The Nanotechnology Bug in Your Food

To play god with your food and more! What does super small ?technology? have to do with your ?fleshy? food? Good question!

My only concern is that we?re skipping the idea of ?whole? foods. Sure you can use nanotechnology to add vitamins to foods. It?s just not the same as eating a food which is grown with all those nutrients already there.

As my nutritionist friend, Jesse Godland, once said at a talk, ?It?s like they take $5 from you and give $2 back.? Today?s processed food essentially strips away a whole food?s nutrients (taking the $5 you deserve) and then adding back everything later in bits and pieces (the $2). The problem is that science hasn?t figured out the secrets of nutrition either and here we have all this processing just ruining what could be good food (especially if it?s local organic and well handled).

Anyways you can read more about nanotechnology below and how that could change the future landscape of food.

?one firm of German technology analysts, the Helmut Kaiser Consultancy, estimates that hundreds of food companies are conducting research into nanotechnology. Its latest report says: ?The nanofood market [soared] from $2.6bn in 2003 to $5.3bn in 2005 and is expected to reach $20.4bn in 2010. The nano-featured food-packaging market will grow from $1.1bn in 2005 to $3.7bn in 2010. More than 400 companies around the world are active in research, development and production. The US is the leader, followed by Japan and China. By 2010, Asia, with more than 50% of the world population, will become the biggest market for nanofood, with China in the leading position.?

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Once bitten …

The science of nanotechnology is already revolutionising the worlds of medicine and construction. Soon it could be doing the same for our food – but after the backlash against GM foods, says Steve Boggan, will the consumers swallow it?
        ?         Steve Boggan
        ?         The Guardian,
        ?         Wednesday March 26 2008

How do you fancy tucking into a bowl of ice cream that has no more fat than a carrot? Or eating a burger that will lower your cholesterol? If you are allergic to peanuts, perhaps you’d like to fix your food so that any nut traces pass harmlessly through your body. Welcome to the world of nanofoods, where almost anything is possible: where food can be manipulated at an atomic or molecular level to taste as delicious as you want, do you as much good as you want, and stay fresh for .. well, who knows? A world where smart pesticides are harmless until they reach the stomachs of destructive insects; where food manufacturers promise an end to starvation; where smart packaging sniffs out and destroys the micro-organisms that make good food go bad. In short, a food heaven to those who see it spelling the end of obesity and poor diet. Food hell to those who believe the case for nanofood safety is still far from proven. One thing is certain: after the controversy that surrounded genetically modified foods, nano is set to become the next kitchen battleground.

Nanotechnology has its roots in a talk delivered in 1959 by physicist Richard Feynman to the American Physical Society. He predicted a time when individual atoms and molecules might be used as the building blocks for a set of tools that could then make a smaller set, and so on. The scale he was talking about strains the imagination. A nanometer – nm – (from the Greek word nanos, dwarf) is one-billionth of a metre. To help you visualise how small that is, a red blood cell is about 7,000nm across, a human hair 80,000nm wide and a water molecule slightly less than 0.3nm in diameter. The science of nanotechnology generally inhabits the region of 0.1nm to 100nm.

The science behind the theory became a reality in the 1980s with the invention of specialist microscopes which allowed scientists to see how atoms and molecules behaved in different conditions. By manipulating those conditions – say, with other chemicals, heat, moisture, electromagnetism and so on – they could encourage atoms and molecules to form useful shapes.

This resulted in the creation of new nanomaterials built at the atomic level that promise to revolutionise everything from chemistry to aeronautics. Some nanotechnology products are already on the market – sunscreens, for example, make use of titanium oxide, TiO2. At larger scales TiO2 is white, opaque and good for blocking ultraviolet light. However, at the nanoscale it becomes transparent while retaining its UV-blocking properties, making it perfect for protection against the sun’s harmful rays.

Others look set to follow. Carbon nanotubes, for example, could revolutionise the construction industry. Seamless tubes of graphite one atom thick and 10,000 long (to the naked eye, large quantities would look like soot), carbon nanotubes are up to 100 times stronger than steel but around eight times lighter. They can be teased into a twine that can be woven into sheets and, potentially, mixed with composites to eventually overhaul the way – and the height to which – we build. And those buildings could be covered with solar cells made from nanomaterials that could supply all their energy needs. In medicine, “nanocapsules” containing pharmaceuticals that can be programmed to release their cargoes only on contact with, say, cancer cells, are promising new and improved treatments. Not surprising, then, that the proponents of nanotechnology predict that it will lead to a new industrial revolution.

