Greenbox is working on giving us web-based tools to evaluate our energy usage in the home, and to understand that usage in greater context with those around us, too. Users can also use that information to pinpoint savings opportunities and to understand our footprints on the planet.
Greenbox offers this food for thought:
“If 30% of us reduced our electricity usage by 20%, we would save over $8 billion per year on our energy bills, reduce emissions by 105 billion tons of carbon dioxide per year and avoid $10 billion in construction of new power plants. This is the equivalent of 35 coal fired power plants operating 24 hours per day.
To find out about Greenbox in your area, click here.
Despite their fully opened parachutes, doesn’t it seem like these basejumpers are still moving pretty fast when they make contact with the ground below the turbine? I guess that’s normal. Watch for yourself:
David Letterman once thought climate change was for “treehuggers” and “kooks.” In this clip from a September episode, the Late Night show host introduces Thomas L Friedman’s new book Hot, Flat, Crowded with an emphatic reversal of this opinion. Despite Letterman’s trademark cynicism, there’s a lot of optimism here. Letterman mentions alternative energy and the crowd goes wild.
Alt-country stalwart Wilco is using their touring success to benefit green groups in the communties they visit. Wilco donated over $3,000 from poster sales at their three sold-out St Louis shows to New Roots Urban Farm. New Roots, located in North St Louis, is a collectively-run group that transformed a blighted parcel of land from urban wasteland to a produce bounty for the surrounding neighborhood. In addition to growing fruit and veggies in a neighborhood where fresh produce is hard to find, New Roots runs a young apprentice program for area youth.
This Australian Senator states his position very clearly: It’s not that oil tankers are unsafe, they just need to build them so that the fronts stop falling off! Enjoy this satirical short (under 2 mins.). OuchLOL
It’s been a while since we republished a video from ZapRoot, but this is a good one: wind turbines in Road Warrior country, and the new feature on greenwashing (appropriately titled “These Guys are Full of **it!”). Enjoy!
A new project from DeSmogBlog, Rainforest Action Network, and Greenpeace USA, called Coal is Dirty aims to address the spread of disinformation about the facts surrounding global warming, so governments and industry are held accountable for their actions. The site is a valuable resource for anyone interested in learning the facts about climate change. This short animation takes a humorous look at the emergence of “clean coal”[animation by Mark Fiore].
The accumulation of carbon dioxide in our atmosphere can be a difficult concept to visualize (maybe something to do with the fact that CO2 is invisible). So if you’re a visual learner like me, you’ll want to watch this short from the Energy Saving Campaign [45 seconds].
Did you know that over the course of a year, a microwave operating in standby mode will use about the same amount of electricity as it would if it ran on HIGH for 24 hours? Frightening, isn’t it? In fact, the average American home has 20-40 appliances plugged in at any given time, and in a year those appliances will together use what is equivalent to one month of electricity for the entire household - just sitting there. This great little short from GOOD Magazine called “Vampire Energy,” explains the costs of running your home’s appliances on standby mode, and does so with tangible examples and real numbers. Enjoy.
While we’re on the subject: good Stumbleupon friend HarleyJane18 sent this to me last week. Houston Chronicle cartoonist Nick Anderson does some great 3D animation videos with song parodies… this one is based on Stevie Wonder’s “Higher Ground” (specifically the Red Hot Chili Peppers cover of it).
