Hybrid solar charger for iPhone 3G and 3G S

Powerup directly from the sun while carrying your iPhone. This sleek, smartly designed hybrid solar charger is convenient and easy to use.

I gots me head to thinking…who else is making alternative packaging for water…

Kids won’t drink water? Put it in a juice box, perhaps. You could even flavor it with apple or whatever. Thus we have Wateroos.

OR

and finally a TetraPak water pak – packaged much like some energy drinks.  We have Plant It Water that will plant a tree for every carton made.

Do you drink bottled water? Do you know people who drink bottled water? Watch this trailer to the new doc called “TAPPED.”   I hate that there is a generation of children being raised right now that only knows bottled water.  WTF people – it’s called an immune system.  You’ll be okay if you drink tap water.  Really – you’ll live.  Your kids won’t be mutants.  Well – maybe they will from ingesting so much plastic from the bottled water. 

Yeah – I know – there are cons to municipal treated water as well, but I think the pros definitely out weigh the cons.  Let’s look at bottled water. Most of it comes in plastic bottles.  Plastic is made from oil.  Plastic leaches into the water.  A lot of bottled water is just repackaged tap water (i.e. Dasani and Aquafina). Water is heavy to ship, thus using more oil.  If you’re a fancy pants, you’re not drinking this “tap water.” You opt instead for Fiji water because it comes in a fancy square bottle and is shipped from Fiji (where a large percentage of islanders don’t have access to safe drinking water).  Perhaps you are even more fancy pants than that and you drink San Pelligrino.  Oooh…but glass recycles better than plastic and doesn’t leach.  Correct – but it’s heavy – damn heavy!  Oh…and it’s a Nestle brand…like they need another water brand.  Nestle is like the Phillip Morris of water.  San Pelligrino, Perrier, Vittel, Ice Mountain, Deer Park, Poland Spring, Deer Park, Zephyrhills, and of course, plain old Nestle. 

When I was growing up, no one drank bottled water.  Some might have taken old milk jugs to the grocery store to fill up for $0.25 from their filtered water.  Perrier and Evian were the only bottled waters you could buy. Then sometime in the late 80′s it started catching on more and more. At some point there was a mindset projected on the population that you were a bad person if you didn’t drink bottled water.  I just don’t understand it. 

Water is a precious commodity – protect it – drink it – from the tap.  I know it’s hard to believe here in the good old U.S. of A. that there will be wars fought for water, but there will be.  It’s the next oil, you know (which we need to package the water for you).  

Here’s your moment of Zen:

It’s giveaway time again!  This time we’re giving away a  BOBO Wrap. We’re just in time for Valentine’s Day.  What is a BOBO Wrap you ask?  Well, hopefully you just watched the video above on some of the different ways you can use a BOBO.  A BOBO Wrap is the earth friendly art of wrapping with fabric.  These are perfect for wrapping those sexy gifts for Valentine’s Day… 

Eco-Luxe: A multi-purpose reusable accessory that is also ultra-stylish and luxurious.

User Friendly: If you can tie your shoes you can tie a wrapping scarf. In Asia, children traditionally use wrapping scarves to wrap their lunch for school.

More Convenient: No scissors, tape or other tools needed.

Multifunctioning: The wrapping scarf can wrap wine bottles, stacks of paper or a packed lunch, as easily as it can wrap gifts.

A Custom Fit: Unlike bags, the wrapping scarf adapts itself to the size and shape of the object being wrapped to create a custom fit.

Great for Small Motor Skills: Asians are famous for their dexterity with their hands. Many consider the wrapping scarf along with chopsticks to be key factors in helping develop small motor skills in children.

Sustainable: BOBO Wrapping Scarves are made in the USA in fully inspected facilities. Instead of using virgin materials to create new fabric, BOBOs are made from carefully selected fabrics that already exist in the world.

The rules are simple. Go to BOBOWrap.com, tell us what you think.  Come back. Leave a comment by 11:59PM CST, January 30, 2009 and one random lucky winner will be picked to receive a BOBO Wrap.

But I love the soft sweater made from those cute cuddly sheep in China. Why don’t you want me to buy cashmere? How will people know that I like to spend money? All valid questions. The problem is that there is so much demand for cashmere here in the U.S. that the land is being over-grazed. There are way too many sheep on one small portion of land in China. The landscape is becoming a dustbowl. The goats have very pointy hooves which poke holes through the salty crust releasing the finer sand beneath.

Why should you care about the dustbowls in China caused from the sheep that shed their coats to make you feel better? Because its going to affect you in the long run. Cashmere is not cotton. You can’t just plant more next year. If the goats have nothing to eat because they’ve chewed all of the prairies to a nub then we have a problem. China’s grasslands are turning in to deserts. The environmental impact, other than the goats eating so far down to the roots that the plants are damaged forever, is the creation of the dustbowls.

There is a huge increase in the number of dust storms. The dust gathers in the atmosphere mixing with the other China industrialized pollution creating huge orange clouds that are toxic. China officials warn residents not to go outside or open their windows during these times because they are so bad. The dust caused by these goats does not just stay in China, though. Its coming to a window near you.

From a Chicago Tribune article, “We had one storm in East Asia which we called the perfect dust storm,” said Barry Huebert, an oceanographer at the University of Hawaii. “There are good images of it following over the Pacific as a yellow plume. When it got to Colorado, it reduced visibility enough to make the national news. It continued east, and the last measurement was in the Canary Islands” off the west coast of Africa. ”

The reason we should care is that China has some of the dirtiest air in the world. The more it become industrialized, the worse it becomes. Also cited in the article are the statistics on the death rate in China directly related to air pollution. Roughly 300,000 people die each year in China of diseases linked to air pollution, according to a Chinese research institute.

