There are 239 billion green opportunities in China. That is, China is planning on spending Y2 trillion ($239 million) to ensure that renewable energy will account for 15% of the nation’s power by the year 2020. China is the world’s second largest energy user. A country one fourth the size uses more.

Presently, less than 10% of China’s power comes from renewable energy. The government has earmarked Y1.4 trillion from 2006-2010. The U.S. says the clean technology market in China will be about $186 billion in 2010 and grow to $555 billion by 2020. Okay, I lost track of how much money can be made.

Looking for a good business opportunity? Help China become greener. They’ll pay out the gazoo for any good idea you can come up with. The best ideas - clean coal and carbon capture technologies says one expert.

Do you have a green idea?

Image courtesy of V 2

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An Exxon Mobil green ad was banned in the UK because it was said to be misleading, an ad-industry watch dog reported.

“We concluded that the ad misleadingly implied that natural gas was one of the cleanest sources of energy and that liquefied natural gas was environmentally friendly,” ASA said in a statement.

Exxon on the other hand said “they accurately stated that natural gas is one of the world’s cleanest fuels and that liquefied natural gas will play an important role in delivering new energy supplies.” Just to make up your opinion here is the advertisement.

What do you say?

A friend and I were discussing a couple of days an incident that happened at the Rose Bowl parade. One of the floats ran out of gas. The whole parade was held up because the float sponsor didn’t think to put enough gas in the car that carried the float. The sponsor, one of America’s huge oil company.

Perhaps oil companies should take care of the simple things, get their house in order before they make claims about the ‘other things’ they do, like go green or just put on a pretty face at a parade for example.

What do you think?

Playhouse Disney’s Playing for the Planet Awards have narrowed down the field to 10 celebrities/stars who have received nominations for the Greenest Star prize. The fans are doing the nominations, the stars are using their fame to promote environmental issues.

THE TOP TEN

Sienna Miller - raising awareness about global warming

(more…)

The human-powered floating gym is the latests cool concept I’ve read about these days. I never thought that pedaling on a bike and burning calories, could actually be turned into a very green (river) transportation solution in New York City. Apparently architect Mitchell Joachim and personal trainer Douglas Joachim, did. They designed the River Gym.

I don’t know about you, but to be honest I thought at least once, that there is a significant amount of lost energy during workout and how can we use it somehow. I never managed to be that creative as these guys, and since their idea is really great for using the human power to tackle some transportation needs, they get my vote.

If they’ll ever be produced, the River Gyms will be floating along the Hudson and East rivers in Manhattan, stopping every 15 minutes to a new destination. Isn’t it a great way to peak on the view from a non-polluting “vessel”?

Though it’s a great idea, I’m holding my horses knowing that this thing won the New York Magazine’s Create a Gym competition in 2005 and we can’t workout on the river yet. Maybe there’s someone interested to invest and make it a great attraction in NYC. What do you think, does it have a chance?

Tokyo will be hosting its 21st International Film Festival from October 18th-26th. Not wanting to be outdone by filmmakers across the big pond to the east, can you say Hollywood?, TIFF has a green theme - “Action! for Earth.” Protection and preservation of the environment will be the common theme of films that are exhibited during the week long event. No red carpet this year either. It’ll be green! That will surely save the world.

 “One of the most urgent problems we now face is protecting the Earth’s environment,” said a press statement. “While many individual films have grappled with how to sustain our environment, no international film festival has yet stopped to champion this issue.”

The festival will take place in Roppongi and Shibuya districts, two areas of Tokyo that probably consumes more energy in a week than all of India does in a year. TIFF says, “We hope that our ideas will resonate far beyond the film community, contributing to the global conversation on our planet’s future.”

We hope they will show their movies using renewable energy sources or not show them at all.

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Chicago is reputed to be one of the top 10 greenest cities in the United States. The windy city, not famous for wind power, does have another idea … a green bridge.

So here’s what we know about it. The bridge:

1. has a price tag of $1 billion
2. will be used as a breakwater
3. will use wind turbines to line the bridge and create an alternate source of power for the city (did I say something about not using wind power?)
4. will be built on a foundation of slag - a permeable byproduct of steel that is aquatic wildlife friendly
5. will be a tourist attraction
6. will be a shot in the arm for Chicago’s 2016 Olympic bid
7. is designed by Adrian Smith of Burj Dubai world’s tallest building fame

Chicago will add this ambitious effort to its Green Roof Project and Green Alley Project. They’ve planted some 500,000 trees since 1989 and received a platinum rating for its green design and operation in the meanwhile.