In food, however, the excitement is being matched by health and environmental concerns at all three stages of production: farming, processing and packaging. In its report, Down on the Farm, the ETC Group, an independent Canadian technology watchdog, predicts: “From soil to supper, nanotechnology will not only change how every step of the food chain operates, but it will also change who is involved. At stake is the world’s $3 trillion food retail market, agricultural export markets valued at $544bn, the livelihoods of 2.6 billion farming people, and the wellbeing of the rest of us who depend upon farmers for our daily bread.”

Nano-futurists don’t dispute that, one day, nanofoods will be everywhere They envisage a day when tiny sensors called motes or smart dust will radio information to the farmer detailing what is going on in his field, inside his crops and in the bodies of his animals so that he can optimise his yields. While such “precision farming” is some way off, nanotechnology is already here in the form of smart pesticides, or nanocides. Syngenta, Monsanto and BASF are among companies that have either developed or are researching pesticides on the nano-scale that they claim will be more stable, longer-lasting and deadlier to pests.

Several of these have already passed safety tests and are licensed for use in Britain and the US. Their active ingredients have been around for years without causing problems; only the delivery method has changed. This involves controlled-release systems that use small polymer capsules which can be more evenly diluted in liquid, be programmed to “stick” to the parts of plants where they are needed, and even remain inert until activated by the alkaline content of a certain insect’s stomach; only then do they burst open and kill the pest. Agrochemical companies argue that this means the pesticides are smarter, need lower concentrations of active ingredients, can be programmed not to harm “friendly” insects, and are more easily and safely broken down in the environment.

Packaging, too, may change. Coatings made from smart nanoparticles that can sniff out the telltale gases given off by deteriorating food will trigger colour changes on labels. The label will also tell you when something is ripe. It’s called intelligent packaging.

But there is a problem. There are signs that consumers will recoil from any food to which this new technology is applied. Several years ago, the big food companies were happy to talk about products that might be in the pipeline. Famously, Kraft Foods described a tasteless, odourless drink that might contain dozens of flavours, colours and nutrients in billions of microcapsules that could be activated – possibly by microwave – at home. You might turn it into a strawberry-flavoured drink, while I might opt for lemon and lime. Then came the consumer opposition to GM. Nowadays it is difficult to get food companies even to admit they are conducting researching into nano.

However, one firm of German technology analysts, the Helmut Kaiser Consultancy, estimates that hundreds of food companies are conducting research into nanotechnology. Its latest report says: “The nanofood market [soared] from $2.6bn in 2003 to $5.3bn in 2005 and is expected to reach $20.4bn in 2010. The nano-featured food-packaging market will grow from $1.1bn in 2005 to $3.7bn in 2010. More than 400 companies around the world are active in research, development and production. The US is the leader, followed by Japan and China. By 2010, Asia, with more than 50% of the world population, will become the biggest market for nanofood, with China in the leading position.”

I approached five of the world’s largest food companies, Kraft, Cadbury Schweppes, Unilever, Nestl� and HJ Heinz. Cadbury Schweppes said it was “keeping a watching brief” but was not actively researching nanofood; Heinz had no plans to use nanotechnology; and Kraft and Nestl� made no comment. Unilever, however, was willing to provide a food manufacturer’s perspective.

Charles-Fran�ois Gaudefroy, whose job title – head of consumer confidence and sustainability for research and development – is indicative of the task ahead of him, says there is much hype about nanofood. “There are some people who say nanotechnology is everywhere,” he says. “Well, I’d like to see it first. We do not have it in food at the moment, but the potential is manifold, particularly in stabilising foods and enhancing their nutritional properties. For example, if you squeeze an orange and drink it now, you will get vitamin C from it, but if you leave it a while, all the vitamin C will vanish. Putting the vitamin C in nanocapsules can allow it to be released only when it is drunk.

“And [it could be useful in] stabilising nutrients in food. For example, iron and essential fats such as omega-3 do not remain stable in liquids; they oxidise and that changes the colour, odour, the taste of the product … You could use nanotechnology to stabilise the nutritional properties of products and that would be of benefit to people with deficiencies – anaemia, for example.”

Food companies, he says, are also excited by the prospect of intelligent packaging and the ability to give foods a longer shelf life. “In Africa, there is food, but part of the issue is bringing it to the table and increasing its nutrition profile to give children a better start. Stabilisation of nutrients and enabling longer shelf life are areas of development that can reduce suffering.”

In Europe, any nanofoods would have to gain approval under a European Commission directorate on new foods and ingredients that was introduced in 1997 to regulate genetically modified products or those manipulated at a molecular level. The directorate requires such products to be assessed by member states before a licence can be granted. In Britain, the EU and the US, moves have been made to introduce voluntary codes of practice for research and manufacturing in nanotechnology, but hard legislation is lagging behind.

