A recent survey on 2,600 participants from the top eight richest cities in the world, Tokyo, New York, Paris, London, Milan, Moscow, Toronto and Frankfurt, revealed  that Tokyoites  “don’t want to sacrifice a convenient lifestyle to prevent global warming.”

Though Japan is at the cutting edge of green technologies, its citizens are the least eco-minded in the world. They came last for considering that “an eco-friendly lifestyle is comfortable”, for studying about global warming and preserving the environment or for buying eco-friendly products. As a paradox, more then 90-percent of them feel threatened by global warming.

On the other side, Parisians and Milanese are supposed to be the happiest to change their habits for a greener planet.

Image from P F C

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Scientists have found the (new) oldest tree in the world. It is a 16.4 feet tall spruce, found in Fulu Mountain in the Dalarna province of Sweden, that was carbon dated by Miami researchers to be 9,550 years old.

Under the crown they’ve also found four generations of spruce remains in the forms of cones and wood produced with the same genetic material, that date back 375, 5,660, 9,000 and 9,550 years.

Though spruce trees can create exact copies or clones of themselves multiplying with their root penetrating branches, so far scientists thought it wasn’t such a survivor.

Recent studies conducted in cooperation with the County Administrative Boards in Jämtland and Dalarna showed different and Leif Kullman, Professor of Physical Geography at Umea University, to declared “Our results have shown the complete opposite, that the spruce is one of the oldest known trees in the mountain range”.

The history behind this discovery, also revealed that the tree survived because of the generally cold and dry climate, few forest fires and very few humans. It also pointed out that the ice might have disappeared earlier than thought.

“My research indicates that spruces have spent winters in places west or southwest of Norway where the climate was not as harsh in order to later quickly spread northerly along the ice-free coastal strip. In some way they have also successfully found their way to the Swedish mountains,” Leif Kullman said.

Spruces are the species that can best give us insight about climate change.

Photo credits: Leif Kullman

Not using plastic bags, installing a solar power roof or taking your bicycle instead of your car when you leave to work, is no longer enough to prove that you’re trying to live a greener life and help the environment. And though planning a funeral may be the last thing on your mind right now, if you want to be green till the end, an eco-funeral may be the solution. You need an “eco-exit”.

However, setting up an environmental-friendly funeral is a far more complicated thing than first thought and it’s not the price that makes it complicated, “it’s the choice” says Fran Hall, marketing director for Epping Forest Burial Park.

Eco-funerals may not differ very much from traditional funerals except that they are as green as possible. It uses cardboard coffins that biodegrade within three months, while the body is not embalmed and is dressed with clothes sewn from pure fibers. Alternative transportation methods, like a horse drawn hearse may be used to carry the body to the grave, in a natural setting so that it’s attractive to wildlife and sustainable flora.

There are eco-friendly graveyards like Oakfield Wood, where 1,600 trees and wooden plaques mark the plots where people have been buried.

A new legislation in UK requires the mercury content of plastics and treatments used in coffins, to be reduced starting from 2010 and the eco-coffins already meet these requirements, which made us think that the British may be encouraging growth in environmentally-friendly burials.

What would you choose? Green or traditional?

David Gracer is a guy that thinks consuming insects is both pleasing to the palate and good for the planet. He’s a bug eater and likes his creatures sautéed, filleted and roasted. Most importantly, Gracer thinks we all should do it.

Though most societies associate insects with an unclean creature that cause diseases, entomologist Florence Dunkel said that this is just “a social aversion”. In fact insects are not prone to disease more than cows, pigs, chicken or fish, but they (all) require proper preparation.

David Gracer recommends the “giant water bug”

Considering that over-fishing may lead to the collapse of global fish stocks in 40 years, we may turn our heads to insects pretty soon. They provide far more edible proteins per pound of feed as cattle which means it passes the test of being environmental sustainable.

“Insects can feed the world. Cows and pigs are the SUV’s, bugs are the bicycles.” Gracer said. We all choose a bicycle over a SUV, right? David Gracer also said that from now on it’s hisduty to persuade ordinary Americans to eat insects.

Designed as “a rally car but for oceans”, Earthrace is a trimaran running on 100-percent pure biodiesel that wishes to set an around-the-world speed record with a net zero carbon footprint. They tried to break the record in 2007, but mechanical problems kept them from finishing the race.

The boat is famous not only for being featured on lots of news channels or because it runs safely on bio-diesel alone. Earthrace can submerge up to 23 feet in water if it needs to fight big waves and the most important fact is that parts of the boat are made from a hemp-based composite, bedding foams are made from canola oil, and the operation’s total carbon footprint has been balanced by purchasing carbon credits.

At a speed of 6 knots (6.9 mph) the boat goes up to 15,000 miles on a full tank, while at 25 knots (29 mph) it runs for 2,300 miles.

Previous record of 74 days, 23 hours and 53 minutes was set by UK boat Cable & Wireless Adventurer in 1998 and Earthrace plans to beat that time. They left Sagunto, Spain on April 27 and got to Panama traveling across the Atlantic in just 8 days. In their journey they will include a total of 12 refueling stops and will pass through the Suez and Panama canals.

