SustainYou

Whether you are designing a passive solar greenhouse/studio or you are planning where to place your spring/summer garden, keeping track of the sun is extremely important. You must determine where the shade will be and thus where microclimates will develop.

Here are some tools on Sustainable by Design’s website for tracking the path of the sun during different times during the year as well as designing that much needed overhang to block the heat of the harsh summer sun.

Solar Path

Overhang Design

There are also a few other tools that are quite neat as well such as sun angle and position so you should scope at the site when you get the chance.

From the NY Times: 

“The autobahn, though, is statistically safer than highways in many countries, even if its crashes are singularly horrific. Saving the planet, it turns out, may be more persuasive than saving lives.

“Given the pride of Germans about being No. 1 in protecting the environment, this could lead to a breakthrough,” said Peter Schneider, a writer who limits himself to 90 m.p.h. on the autobahn…

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Greywater Easy — So Simple, why isn’t this everywhere!? 

Coming to the Co-op Bathroom remodel

Many of us have intuition on sustainable building materials,  That gut feeling that tells you: wood siding is better vinyl, more insolation is better… 

Unforunately, buildings are so diverse and complex that is it nearly impossible to rightfully select the best choice for any product.  Environmental analysis and lifecyle analysis for building materials are often hard to come by or even non-existent.  This green building guide is a good place to get you on your way!

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Cochabambaexchange

“Horrifying” new ice-core data reveals that around 5 million years ago there was massive melting of the Ross Ice Shelf, destabilizing the Earth’s climate for the following 3.5 million years.   This is how Viereck-Götte and other scientists from the Antarctic Geological Drill team are describing the situation, they are extremely alarmed at the scale of melting which occurred with an increase in average global temperature of only 2-3 degrees Celsius.

The findings from high-tech ice core drilling near Mt. Erebus, Antarctica, also showed that the starting temperature was much lower than today.

“The melting of the Ross Ice Shelf, currently the size of France, would literally leave just a ‘Ross Bay’ as it did 5 million years ago. Not only would the melted ice cause sea levels to rise, it would force land-based ice to shift, breaking up dramatically and cause the break down of the oceans’ global conveyor belt thermohaline circulation system.” said Matthew Wright, Beyond Zero Emissions campaigner.

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After 9 months and 3 weeks of incubation, the Carbon Neutral Co-op is going to publicly emerge!  Join us for an all night gathering and celebration!

Friday 8:00pm:  Earth day potluck dinner,

Friday 11:00pm: Bonfire and Greenhouse studio party!

Saturday: 1:00pm-4pm  Building a Sustainable Home Hands on Workshop

I know sometimes it is difficult to face all the problems we have in this world and sometimes we get so preoccupied with the fast pace of life that we forget to enjoy life for what it is. Emotions are contagious so don’t forget to SMILE! Read the rest of this entry �

ANNOUCNING THE GRAND OPENING OF: “THE SPITTING LLAMA: Bookstore & Outfitter”         

       www.thespittingllama.com

My girlfriend Rommy and I have been working in Cochabamba, Bolivia for some months to open a store so chaotically fabulous that most of you would probably steal from us.  We are Bolivia’s first international bookstore with over 10 languages represented,  and (to our knowledge) the world’s first bookstore to specialize in Quechua language books.  We also sell camping/hiking equipment. 

Cheers,
 Dave Read the rest of this entry �

My Mud Portfolio

http://newdelhimn.com/ 

http://www.o2umw.org/tcgd/

I get a lot of emails from U.S.Pirg about petitions and calling senators to support environmental legislation, but this Photographic Petition looks particularly fun so maybe it could be a Coop/Sustain You community activity at the potluck tomorrow! Here’s the email:

“You’ve done a lot of things to communicate with your elected officials in the past: written emails, signed petitions, even made phone calls. But global warming is such a crucial and urgent issue, I think it calls for a special action.
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Attending the: Permaculture Collaborative Skillshare: Seed Starting and Saving

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Hypalon roofs. Hypalon membrane roofing uses a highly reflective surface and increased insulation to improve energy efficiency. Hypalon roofs are EPA Energy Star approved and, when combined with increased insulation, reduce overall building heating and cooling requirements, compared with buildings with standard roofing materials. Verizon has installed more than 600 Hypalon roofs to date in company buildings in California, Arizona, Hawaii, Nevada, Oregon, Washington and Texas, and is studying the value of expanding the program throughout the company’s service territory.

Does a CFL release more Mercury into the environment than a regular light…..
No if you recycle the CFL when it expires, Yes if you throw it away.

This EPA CFL Fact sheet compares Mercury emissions for the whole life-cycle of CFLs and Incandescent bulbs.  This worksheet incorrectly assumes all electricity is from coal generation.  In Minnesota, aproximately half of our electricity is from coal, which releases Mercury.  The remaing half of eletricty generation (Nuclear, Natural Gas, Hydro, Wind, Biomass) does not release any Mercury.  Taking this into account CFLs and Incandescent bulbs have near idential Mercury emissions over their lifetime.  CFLs will still reduce CO2, SOx and NOx emissions.  CFLs are the better choice.

However, there are even better options then basic CFLs for lighting.

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