So what about safety? A report by the Royal Society and the Royal Academy of Engineering in 2004 expressed concern that little was known about the behaviour of nanoparticles in the environment and recommended that waste containing them should be treated as hazardous until proven otherwise. Since then, the Royal Society and the Council for Science and Technology (CST), the government’s main advisory body on science issues, has criticised ministers for failing to put measures in place for assessing the environmental risks. “There is a pressing need for a programme of central government spending [on research] into the toxicology, health and environmental effects of nanotechnologies,” the chairman of the CST’s nanotechnologies sub-group, Professor John Beringer, said in March last year. “Without a substantial home research endeavour, the UK risks being left out in the cold in future international collaboration. To put it bluntly, the safe development of a new technology should not depend on whether an academic wins a highly competitive research grant.”

The US’s Environmental Protection Agency has set up a committee to develop a framework for safety legislation, but the tendency so far has been to accept nano-manipulated materials as being no different from their larger relatives. But any chemist will tell you that materials behave differently at different sizes. Aluminium, for example, is stable in everyday concentrations, but becomes explosive at micro-fine levels.

“I think the authorities know this and they are concerned, but they’ve been caught flat-footed,” says Pat Mooney, the executive director of ETC. “I met a guy who said his company was shipping carbon nanotubes but they’d started limiting the shipment to a couple of kilos at a time because in concentrations of more than that they tended to become explosive. His company didn’t know why. That inevitably raises questions about nanotechnology in pesticides and food.”

Lynn Frewer, professor of food safety and consumer behaviour at Wageningen University in the Netherlands, acknowledges the potential benefits nanotechnology could bring, but when I ask her about the risks, she says: “The problem with the digestion of nanoparticles is that we don’t know where in the body they would end up. If they are small enough to travel through the wall of the gut, which some nanoparticles would be designed to do, they could end up anywhere. And how will they accumulate and travel through the food chain? We simply don’t know.”

Dr Mike Bushell, Syngenta’s research head, disagrees, arguing that nano-sized particles are more easily and safely degraded in the environment There is, then, much disagreement in an industry still in its infancy, an industry that hasn’t yet got international standards of safety. There isn’t even an internationally accepted lexicon of nanotechnology.

Last year, the Woodrow Wilson International Centre for Scholars in Washington, an independent Washington-based research institute, published a report entitled Nanotechnology in Agriculture and Food. It expressed concern at the lack of research, concluding: “Neither industry nor government appears to be doing its homework. Products could end up in the market without a proper assessment of risk or end up indefinitely halted at the threshold of commercialisation.”

Whether nano-engineered foodstuffs land on our tables will, to a large extent, depend on consumers. If it proves as controversial as GM to many food buyers and environmentalists, then marketing it could be difficult – something of which the industry is well aware. Unilever’s Gaudefroy says: “There are areas where debate is vital and it is only just beginning. Much of this is driven by what happened with GM. We have to explain to consumers the good side of nanotechnology and what benefits it can bring them.

“Food regulations, in particular the EU’s novel-foods directive, prescribe stringent environmental and safety evaluation before anything is introduced to the market. I can see areas where people could be afraid of nanotechnology – in weaponry, for example. But in food? No. I really don’t see mad scientists doing mad things.”

• guardian.co.uk � Guardian News and Media Limited 2008

This article appeared in the Guardian on Wednesday March 26 2008 on p10 of the Comment & features section. It was last updated at 14:28 on March 26 2008.

Burgers: Nanotechnology could leave fatty foods tasting the same – while preventing your cholesterol level from rising. Photograph: Corbis

http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2008/mar/26/nanotechnology.food
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No Knead Bread Minimalist Bakers!

My friend Florence just told me about a simple recipe to make crusted, European style bread – without kneading or extra gimmicks! (haha) Sure it ain?t revolutionary but if you?re a soul who loves baking when he/she can and is super busy then this might be the recipe for you (plus the video and the NY Times article). Of course you?ll need a pre heated cast iron pot (450 degrees, 500-515 if you follow what Baker Lahey says in the video).

Mark Bittman, a food columnist with the NY Times writes:
?It [no knead bread] may yet change the industry. Mr. Lahey is experimenting with using it on a large scale, but although it requires far less electricity than conventional baking, it takes a lot of space and time.?

?What makes Mr. Lahey?s process revolutionary is the resulting combination of great crumb, lightness, incredible flavor — long fermentation gives you that — and an enviable, crackling crust, the feature of bread that most frequently separates the amateurs from the pros. My bread has often had thick, hard crusts, not at all bad, but not the kind that shatter when you bite into them. Producing those has been a bane of the amateur for years, because it requires getting moisture onto the bread as the crust develops.?

As my friend Florence says:
?still this no-knead bread sounds like minimal muss/fuss…or less than the usual for bread since you don’t have to have a floured cutting board for kneading and spilling flour all over the place….?