Let’s hope they manage to break the record this time.

If you want to stay updated, check out the Earthrace blogs.

Source

Here is an interesting story of a Hampshire village that decided to become less dependent on supermarkets and grow their own food.

Nick Snelgar a 58 years old villager got the idea in 2003 and his inspiration was the 1970s BBC sitcom where the characters where living off the land. It was never meant to boycott supermarkets but to reduce the carbon footprint by not using carrier bags or packages. Snelgar’s idea soon got roots and out of the 164 families that live in Martin, 101 signed up as members of the Future Farms for an annual £2 fee.

On a 8 acres rented land, the residents of Martin are working on a rotation system to grow vegetables, chickens or pigs. The goods are not only for their own consumption but for anyone that would like to buy. And people buy. 45 types of vegetables and 100 chickens a week are being sold by the VAT-registered co-operative.

Most popular thing the “future farmers” sell are the carrots. Everyone loves the smell of fresh carrots and knowing that they will be pulled out of the ground when sold, it’s great. The prices include the food cost to grow and a 20 percent profit. Just for the records in 2007 they had a £27,000 turnover.

“Our pork sausages, for example, are sometimes cheaper than sausages you buy in the supermarkets. We break even and all money gets ploughed back in.

When we started some people thought it would fail and we’d never last, but as the years have gone by more and more people have become involved.

It is also a talking point in the village and it’s great to see people walking to the village hall on a Saturday morning talking to each other. It has created a sense of belonging.” said Mr Snelgar.

The Martin community seems like a great place to live and what they’ve realized is truly amazin, it’s actually how villages used to be and it’s nothing wrong with it.

Source

What you see is the “world’s first eco-friendly premium spirit” produced by McCormick Distilling, America’s oldest continuously operating distillery. The 360 Vodka is trying to enter the ultra luxury vodka segment with this motto but from the begining I’ll have to say there are other brands like Purus or VeeV to compete with.

However getting back to the 360 Vodka, you should know that unlike competition it’s made of regular non-organic grains and the production process was improved to reduce volatile organic compound by 70% and sulfur dioxide emission up to 99%. There are things we can really appreciate. The bottle. 85% it is made of recycled glass, the logo is blown directly into it and the labels are made of 100% PCW paper and uses water based inks.

Impurities are removed in a four times column distillation process and then everything is filtered again, five times through a granulated charcoaled coconut shell filtration process.

We appreciate a new eco-friendly vodka brand on the market, but I don’t think the “world’s first eco-friendly premium spirit” tag is appropriate. Still love the commercial pictures, though.

via Inhabitat

Gas mowers put out as much smog as 40 new cars this is why mowing the lawn is some kind of a problem if you care about the environment. Since the scythes may not be the best idea (injuries) for many of us, here is what you can do, the old fashioned way.

via GroovyGreen

The Danube Delta is the second biggest delta in Europe and the best preserved on the continent with an approximate surface of 5,165 km². This includes both the Romanian and the Ukrainian part of the delta, as well as the UNESCO world heritage site where 23 natural ecosystems measuring 2,733 km² are strictly protected.

It’s a unique exotic land in Europe, with over 1,200 species of trees and plants and the largest fauna (over 300 species of birds) of the continent. It’s also heaven for for fishermen with more than 45 freshwater fish species; you can catch the Danube herring, or sturgeons which are renowned for their expensive caviar.

Enough talking, because we have 23 great images that will speak for themselves.

Common pelican in the delta

Lotus on the water

Very old oak at Letea

Sontea Channel in the Danube Delta

Small lake

Airborne pelican

Kids having fun in the Danube Delta

The upper Danube Delta

Flowers on the water

Flooded village

Flooded pasture

Hyla Arborea in the Danube Delta

Boat on channels

Fishing boat

A fishery

Bulrush harvesting

Main transportation : boats

Lots of green

Reed

Dalmatian pelican family

Sunset over the Danube Delta, near Mahmudia

The Danube enters the Black Sea, journey almost over

The end

Photos copyright : Jarosaw Pocztarski, FOREVER CARDON, mugh, onnufry, tonica, marius, S-Yun, marius_zh, la Tanti Tina and the Danube’s Biosphere Region website.

Japanese yachtsman Kenichi Horie, decided to go from Hawaii (Honolulu Harbor) to Japan in a 7,000 km (4,400 miles) journey on the deck of his wave-powered boat Suntory Mermaid II, Reuters reported. His catamaran-like boat has two wings in front that will convert energy using the vertical motion of the waves in a movement similar to a dolphin’s kick.

This is how the 69 years old Japanese got the idea of building his boat.

“Twenty years ago while sailing, an accident broke my main mast which actually fell in the sea. The boat kept rocking and I thought how great it would be to actually harness the power of those waves to push the boat forward.”

Horie mentioned that the idea of taking this journey is to make people aware of his invention and the fact that we can enjoy a really “green” travel solution. The boat, which was built by a team of Japan’s Tokai University, is going its reach destination port of Hino, after two and a half months. It is as fast as the human walking pace, he said.

We can only wish him luck and no whales incidents or something similar.