Clipmarks | urbanlife's 'green' clips

Father of India's Green Revolution Prepares for Evergreen Revolution

Mon, 12 May 2008 19:59:20 GMT

clipped by: urbanlife
clipper's remarks: “In every crisis is an opportunity” Swaminathan is once again agitating for revolution -- this time a perpetual one.

In the early ‘60s, India grew 12 million tons of wheat every year. Starvation was rampant and the country imported much of its food. Swaminathan, an agricultural geneticist, developed new strains of high-yield wheat for his country and the programs that led to an India that exports food. Today, India grows some 70 million tons of wheat and has become the world's second-largest wheat producer.

He says that today India has reached a plateau in production and productivity because a problem of under investment in rural infrastructure.

His M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation for Sustainable Agriculture & Rural Development follows a pro-nature, pro-poor and pro-women orientation to a job-led economic growth strategy in rural areas through harnessing science and technology for environmentally sustainable and socially equitable development.

Clip Source: cache.daylife.com

Clip Source: www.hinduonnet.com

Clip Source: www.iaapindia.org

Clip Source: www.worldfoodprize.org

Dr. Monkombu Sambasivan Swaminathan received the first World Food Prize in 1987 for spearheading the introduction of high-yielding wheat and rice varieties to India’s farmers.

Clip Source: timesofindia.indiatimes.com

Forty years after he helped rescue the world from growing famine and a deepening gloom over the future of food supplies

The 82-year-old scientist,

says the current food crisis offers the world a chance to put farmers on the right road to unending growth.

"I'm very happy now, because in every crisis is an opportunity,"

In the twenty-first century's "Evergreen Revolution", as he calls it, conservation farming and green technology will bring about sustainable change that could allow India to become an even bigger supplier of food to the world.

welcome news for the millions of impoverished people and food-importing nations who are struggling to cope with the surge in basic crop prices over the last year

The Green Revolution created a sense of euphoria that we have solved our production problem.

Clip Source: www.worldfoodprize.org

Tags: famine, food crisis, india, evergreen revolution, wheat, farm, green, sustainable

Urban Gardener Thinks Higher: A Rooftop Garden for Room to Grow

Tue, 06 May 2008 14:53:35 GMT

clipped by: urbanlife
clipper's remarks: Why should you consider a rooftop garden?

* Increase access to private outdoor green space within the urban environment
* Support urban food production
* Promote individual, community, and cultural diversity
* Improve air quality and reduce CO2 missions
* Delay stormwater runoff
* Increase habitat for birds
* Insulate buildings
* Increase the value of buildings for owners and tenants alike
* Create job opportunities in the field of research, design, construction, Iandscaping, gardening, health, and food production

Clip Source: www.thegrowspot.com

Clip Source: usahomeandgarden.com

Clip Source: adaptivereuse.net

Clip Source: www.greenroofs.com

Clip Source: www.iht.com

Clip Source: www.marigreen.cz

Clip Source: www.margueritegardens.com

Clip Source: environmentkrishna.blogspot.com

Tags: roof, green, environment, heat island, farm, community garden

2030 Face It: Reverberate “No Coal” Body Paint Design Winners

Thu, 03 Apr 2008 14:27:23 GMT

clipped by: urbanlife
clipper's remarks: Students were told to spread the word about the negative impacts of coal on our natural ecosystems and its role on greenhouse gas emissions. Face Color Winner: Emily Bibler, Iowa State University. Face B+W Winner and Metropolis Ad Winner: Jackie Fabella, Cal Poly Pomona. Body Winner: Miles Courtney, Pratt Institute.

The Reverberate competition brought together students from a range disciplines to take direct action on the topic of climate change. 4,500 attendees participated in a variety of activities relating to global climate change - ranging from architecture to agriculture; from politics to poetics; from green jobs to green food.

Through their involvement, they put their ideals into action. As future environmental stewards, these students have every right to ask: why are we all not doing the same?