From the same email:
?for Sunny’s benefit here’s the source below — no, this isn’t quickbreads — I took those in highschool — not biscuits or scones or that stuff —it’s genuine bread made with a no-knead technique …i.e. instead of kneading the dough — you get time to work the yeast and water into the dough…here are the links: That first link steamykitchen is something I found by accident, but I kinda found it cute/good. The rest is the original NY Times source.?

So here?s the links Florence passed along to me which I now pass along to you, kind reader! Hopefully you?ll find a use for it if you?re not the bread machine using type (I have nothing against people with bread machines – my friends the Millers back in Kingston had one and used it often when I lived at their place).

http://steamykitchen.com/blog/2007/09/10/no-knead-bread-revisited/

http://video.on.nytimes.com/index.jsp?fr_story=35eac03d90314ffed6a0c0ae143ab87b1474fb89 – NY Times video (Mark Bittman is in this one if you know who he is)

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=950DE7D6113FF93BA35752C1A9609C8B63 – NY times article and recipe — fabulous artisan bread. Must try it…

THE RECIPE
No-Knead Bread
Adapted from Jim Lahey, Sullivan Street Bakery
Time: About 1 1/2 hours plus 14 to 20 hours’ rising

3 cups all-purpose or bread flour, more for dusting
1/4 teaspoon instant yeast
1 1/4 teaspoons salt
Cornmeal or wheat bran as needed.

1. In a large bowl combine flour, yeast and salt. Add 1 5/8 cups water, and stir until blended; dough will be shaggy and sticky. Cover bowl with plastic wrap. Let dough rest at least 12 hours, preferably about 18, at warm room temperature, about 70 degrees.
2. Dough is ready when its surface is dotted with bubbles. Lightly flour a work surface and place dough on it; sprinkle it with a little more flour and fold it over on itself once or twice. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rest about 15 minutes.
3. Using just enough flour to keep dough from sticking to work surface or to your fingers, gently and quickly shape dough into a ball. Generously coat a cotton towel (not terry cloth) with flour, wheat bran or cornmeal; put dough seam side down on towel and dust with more flour, bran or cornmeal. Cover with another cotton towel and let rise for about 2 hours. When it is ready, dough will be more than double in size and will not readily spring back when poked with a finger.
4. At least a half-hour before dough is ready, heat oven to 450 degrees. Put a 6- to 8-quart heavy covered pot (cast iron, enamel, Pyrex or ceramic) in oven as it heats. When dough is ready, carefully remove pot from oven. Slide your hand under towel and turn dough over into pot, seam side up; it may look like a mess, but that is O.K. Shake pan once or twice if dough is unevenly distributed; it will straighten out as it bakes. Cover with lid and bake 30 minutes, then remove lid and bake another 15 to 30 minutes, until loaf is beautifully browned. Cool on a rack.

Yield: One 1 1/2-pound loaf.

THE ARTICLE:
November 8, 2006
THE MINIMALIST; The Secret of Great Bread: Let Time Do the Work

By MARK BITTMAN
INNOVATIONS in bread baking are rare. In fact, the 6,000-year-old process hasn’t changed much since Pasteur made the commercial production of standardized yeast possible in 1859. The introduction of the gas stove, the electric mixer and the food processor made the process easier, faster and more reliable.

I’m not counting sliced bread as a positive step, but Jim Lahey’s method may be the greatest thing since.

This story began in late September when Mr. Lahey sent an e-mail message inviting me to attend a session of a class he was giving at Sullivan Street Bakery, which he owns, at 533 West 47th Street in Manhattan. His wording was irresistible: ”I’ll be teaching a truly minimalist breadmaking technique that allows people to make excellent bread at home with very little effort. The method is surprisingly simple — I think a 4-year-old could master it — and the results are fantastic.”

I set up a time to visit Mr. Lahey, and we baked together, and the only bad news is that you cannot put your 4-year-old to work producing bread for you. The method is complicated enough that you would need a very ambitious 8-year-old. But the results are indeed fantastic.

Mr. Lahey’s method is striking on several levels. It requires no kneading. (Repeat: none.) It uses no special ingredients, equipment or techniques. It takes very little effort.

It accomplishes all of this by combining a number of unusual though not unheard of features. Most notable is that you’ll need about 24 hours to create a loaf; time does almost all the work. Mr. Lahey’s dough uses very little yeast, a quarter teaspoon (you almost never see a recipe with less than a teaspoon), and he compensates for this tiny amount by fermenting the dough very slowly. He mixes a very wet dough, about 42 percent water, which is at the extreme high end of the range that professional bakers use to create crisp crust and large, well-structured crumb, both of which are evident in this loaf.

The dough is so sticky that you couldn’t knead it if you wanted to. It is mixed in less than a minute, then sits in a covered bowl, undisturbed, for about 18 hours. It is then turned out onto a board for 15 minutes, quickly shaped (I mean in 30 seconds), and allowed to rise again, for a couple of hours. Then it’s baked. That’s it.