Wow. All of this pollution for your vanity.

Source: Chicago Tribune

Carly Simon – You’re So Vain

Led Zeppelin – Kashmir
[audio:http://www.netwalk.com/~rurban/LedZepplin-Kashmir.mp3]

The Hidden Cost of Cashmere

I thought that Black Friday (aka Buy Nothing Day) would be a perfect time for everyone to watch “The Story of Stuff” again – or for the first time.  Take 20 minutes away from your shopping to watch and ponder. 

Congratulations on opening your first LEED certified store.  I hope you don’t mind that I duotoned your logo to make it green. It just seemed fitting as you opened your first “green” store.  I hope it is the first  of many LEED stores to come and you’re not just teasing me.  I really hope you’re not just waiving the eco-flag.  Don’t lett all of your  Twittering and posting pictures  just be a big eco-tease. 

As you know – me and you – we go way back.  It’s a love story, really.  I think it’s time that I let my readers know my love for you, but in the process, I’m going to have to air some of our dirty laundry.  Sometimes I feel like I sacrifice my conscience to be with you, yet you don’t reciprocate.  Sure, you take my money – but you don’t listen.  It’s like trying to cuddle and talk with a prostitute.  I know you just want my money.  I feel like after all this time, you need to start giving back.  I don’t ask for much – I’m a pretty missionary kinda guy with you – nothing kinky – so sure, sometimes I want hazelnut instead of plain.  I have to spice it up from time-to-time, but I’m not asking too much of you.  Just give me what you’re giving your customers in St Petersburg, FL. 

I understand that you own a lot of real estate and also franchise a lot of stores, but really – can’t you change over your cups for all of your stores?  Why do you still need to attack the environment by only giving out #6 styrofoam cups?  There is nothing environmentally friendly about that and who knows what chemicals are offgassing into my coffee.  It’s even difficult to recycle the cups you give out for iced coffee.  Most municipalities only take #1 and #2 plastics.  Give me a better option – please!

Let’s talk more about your LEED intiatives.  The restaurant is built with energy efficient materials to help reduce heating and air conditioning costs by up to 40%. In a climate like Florida – this is a huge cost savings.  I also love that you’re composting your grounds with the worms.  I vermicompost in my basement.  The kids love it and we get very rich soil in return.  I love that one of your initiatives is that in-store diners get trays – such a novel concept.  When I go to my Dunkin and eat in there, we always get bags and boxes and I try to have them not give them to me – but often fail or get dumbfounded looks.  This can save approximately 50,000 bags per year in an average restaurant.

Overall – congratulations to Dunkin Donuts for taking their first green steps.  Like most Americans, I want more, more, more – and not more consumption, but more steps.  I want to alleviate my guiltiest of green pleasures – Dunkin Donuts coffee. 

Okay – one last tidbit of information that you’re leaving out that many of us Eco-Greenies should all know and probably don’t: Dunkin Donuts has sold fair trade coffee since 2003.  Why isn’t that in your press release? 

So, Dunkin, thank you.  Thank you for the good times and the bad times (like when I had to write a complaint letter about the mean counter-worker who yells at people for paying with a $20 bill).  I’ll continue to be your John.  It’s an addiction – like David Duchovny to sex, it’s me to your products.  I don’t smoke, but if I did, I’d leave $2.04 on the dresser in the morning and enjoy a good smoke after having a large cup of your joe (cream, 2 Splenda – sometimes with hazelnut).

Much java love,

Jason

PS – feel free to follow Dunkin Donuts on Twitter and tell them what you think – http://twitter.com/dunkindonuts

(you didn’t think I’d have a post without a video, did you?)

Source: Green Daily

Jason! You should have our web address on this one, so people know where they can go to get “I AM GREEN” our most popular shirt. For those of you who don’t know, it really is a green shirt, 100% organic cotton with water based dyes and inks, cotton grown, spun, sewn and printed in the USA! Watch Alter Eco July 28th, Monday night on Planet Green to see this cool shirt at Coachella, sported by co-host Boise Thomas. And July 29th, you can buy it for half off because it’s our 100th day of business. Comes in kids sizes too.

Alix – my apologies for not linking to you guys from that last post.  I’m shooting Lollapalooza again this year – maybe I’ll wear my Eco Dude shirt out an about there, too.  I have a great t-shirt idea, too – maybe I’ll pass it along to you.

I think the Starland Vocal Band said it best…”Sky rocket in flight…wheww…Greywater Delight…” or maybe I’m paraphrasing.  I finally got clearance from the tower.  I am the proud owner of a SinkPositive toilet-tank sink.  I bought it on eBay – it’s the only one I’ve seen on there before.  I guess I should be saying “we,” but we’ll see how much the wife uses it.  I wanted to put it in the half-bath on the first floor so all visitors could check it out…and subsequently think “wtf is that?”  Why it’s a sink on top of my toilet, of course.  It’s not pee water – so just wash your hands and enjoy my novelty.

As you can see from the pic, you replace the lid from your toilet with the sink.  It’s a quick attachment – you take the water hose and connect it to the spiggot and then the drain flows back into the tank.  You flush, the clean water flows, you wash your hands, brush  your teeth, get a drink, whatever.  Then the greywater goes into the tank and you flush with it.

I guess these have been readily available in other countries for years and years.  In the US, we couldn’t give a shit about conserving water as a whole.  It’s crazy how much water we just waste – greywater that could be repurposed for all kinds of things. If you use biodegradable soaps, you can even dump your laundry water right out into you flower garden – and the aphids will stay away from the soap.  Why do I need to flush my toilet with potable water?  People just don’t realize the finite amount of water – and it’s happening here – there is drought – severe drought – in many parts of the US.  Just look at DroughtMonitor.