Topic: carbon emissions

Infographic: The Carbon Footprint Of Your Lunch

Infographic: The Carbon Footprint Of Your Lunch

You might think your health and the environment are separate issues (and who has time for both?), but the Environmental Working Group is finally putting two and two together with their newly-released “Meat Eater’s Guide to Climate Change and Health.” It’s full of illuminating facts about the eco-impact of our food (like eating just one less burger per week is the equivalent to taking your car off the road for 320 miles), and the graphic below, from the report’s chart of foods with the highest (lamb, beef, cheese, pork, salmon) and lowest (lentils, tomatoes, 2% milk, beans, and tofu) carbon footprints. More »

Why It’s Wrong to Decorate a Christmas Tree

Why It's Wrong to Decorate a Christmas Tree

This story begins with my killing several of my Facebook friendships last holiday season. In one of my “let’s fix the world we’ve ruined” moments, I updated my FB status thusly: “So let me get this straight. We celebrate the supposed virgin birth of Jesus by cutting down a tree, only to throw it out a couple weeks later? Maybe this year we try decorating a cactus instead, or a chair, or a bike?”

Subtle, right? But I forgot: You can’t mess with people’s unquestioned rituals and traditions. The crazies came out of the firewall calling me a Scrooge, wishing me a Merry Christmas, fa la la la la, dripping with sarcasm, and accusing me of self-righteous over-stepping. One woman actually told me to “drown my cats” because their food probably comes in paper bags (i.e. from trees). Needless to say, those people are no longer my Facebook friends. Fa la la la la — whatever.

The truth is we live in a world where there are too many of us humans using too much of what we call our “resources” (the earth) too fast. More »

America Recycles Day 2010: 15 Eco-Friendly Events Around the U.S.

America Recycles Day 2010: 15 Eco-Friendly Events Around the U.S.

Today is America Recycles Day, a day dedicated by the EPA to educate communities about recycling and reducing waste. Events are taking place around the country today with the hopes of making people in your community more effective recyclers every day of the year. Chances are, there is a recycling drive happening today in your area. Check out these recycling events happening this week around the country.
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Eco-Friendly Transportation We’re Too Scared to Try: The FlyRad

Eco-Friendly Transportation We're Too Scared to Try: The FlyRad

We consider ourselves to be fairly coordinated, but we just found one means of transportation that we should absolutely not try: The FlyRad. The latest in eco-friendly personal transit, it’s an electric unicycle that drags along a passenger wearing in-line skates. The battery powered device goes up to 21 miles per hour, which is slow enough to prevent any major disasters given the inevitable wipe out, and can go up to 31 miles before needed to be recharged. More »

We’re Born to Laugh and Daydream All Day: Morning News Round-Up

We're Born to Laugh and Daydream All Day: Morning News Round-Up

Barely Awake — People daydream for about 30% of the day. (via BBC News)

One Step Forward, Two Steps Back — Using biofuels will cause a rise in carbon emissions. (via Organic Consumers)

Natural Instincts — Babies know how to laugh, but have to learn how to cry. (via The Daily Mail)

Nintendo Therapy — Playing Tetris could reduce traumatic flashbacks in patients with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. (via WebMD) More »

I’ve been saving and freezing my scraps for a week now, and I’ve already noticed that my kitchen trash can is much lighter – and less fragrant. I can’t lie: I’ve forgotten my lofty plan for eco-living a few times. (Must. Not. Scrape. Plates. Into. Trash. Can.) But soon I’ll be heading to the community composting pile, where I’ll get to commune with urban hippie-types and take home some of their nutrient-packed soil. Now, if only I had somewhere to use it.

I’ve been saving and freezing my scraps for a week now, and I’ve already noticed that my kitchen trash can is much lighter – and less fragrant. I can’t lie: I’ve forgotten my lofty plan for eco-living a few times. (Must. Not. Scrape. Plates. Into. Trash. Can.) But soon I’ll be heading to the community composting pile, where I’ll get to commune with urban hippie-types and take home some of their nutrient-packed soil. Now, if only I had somewhere to use it.

– Blisstree Associate Editor Caroline Sloan on the challenges of eco-consciously trying to reduce, reuse, and recycle within the confines of a tiny city apartment, from her post: Composting Without a Yard? Eco-Friendly Living for Lazy Urbanites (Part 1)

Composting Without a Yard? Eco-Friendly Living for Lazy Urbanites (Part 1)

Composting Without a Yard? Eco-Friendly Living for Lazy Urbanites (Part 1)

I’ve always seen composting as the final frontier in environmentally sensitive living. Having enough outdoor space for a compost bin and a garden that could benefit from the nutrient-rich soil it yields would be great, but it’s an impossibility for someone like me who lives in a tiny urban apartment with no yard. Riding my bicycle, taking short showers, and hauling my groceries in reusable tote bags would have to do for now; composting would have to wait until I was living it up in a sprawling country estate.

So you can imagine what an ass I felt like when I discovered that several of my friends have been composting in their pint-size apartments for years. How had I missed the fact that I could compost easily and on the cheap, while lacking green space? More »

Green Turkey Gallery: 10 Ways to Make Thanksgiving More Eco-Friendly

Green Turkey Gallery: 10 Ways to Make Thanksgiving More Eco-Friendly

Thanksgiving, traditionally a holiday for being grateful for intangible blessings, is actually a day of mass consumption on every level. We eat a lot; we drink a lot; and the next day, we shop a lot. These behaviors easily can have a negative effect on the planet, thanks to the waste, carbon emissions, and energy use our traditions yield. This makes us feel guilty. (We also sleep a lot over Thanksgiving; this does not make us feel guilty.) So this year, we’re going to turn down the gobble-gobble and make our Thanksgiving as eco-friendly as possible. In that holiday spirit, we’ve got ten easy ways you can reduce your carbon emissions and waste this turkey day. More »

Eco-Friendly Fail: 8 Ways We Emit Carbon Every Day

Eco-Friendly Fail: 8 Ways We Emit Carbon Every Day

You buy local. You avoid using plastic. You ride your bike. You’re basically doing your best to reduce your carbon footprint. But Fast Company found eight surprising ways we emit carbon every day, without even realizing it. Check out this list and see if you’re guilty:

1. Eating. Including food production, transportation, and toilet paper use, humans emit two tons of CO2 a year just form eating.

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The Secret Life of Beef Video: Your Happy Meal Makes the Environment Sad

The Secret Life of Beef Video: Your Happy Meal Makes the Environment Sad

At Blisstree, we like to think that we know just how tough livestock production is on the environment (we yak about the topic a lot), but this 6:45 video by environmental nonprofit INFORM reaffirms several shocking facts on the subject that are well worth repeating and sharing. Namely, livestock production creates a massively negative effect on the environment (extensive water usage, destruction of trees for pasture, responsible for 20% of all greenhouse gas emissions around the world, etc.). Also, cows are not supposed to eat corn or grain. These make them sick, which is why many of them are shot up with so many antibiotics. (Did you know that 70% of the antibiotics used in the U.S. are for livestock, not humans?) More »

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