I asked Harold McGee, who is an amateur breadmaker and best known as the author of ”On Food and Cooking” (Scribner, 2004), what he thought of this method. His response: ”It makes sense. The long, slow rise does over hours what intensive kneading does in minutes: it brings the gluten molecules into side-by-side alignment to maximize their opportunity to bind to each other and produce a strong, elastic network. The wetness of the dough is an important piece of this because the gluten molecules are more mobile in a high proportion of water, and so can move into alignment easier and faster than if the dough were stiff.”

That’s as technical an explanation as I care to have, enough to validate what I already knew: Mr. Lahey’s method is creative and smart.

But until this point, it’s not revolutionary. Mr. McGee said he had been kneading less and less as the years have gone by, relying on time to do the work for him. Charles Van Over, author of the authoritative book on food-processor dough making, ”The Best Bread Ever” (Broadway, 1997), long ago taught me to make a very wet dough (the food processor is great at this) and let it rise slowly. And, as Mr. Lahey himself notes, ”The Egyptians mixed their batches of dough with a hoe.”

What makes Mr. Lahey’s process revolutionary is the resulting combination of great crumb, lightness, incredible flavor — long fermentation gives you that — and an enviable, crackling crust, the feature of bread that most frequently separates the amateurs from the pros. My bread has often had thick, hard crusts, not at all bad, but not the kind that shatter when you bite into them. Producing those has been a bane of the amateur for years, because it requires getting moisture onto the bread as the crust develops.

To get that kind of a crust, professionals use steam-injected ovens. At home I have tried brushing the dough with water (a hassle and ineffective); spraying it (almost as ineffective and requiring frequent attention); throwing ice cubes on the floor of the oven (not good for the oven, and not far from ineffective); and filling a pot with stones and preheating it, then pouring boiling water over the stones to create a wet sauna (quite effective but dangerous, physically challenging and space-consuming). I was discouraged from using La Cloche, a covered stoneware dish, by my long-standing disinclination to crowd my kitchen with inessential items that accomplish only one chore. I was discouraged from buying a $5,000 steam-injected oven by its price.

It turns out there’s no need for any of this. Mr. Lahey solves the problem by putting the dough in a preheated covered pot — a common one, a heavy one, but nothing fancy. For one loaf he used an old Le Creuset enameled cast iron pot; for another, a heavy ceramic pot. (I have used cast iron with great success.) By starting this very wet dough in a hot, covered pot, Mr. Lahey lets the crust develop in a moist, enclosed environment. The pot is in effect the oven, and that oven has plenty of steam in it. Once uncovered, a half-hour later, the crust has time to harden and brown, still in the pot, and the bread is done. (Fear not. The dough does not stick to the pot any more than it would to a preheated bread stone.)

The entire process is incredibly simple, and, in the three weeks I’ve been using it, absolutely reliable. Though professional bakers work with consistent flour, water, yeast and temperatures, and measure by weight, we amateurs have mostly inconsistent ingredients and measure by volume, which can make things unpredictable. Mr. Lahey thinks imprecision isn’t much of a handicap and, indeed, his method seems to iron out the wrinkles: ”I encourage a somewhat careless approach,” he says, ”and figure this may even be a disappointment to those who expect something more difficult. The proof is in the loaf.”

The loaf is incredible, a fine-bakery quality, European-style boule that is produced more easily than by any other technique I’ve used, and will blow your mind. (It may yet change the industry. Mr. Lahey is experimenting with using it on a large scale, but although it requires far less electricity than conventional baking, it takes a lot of space and time.) It is best made with bread flour, but all-purpose flour works fine. (I’ve played with whole-wheat and rye flours, too; the results are fantastic.)

You or your 8-year-old may hit this perfectly on the first try, or you may not. Judgment is involved; with practice you’ll get it right every time.

The baking itself is virtually foolproof, so the most important aspect is patience. Long, slow fermentation is critical. Mr. Lahey puts the time at 12 to 18 hours, but I have had much greater success at the longer time. If you are in a hurry, more yeast (three-eighths of a teaspoon) or a warmer room temperature may move things along, but really, once you’re waiting 12 hours why not wait 18? Similarly, Mr. Lahey’s second rising can take as little as an hour, but two hours, or even a little longer, works better.

Although even my ”failed” loaves were as good as those from most bakeries, to make the loaf really sensational requires a bit of a commitment. But with just a little patience, you will be rewarded with the best no-work bread you have ever made. And that’s no small thing.

Keywords: no knead bread, food, baking, bake, Mark Bittman, Jim Lahey, Sullivan Street Bakery

Tall Ships with SkySails!