Clip Source: www.metropolismag.com

Clip Source: www.architecture2030.org

Clip Source: www.metropolismag.com

the Cal Poly San Luis Obispo campus

the “Reverberate” competition

part of Architecture 2030’s Face It events

The competition, aimed at universities around the country

charged students to broadcast the message about the negative impacts of coal on our natural ecosystems and its role on greenhouse gas emissions

students produced face and body paint designs that conveyed the “no coal” message as directed by the competition

At Cal Poly, students and faculty wandered around campus, into classes and faculty gatherings with painted faces that ranged from stark “NO COAL” scrawls to artfully illustrated American flags urging students to cast their votes with the environment in mind

“The entries varied in meaning: some depicting strong political messages about health and environmental impacts, while others took a positive approach by displaying a set of alternatives to coal.”

Through their participation

students have come to recognize that their work can affect the awareness of those around them

Clip Source: www.architecture2030.org

Tags: body paint, no coal, ecosystem, future, environment, steward, college

Beyond Zero-Energy: The World's 1st Positive Energy Building

Fri, 07 Mar 2008 16:07:23 GMT

clipped by: urbanlife
clipper's remarks: Generates more energy than it consumes. The building’s aggressive approach to sustainability enables it to offer the lowest energy consumption per square meter for its class. The complex will utilize sustainable materials and feature integrated wind turbines, outdoor air quality monitors.

In addition to serving as the Masdar headquarters, the building will accommodate private residences and ‘early bird’ businesses starting up in the city. The Masdar development will be constructed over seven phases and is due to be completed by 2016.

Clip Source: www.smithgill.com

Clip Source: www.inhabitat.com

setting new design standards for green building, with their scheme that generates more energy than it consumes

The Masdar Headquarters building outside of Abu Dhabi is also the first building in history to generate power for its own assembly, using a solar roof pier that will be built first to power the rest of the construction.

The building’s sustainability gave it the edge to beat 159 others in the international design competition.

The $300 million, 1.4 million square foot headquarters will serve as the stunning centerpiece of the super-green, car-free Norman Foster-designed Masdar City, the $22 billion development just outside Abu Dhabi.

one of the world’s largest integrated photovoltaic systems and the world’s largest solar thermal driven cooling and dehumidification system

Compared with typical mixed-use buildings of the same size, the Headquarters will consume 70 percent less wate

Masdar’s headquarters is part of phase one and will be completed by the end of 2010

Clip Source: www.smithgill.com

Tags: positive energy, sustainability, abu dhabi, future, super-green

Island Wood: City Kids First Visit with Nature & Environmentalism

Fri, 22 Feb 2008 18:16:39 GMT

clipped by: urbanlife
clipper's remarks: An environmental learning center—nestled into a rustic 250-acre nature preserve—plays a dual role as symbol and teaching tool. "We envision a future in which all people view themselves as lifelong learners, and share an extraordinary bond of stewardship for the environment, for their communities and for each other." Raising of environmental consciousness, one child at a time.

“The center is primarily for inner-city kids who don’t have an opportunity to connect with the natural world. And when kids are uncomfortable, they’re not open to learning. So we wanted them to be as comfortable here as possible.”

The mission of IslandWood is to provide exceptional learning experiences and to inspire lifelong environmental and community stewardship.

Clip Source: www.metropolismag.com

Clip Source: www.islandwood.org

Clip Source: www.metropolismag.com

Island Wood, a six-acre environmental learning-center campus built carefully, almost apologetically, into a 255-acre nature preserve on Bainbridge Island, Washington

to demonstrate architectural environmentalism and to elicit kids’ questions and interest

to address two apparently unrelated problems: environmental degradation and shortfalls in inner-city education

now covered with second-growth forest, and features—among other natural wonders—a pond, a bog, a marsh, an estuary, a deep ravine, and a harbor

brings in children and teachers from inner-city schools and hosts them for the better part of a week, giving them intense, hands-on outdoor science education and indoor exposure to “green” architecture

Washington State’s first LEED Gold project

everything from photovoltaic roof panels to a rainwater-capture apparatus and a greenhouse, called the Living Machine, packed with plants that filter Island Wood’s gray water for reuse

We don’t preach

we just make it obvious so they’ll ask questions

Tags: environment education, green design, sustainable, forest friendly, children hold our future

Winning Design: Urban Farm Above & Music Festival Below

Wed, 20 Feb 2008 13:42:53 GMT

clipped by: urbanlife
clipper's remarks: Winning Green Design: The movement from industrialization to post-industrialization, from global to local, from the free market to the farmer’s market, and from sand to hay. To be built for Summer 2008 PS1 Festival Series.

