pool. What I want is a product or service that provides electricity from solar, wind, tidal, or any green energy that provides electricity.

Perhaps it is guilt that I feel when I read some of these blogs. I wonder if I’m just too old to care or to make a difference. But I'm comforted when I look read the bios of the speakers at the TED 2008 conference. Most of them are as old as I am! So maybe there is hope for my generation after all. Maybe we can use our talent, experience, and wisdom to help move our culture and economy towards a more sustainable future. Because like it or not we are all in this together.

Some food that are doused in pesticides

According to Daily Green, here are some foods that are doused in so many pesticides that the organic version would be a wiser consumer choice. I'm a vegetarian and so these are some of the foods I eat on a regular basis. Thankfully, I live near a Whole Foods. I also shop at Publix. They are getting a better and better selection. I know Walmart is "supposed" to be going green. I am not a fan of Walmart. I feel like I'm going into the back part of a grocery store, where only employees go, when I shop there. But I am glad to see that they are starting to carry more organic foods. I know that there are issues surrounding their presence in this market. They can drive down standards in the effort to drive down prices. But anything we can do to eliminate the pesticides we are pouring into the environment will help. So the more hands the better. Sometimes we just have to hold our noses and accept that everyone needs to become part of the change that has to take place.