The first time I heard of ships using SkySails to save 10-35% on fuel costs was on Daily Planet. Now I run across them again!

?… a newly-established French company specialising in merchant sailing that has used a 100-year-old British schooner to transport a full cargo of wine from France to Dublin ? the first time in living memory such a trip has taken place.?

It?s old school sailing 21st century style.

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Concern over food miles prompts return of tall ships

July 23, 2008
Environmental Transport Association – Weybridge,UK
http://www.eta.co.uk/food_miles_concern_prompts_return_of_tall_ships/node/10880

In the face of environmental concerns about food miles, a French shipping company has chartered five sailing vessels to ply their trade around Europe.

The Compagnie de Transport Maritime a la Voile (CTMV) is a newly-established French company specialising in merchant sailing that has used a 100-year-old British schooner to transport a full cargo of wine from France to Dublin ? the first time in living memory such a trip has taken place.

The company is looking to use its regular return journey from the Irish sea to bring Irish Whisky and scotch back to France.

A spokesperson for the Environmental Transport Association (ETA) said: ?This most environmentally benign mode of transport is enabling food producers to label their products as having been moved in a green way, but the high price of oil may bring an added financial incentive.?

21st century sailing

Although century-old sailing vessels can continue to ship cargo, a company called SkySails is developing a range of gaint kites for use by modern conventionally-powered freighters (see photo above). SkySails kites, which can be as large as 320m2 are claimed to reduce a ship?s fuel costs by 10- 35% on annual average, depending on wind conditions.

Shipping facts
?at a glance
Pollution
Over 4 per cent of global CO2 emissions come from merchant shipping
Speed
The average modern cargo vessel travels at 16 knots ? twice as fast as a sail-powered cargo ship
Size
Over 90% of world trade is carried by the international shipping industry, which comprises around 50,000 merchant ships

ATTENTION LADIES: “Sustainable Beauty” Tips

If you?re looking for someone to make some quick points about environmentally friendly fashion, cosmetic or personal care products then look no further – you can read Erin Schrode?s blog.

According to Green Living:
?Erin Schrode is a young eco-renaissance woman from Marin County, California, who is the model and spokeswoman for the Teens for Safe Cosmetics Campaign.

When she?s not travelling to spread the green word, she is hosting green events, television shows and podcasts related to green beauty, fashion and lifestyle.

Erin is also a partner in launching lines of green skincare and eco-conscious clothing. In 2008, while studying acting in New York City, she made her debut on film and on the runway in Fashion Week. ?

Her blog can be found at:
http://www.greenlivingonline.com/erin/

Of course even Erin may sometimes forget about the need for ethically produced products. Green does not always equate to ethical if people are being exploited to produce the product (sometimes we just don?t look deep enough).

Anyways think on that last point sometimes.

North Pole Ice Free This Summer!?

North Pole could be ice-free this summer, scientists say

Ice retreated to a record level last fall when the Northwest Passage opened briefly
Weather patterns will determine whether the ice cover melts completely this summer
Scientists say the Arctic meltdown is not part of a historic cycle
By Alan Duke
CNN

(CNN) — The North Pole may be briefly ice-free by September as global warming melts away Arctic sea ice, according to scientists from the National Snow and Ice Data Center in Boulder, Colorado.

“We kind of have an informal betting pool going around in our center and that betting pool is ‘does the North Pole melt out this summer?’ and it may well,” said the center’s senior research scientist, Mark Serreze.

It’s a 50-50 bet that the thin Arctic sea ice, which was frozen in autumn, will completely melt away at the geographic North Pole, Serreze said.

The ice retreated to a record level in September when the Northwest Passage, the sea route through the Arctic Ocean, opened briefly for the first time in recorded history.

“What we’ve seen through the past few decades is the Arctic sea ice cover is becoming thinner and thinner as the system warms up,” Serreze said.

Specific weather patterns will determine whether the North Pole’s ice cover melts completely this summer, he said.

“Last year, we had sort of a perfect weather pattern to get rid of ice to open up that Northwest Passage,” Serreze said. “This year, a different pattern can set up. so maybe we’ll preserve some ice there. We’re in a wait-and-see mode right now. We’ll see what happens.”

The brief lack of ice at the top of the globe will not bring any immediate consequences, he said.

“From the viewpoint of the science, the North Pole is just another point in the globe, but it does have this symbolic meaning,” Serreze said. “There’s supposed to be ice at the North Pole. The fact that we may not have any by the end of this summer could be quite a symbolic change.”

Serreze said it’s “just another indicator of the disappearing Arctic sea ice cover” but that it is happening so soon is “just astounding to me.”

“Five years ago, to think that we’d even be talking about the possibility of the North Pole melting out in the summer, I would have never thought it,” he said.