Work Architecture’s winning proposal calls for a series of cardboard tubes, each no more than a yard tall, being assembled next to each other to form a large platform. Some of those columns will be filled with a series of fruit-growing plants, everything from mint to peas, while some will remain completely open, from top to bottom, to allow some light to shine through.

PS1 was founded in 1971 as The Institute for Art and Urban Resources Inc., to the transformation of abandoned and underutilized buildings in New York City into exhibition, performance, and studio spaces for artists.

Clip Source: www.inhabitat.com

For the past seven years, the PS1 gallery has invited a number of young emerging architects to participate in this competition to design a temporary structure for their summer music festival.

Work Architecture, this year’s winner

Clip Source: www.nytimes.com

proposal by Dan Wood and Amale Andraos, the husband-and-wife duo

the urban farm concept — including an abundance of fresh produce and a genuine harvesting plan

To organize the space they chose the heavy cardboard tubes

Each tube will play its own role. Some will contain plantings on dirt shelves equipped with liner bags to prevent leakage

There is a phone-charging column, a children’s grotto of columns with swings, an herb-growing column with circulating fans dispersing scents like basil or lavender,

one that plays farm sounds when you sit down, another in which you can look upward, see stars and hear crickets

Clip Source: www.inhabitat.com

reinvent the idea of a temporary space

how that leisure space could work for us, reinventing it for the city

Clip Source: www.nytimes.com

combining it with a real farmer’s market

Tags: ps1 music festival, queens, art meets green design, architecture, farm

A Green Utopia: World's First Zero-Carbon & Zero-Waste City

Tue, 15 Jan 2008 17:53:16 GMT

clipped by: urbanlife
clipper's remarks: Abu Dhabi: Masdar City aims to be the world's greenest city....and the most sustainable city.

The Masdar development is a 6 km sq, car-free “walled-city” scheme. A challenging design that promises to question conventional urban wisdom at a fundamental level. Masdar promises to set new benchmarks for the sustainable city of the future

Clip Source: www.outnext.com

Clip Source: www.enn.com

WWF and the government of Abu Dhabi today launched a Sustainability tStrategy to deliver the world’s greenest city

Masdar City will be the world’s first zero-carbon, zero-waste, car-free city, meeting or exceeding a set of stringent sustainability goals established under the “One Planet Livingâ„¢” programme established by WWF

Clip Source: www.outnext.com

Clip Source: www.enn.com

These targets are to be achieved by the time the Masdar City is completed and fully functioning in 2012.

ZERO CARBON 100 per cent of energy supplied by renewable energy

ZERO WASTE 99 per cent diversion of waste from landfill

SUSTAINABLE TRANSPORT Zero carbon emissions from transport within the city

SUSTAINABLE MATERIALS Specifying high recycled materials content within building products

SUSTAINABLE FOOD

SUSTAINABLE WATER

HABITATS AND WILDLIFE All valuable species to be conserved or relocated

EQUITY AND FAIR TRADE Fair wages and working conditions for all workers

HEALTH AND HAPPINESS Facilities and events for every demographic group

CULTURE AND HERITAGE

Clip Source: www.outnext.com

Tags: utopia, green, city, masdar, sustainable, wwf

Solarsiedlung: A Solar Village Produces More Energy Than it Needs

Mon, 14 Jan 2008 18:43:17 GMT

clipped by: urbanlife
clipper's remarks: Freiburg, Germany Has Solar Flair: A passive house is a building in which a comfortable interior climate can be maintained without active heating and cooling systems. The house heats and cools itself, hence "passive".

Clip Source: www.treehugger.com

to live in Freiburg, which has solar flair and green, car free communities

the Solarsiedlung or solar village

It is built to Passivhaus standards and is Plus Energy (produces more energy than it needs)

We like how they get relatively high density and a lot of common space for gardens and play.