If the city can raise the $1B, it might get a green bridge and the 2016 Olympics, too.

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Honey! Get the baby, I think we can really clean her up.

In this day and age it’s not enough to just bathe a baby, the baby needs to be kept safe from all sorts of chemicals, many found in cleaning products.

What’s up with that? Chemicals found in household cleaners and air fresheners, for example, have been linked to childhood asthma and asthma-like conditions, among other things.

Honey!!!

Here a few references if you want a safe and healthy baby.

1. Homemade cleaning solutions - Safe alternatives to things with pretty labels on shelves in store. A great start to your cleaning repertoire is distilled white vinegar, baking soda, and tea tree oil.

2. Grist’s Green Guide - a wealth of information for those wishing to clean green. “Just because a product says it’s natural doesn’t mean it’s nontoxic,” says Jeffrey Hollender, CEO of Seventh Generation, which produces genuinely eco-friendly cleaning supplies and household products.

3. The Safe Shopper’s Bible provides much good advice for selecting truly green, effective products and prevents “greenwashing.”

Here’s where you get your answers for Can your hair coloring cause breast cancer? - Is this brand of apple juice safe for babies? - Will the additives in this salad dressing harm you? - Which shampoo won’t sting your eyes?

4. Naturally Clean: The Seventh Generation Guide to Safe and Healthy, Non-Toxic Cleaning- invaluable tips for minimizing your — and your children’s — exposure to hazardous household products and insightful tips on keeping a clean, green nursery.

5. Green Nursery Tips - finally, 10 ways to ready your home for your new baby.

Honey! Get the baby, we got to make some changes.

Japan has ideas out the gazoo when it comes to recycling.  At an upmarket residential area in Tokyo’s Shibuya Ward one man is making colorful accent rugs from old clothes, 1960’s-style lamp shades from corrugated plastic board, and  candleholders from old bicycle chains. It’s called the ecoprinka brand with the aim of  “Co-existence with the Earth means enjoying doing ecologically conscious things.”

Another store offers furniture and household goods with a 1960s design with products that have been used for multiple generations of customers. You can buy a motorcycle seat with pipe legs for Y50,000 ($475).

A Finnish ec0-oriented design by Secco attracts young Japanese consumers to bags and cell phone straps made from discarded tire tubes and keyboards. Retailers throughout Japan carry the products. But…the truth of the matter is people often buy discarded or recycled products = junk, only to realize they don’t like the design and they become waste again.

So, are these products really being reused, recycled, or are some people just making money off of other’s guilt at not being ‘green’ enough? It seems to me to be the latter.

Britney Spears is looking for something greener, quieter, something with a big backyard where she can hang out or is it let things hang out. When I saw this news I thought Britney was looking to help out with the green movement; she’s not. She’s looking for a new house. She also wants something that is ‘less trafficked’, something where she and the kids can find some normalcy, whatever that might be.

I think Britney would do well to get her head screwed on straight. Though GP would like to see her activism, she needs to get herself straightened out, get her family back together, control her behavior. The green movement will be fine without her. After all, what’s more important than family?

Those guys on the airplane tell you to put your O2 mask on first, then help your kids. We want to see Britney take care of herself, then come out. GP does hope she finds life greener in another backyard.

I was pretty sure that shop-till-you-droppers couldn’t hurt the environment or themselves as long as the hoofed it everywhere they went. Of course, retailers have to keep the lights on, heat and cool facilities at all ungodly hours so that shoppers could get the ‘unique shopping experience.’ Until now. Shoppers don’t even have to do the walk, get exercise, kick off their high heels anymore.

In Shanghai there is a mini-metro train that runs INSIDE the mall. Exhausted ladies can hop a ride and be dropped off at Coldstone Ice Cream. Not only that, the train can go anywhere inside the 6-story home furnishing mall.

Yeah, I want to see how this train goes up and down the stairs, too. Feeling guilty? (I doubt this) But, the mall has designed the interior of the building to include many trees and water landscapes. Isn’t that nice? Shoppers can feel like they are being kind to the environment while they use up even more energy to get around.

Something tells me that malls like this are going backwards when it comes to being ‘green.’ I think malls ought to be open only during the daytime when it’s cool out and only at night when it’s hot. But, don’t tell my wife I said that.

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