The melting, however, has been long seen as inevitable, he said.

“If you talked to me or other scientists just a few years ago, we were saying that we might lose all or most of the summer sea ice cover by anywhere from 2050 to 2100,” Serreze said. “Then, recently, we kind of revised those estimates, maybe as early as 2030. Now, there’s people out there saying it might be even before that. So, things are happening pretty quick up there.”

Serreze said those who suggest that the Arctic meltdown is just part of a historic cycle are wrong.

“It’s not cyclical at this point. I think we understand the physics behind this pretty well,” he said. “We’ve known for at least 30 years, from our earliest climate models, that it’s the Arctic where we’d see the first signs of global warming.

“It’s a situation where we hate to say we told you so, but we told you so,” he said.

Serreze said the Arctic sea ice will not be the same for decades.

“If we had a few cold years in a row, we could put sort of a temporary damper on it, but I think at this point going to an ice-free Arctic Ocean is inevitable,” he said. “I don’t think we can stop that now.”

Reduced greenhouse gas emissions could “cool things down a bit,” he said.

“It would recover fairly quickly, but it’s just not going to happen for a while,” he said. “I think we’re committed at this point.”

There are some positive aspects to the ice melting, he said. Ships could use the Northwest Passage to save time and energy by no longer having to travel through the Panama Canal or around Cape Horn.

“There’s also, or course, oil at the bottom of the Arctic Ocean,” he said. “Now, the irony of that is kind of clear, but the fact that we are opening up the Arctic Ocean does make it more accessible.”

The U.S. National Snow and Ice Data Center Web site, NSIDC.org, publishes a near-real-time image of the Arctic sea ice cover.
All AboutNational Snow and Ice Data Center ? North Pole ? Arctic Ocean

Find this article at:
http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/weather/06/27/north.pole.melting/index.html

SPRING VEGETABLE PAPPARDELLE

SPRING VEGETABLE PAPPARDELLE
(HUGO MATHESON, THE KITCHEN CAF�, BOULDER)

• 1 packet pappardelle
• 1 c freshly shelled English peas
• 1 c freshly shelled fava beans
• 1 c tender asparagus, chopped into 1/2-inch sticks
• 1/4 c extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 cloves fresh garlic, sliced
• pinch of crushed red pepper flakes
• 1/2 c heavy cream
• 10 fresh mint leaves, chopped
• 1 c freshly grated Parmesan or pecorino cheese
• salt and pepper

Bring a large pot of salted water to a strong boil. Add pasta and return to a boil.

Add peas, beans and asparagus. Bring back to a boil and cook until the pasta still has a bite — about 6 to 8 minutes more.
While cooking the pasta and vegetables, heat a large saut� pan to medium-high. Add olive oil, garlic and crushed red pepper flakes. Just when garlic starts to brown, add cream.
Drain cooked pasta and vegetables, keeping a little of the water (to thin the sauce, if needed). Add pasta and vegetables to the sauce.
Sprinkle in chopped mint and half of the cheese; toss to coat everything well.
Season with salt and pepper. If the sauce is too thick, add a little of the cooking water.
To serve, top with remaining cheese and a good glug of olive oil.

Blackouts, Shortages: The Parting Glass

We raise our parting glass (see the article excerpt and song lyrics below) to our dearest love, cheap energy. You were a sweetheart! And we?ve lost you! Alas, it was your time to fall. So good night my love and joy be with us all. (How fitting – raising a wine glass to the sunset.)

Blackouts and Shortages

The CIA reports that there are 266 ?nations, dependent areas, and other entities? on the world today. During the last few weeks at least 90 of these are reported to be having continuing serious or very serious energy shortages. The number of countries with energy problems may be much higher as the CIA also reports that 94 of the world?s nations are islands many of which are so small they are rarely heard from but are almost certain to be suffering from $140 oil.

Most of the places having serious energy problems are in South Asia, Africa, Latin America, and scattered islands. Taken together, they make up over half of the world?s population. Nearly all are having electric power shortages that have resulted in daily blackouts ranging from a few hours to most of the day. Droughts, fuel costs and rapid growth in electrically powered consumer goods are behind most of the shortages. Insurgencies, mismanagement, and even accidents are taking a toll. Liquid fuel shortages are growing rapidly as poorer nations struggle to keep up with surging prices.

In sum, these shortages are causing serious hardships among peoples who have grown accustomed to electric lights, refrigeration, air conditioning and motorized vehicles. Some form of energy-related strike, demonstration, or riot is now being reported almost daily somewhere around the world. It will not be long before serious repercussions evolve from these shortages.