The layout of the project is based on solar orientation

Energy for the project is provided mostly by the sun, though in the case of electricity no onsite storage is provided so energy is fed into the grid and extracted as needed

Electricity is generated by “solar energy plants” or pv panels mounted on the housing units

The electricity produced is fed into the public grid and a profit is made because of the higher rates paid to solar energy producers

Any additional energy required in the winter months is provided by a wood-chip fuelled power station.

carefully designed overhangs to shade sunlight in the summer but let the lower winter sun in for passive heating.

Tags: freiburg, solarsiedlung, germany, solar power, green community

Eco-Equity? Green Jobs Act Passed: Part of 2007 Energy Bill

Fri, 11 Jan 2008 15:47:00 GMT

clipped by: urbanlife
clipper's remarks: The Green Jobs Act is a crucial building block of the clean energy future. The Act creates a pilot program to train workers in the new skills required for renewable energy and energy efficiency projects, and will help to alleviate the skills shortage that impairs growth of the clean energy sector.

By requiring business and labor to work together in developing training programs, it ensures the high-quality training needed for high-wage jobs in this new growth sector.

The Act also specifically funds training for low-income workers, providing a pathway out of poverty into emerging “green collar” jobs, helping to ensure that everyone has a chance to help our country build the new energy future.

Clip Source: www.treehugger.com

the 2007 Energy Bill did contain one surprise piece of legislation

The Green Jobs Act, passed as part of the Energy Bill, commits the federal government to funding job training for 35,000 people a year to work in environmentally-friendly fields.

The Act allocates $125 million yearly for green job training programs all over the USA. Of that:

$25 million will be allocated to create "green pathways out of poverty," i.e. job training for low-income people in fields like solar power installation and green roofing.

$80 million for "just transitions" - green job re-training, for example teaching construction workers competency in green construction techniques.

$20 million for renewal energy and energy efficiency research

showing that it is possible to achieve economic growth thorough protecting the environment

The law is the first to link social justice with environmentalism in this way on the national level

Tags: green jobs act, poverty, eco-equity, 2007 energy bill

Disaster Gives Birth to Greenest Town in America

Mon, 31 Dec 2007 19:01:30 GMT

clipped by: urbanlife
clipper's remarks: To leverage environmentalism to rebuild and sustain itself in the wake of near total destruction, it just may unwittingly be writing a modern survival guide for rural America.

Currently, the town has completed town houses for working class families that are LEED gold certified. Gold certification means these places will be almost twice as efficient as they used to be.

A lot of what's happening in Greensburg is some of the first in the country.

Clip Source: www.npr.org

Greensburg, a tiny town on the vast, flat prairie of western Kansas

In May, a tornado obliterated nearly every house, tree and business.

city leaders quickly saw opportunity in the disaster

revive Greensburg and sustain it for generations to come by making it the greenest town in America

not just rebuild it the way it was but maybe rebuild it a little bit better than it was

the effort to make the city more energy efficient just days after the tornado hit.

Greensburg Greentown, a nonprofit group leading the push for environmental sustainability in Greensburg.

The Discovery Channel is filming a show here, called Greensburg Eco-town, and green architects are working overtime.

all new city buildings should meet the very highest environmental standard — LEED platinum

turbines on the wind farm would be plenty to power Greensburg

An energy company has announced plans to build a biodiesel plant in Greensburg

Google is considering building a wind-powered data center here

Tags: kansas, green, greensburg, leed, rural, sustain

Highest CO2 Emitting Power Plants in the World

Mon, 10 Dec 2007 21:14:04 GMT

clipped by: urbanlife
clipper's remarks: Power Plant Voyeurism: CARMA

Clip Source: carma.org

Red Alerts

A large red circle indicates that a plant produces a lot of electricity and a lot of CO2.

Clean & Green

A large green circle indicates that a plant produces a lot of electricity and almost no CO2.

What is CARMA?

Carbon Monitoring for Action

CARMA reveals the carbon emissions of more than 50,000 power plants and 4,000 power companies in every country on Earth

global database showing the CO2 emissions, power production, and emission intensity of the 50,000 power plants in the world and the 20,000 companies (including 4,000 dedicated utility firms) that own them

Transparency is central to CARMA's objective of reducing carbon emissions through public disclosure

Power sector emissions make up 25% of the global total, 40% of carbon emissions in the United States, and are a primary cause of global warming.

CARMA provides the world's most detailed and comprehensive information on carbon emissions resulting from the production of electricity

Tags: power plants, co2, electricity, carma, carbon emission

Are You Being Greenwashed?

Fri, 30 Nov 2007 14:56:49 GMT

clipped by: urbanlife
clipper's remarks: Watch Out for the 6 Sins of Greenwashing

Clip Source: www.npr.org

environmental marketing firm TerraChoice

found 1,018 products that made environmental claims, ranging from toothpaste to office paper

all but one were committing what we're now calling one of the Six Sins of Greenwashing,"

'The Six Sins of Greenwashing'

1. The Sin of the Hidden Tradeoff

suggesting a product is "green" based on a single environmental attribute

2. The Sin of No Proof.

claim that cannot be substantiated by easily accessible supporting information

3. The Sin of Vagueness

claim that is so poorly defined or broad that its real meaning is likely to be misunderstood

4. The Sin of Irrelevance

claim that may be truthful but is unimportant and unhelpful

5. The Sin of Lesser of Two Evils.

risk distracting the consumer from the greater environmental impacts

6. The Sin of Fibbing

claims that are simply false

Independent third-party labels such as EcoLogo and Green Seal are an easy way to tell whether a product is truly environmentally friendly

Tags: green, greenwashed, claim, false, sin, environment, products

Fort Collins: Energy Needs Vs. Nuclear Worries

Mon, 19 Nov 2007 16:12:55 GMT

clipped by: urbanlife
clipper's remarks: A uranium mine proposed for the plains 10 miles outside Fort Collins, Colo., would drill down through part of an aquifer.

Clip Source: www.nytimes.com

FORT COLLINS, Colo. — This city takes pride in being green, from its official motto, “Where renewal is a way of life,”

But now two proposed energy projects

are likely to confront in years to come as the tangled nuances of thinking globally come back to bite

Both projects

produce zero-carbon energy

one involves crowd-pleasing, feel-good solar power, and the other is a uranium min

The solar project, called AVA Solar

make panels for electricity generation, and will use cadmium — a hazardous metal linked to cancer

the proposed uranium mine, Powertech Uranium, would like to drill down through part of an aquifer about 10 miles northeast of town

Local environmentalists

are caught in the middle

local and global simply do not mean what they once did

There’s always been this weighing of our individual desires against the greater good, but now we’re becoming much more attuned to a global responsibility

What green energy even means these days is probably the next question to ask.

Tags: green, nuclear, energy, colorado, planning, environment

Homes by Ikea?

Fri, 16 Nov 2007 19:48:16 GMT

clipped by: urbanlife

Clip Source: www.cooltownstudios.com

Yes, Ikea's getting into the homebuilding industry, starting in the UK and Scandinavian countries, with a company called Boklok. It doesn't look like they have much corporate competition as far as their target market and values are concerned:

Their customers

- "Small households
- Working people with average household earnings of around $25K-$50K per annum
- People who cannot access social housing
- First time buyers
- People who are currently priced out of the owner-occupied market or market rented sector in their chosen location"

Their design principles:
- "Inner courtyards and green space with fruit trees and seating
- Flexible open-plan layout
- High ceilings and large windows, giving the apartments a light, airy and contemporary feel"

The first prototypes are suburban and way too cookie cutter, but clearly have the potential for downtown urban development

Tags: ikea, design, sustainable, green space, new home, boklok

The Sustainable Rebuilding of New Orleans & the Gulf Coast

Fri, 16 Nov 2007 17:18:28 GMT

clipped by: urbanlife

Clip Source: www.globalgreen.org

New Orleans is poised to begin rebuilding in earnest and it is crucial that this nascent effort be aided by qualified green building experts including Global Green USA, the American affiliate of Green Cross International.

The hurricanes and the devastation left in their wake have served as a wake-up call to the region, the nation and the world. The citizens and policymakers are beginning to realize that the rebuilding efforts must include sensitivity to the environment. They are also recognizing it is an opportunity to do things differently, creating a new future based on green building and clean technologies.

The opportunity to rebuild New Orleans as an international example of sustainability comes in the aftermath of what is increasingly being recognized as the tipping point for global awareness of climate change and its potentially devastating impacts. On this front, New Orleans is and will remain an international focal point.

Tags: new orleans, green building, sustainable