There are so many places with serious troubles that it is difficult to pick out the more vulnerable. Pakistan, where power shortages have nearly eliminated the export-textile industry and which is only days away from running out of liquid fuels, is likely near the top of the list. Bangladesh and even India may not be too far behind, possibly failing to produce enough food for their peoples. Beyond South Asia there are numerous places of consequence that may be facing political upheavals due to the declining availability of electricity and liquid fuels.

http://actionsbyt.wordpress.com/

By an anonymous author alas.

******************************************

THE PARTING GLASS

Lyrics

Oh all the money that e’er I had, I spent it in good company?And all the harm that e’er I’ve done, alas, it was to none but me?And all I’ve done for want of wit to memory now I can’t recall?So fill to me the parting glass, good night and joy be with you all

Oh all the comrades that e’er I’ve had, they are sorry for my going away?And all the sweethearts that e’er I’ve had, they would wish me one more day to stay?But since it falls unto my lot that I should rise and you should not?I’ll gently rise and I’ll softly call good night and joy be with you all

If I had money enough to spend and leisure time to sit awhile?There is a fair maid in this town, that sorely has my heart beguiled?Her rosy cheeks and ruby lips I own, she has my heart enthralled?So fill to me the parting glass, good night and joy be with you all

My dearest dear, the time draws near when here no longer can I stay?There’s not a comrade I leave behind, but is grieving for my going away?But since it has so ordered been what is once past can’t be recalled?Now fill to me the parting glass, good night and joy be with you all

If I had money for to spend, If I had time to waste away?There is a fair maid in this town, I feign would while her heart away?With her rosy cheeks and dimpled chin, my heart she has beguiled awa’?So fill to me the parting glass, good night and joy be with you a’

If I had money for to spend, I would spend it in her company?And all the harm that I have done, I hope it’s pardoned I will be?And all I’ve done for want of it to memory I can’t recall?So fill to me the parting glass, good night and joy be with you all

A man may drink and not be drunk, a man may fight and not be slain?A man may court a pretty girl and perhaps be welcomed back again?But since it has so ordered been by a time to rise and a time to fall?Come fill to me the parting glass, good night and joy be with you all

http://www.makem.com/discography/recordings/lyricpage/partingglass.html

Originally posted:

We raise our parting glass (see the article excerpt and song lyrics below) to our dearest love, cheap energy. You were a sweetheart! And we?ve lost you! Alas, it was your time to fall. So good night my love and joy be with us all. (How fitting – raising a wine glass to the sunset.)

Blackouts and Shortages

The CIA reports that there are 266 ?nations, dependent areas, and other entities? on the world today. During the last few weeks at least 90 of these are reported to be having continuing serious or very serious energy shortages. The number of countries with energy problems may be much higher as the CIA also reports that 94 of the world?s nations are islands many of which are so small they are rarely heard from but are almost certain to be suffering from $140 oil.

Most of the places having serious energy problems are in South Asia, Africa, Latin America, and scattered islands. Taken together, they make up over half of the world?s population. Nearly all are having electric power shortages that have resulted in daily blackouts ranging from a few hours to most of the day. Droughts, fuel costs and rapid growth in electrically powered consumer goods are behind most of the shortages. Insurgencies, mismanagement, and even accidents are taking a toll. Liquid fuel shortages are growing rapidly as poorer nations struggle to keep up with surging prices.

In sum, these shortages are causing serious hardships among peoples who have grown accustomed to electric lights, refrigeration, air conditioning and motorized vehicles. Some form of energy-related strike, demonstration, or riot is now being reported almost daily somewhere around the world. It will not be long before serious repercussions evolve from these shortages.

There are so many places with serious troubles that it is difficult to pick out the more vulnerable. Pakistan, where power shortages have nearly eliminated the export-textile industry and which is only days away from running out of liquid fuels, is likely near the top of the list. Bangladesh and even India may not be too far behind, possibly failing to produce enough food for their peoples. Beyond South Asia there are numerous places of consequence that may be facing political upheavals due to the declining availability of electricity and liquid fuels.

http://actionsbyt.wordpress.com/

By an anonymous author alas.

******************************************

THE PARTING GLASS

Lyrics

Oh all the money that e’er I had, I spent it in good company?And all the harm that e’er I’ve done, alas, it was to none but me?And all I’ve done for want of wit to memory now I can’t recall?So fill to me the parting glass, good night and joy be with you all

Oh all the comrades that e’er I’ve had, they are sorry for my going away?And all the sweethearts that e’er I’ve had, they would wish me one more day to stay?But since it falls unto my lot that I should rise and you should not?I’ll gently rise and I’ll softly call good night and joy be with you all

If I had money enough to spend and leisure time to sit awhile?There is a fair maid in this town, that sorely has my heart beguiled?Her rosy cheeks and ruby lips I own, she has my heart enthralled?So fill to me the parting glass, good night and joy be with you all

My dearest dear, the time draws near when here no longer can I stay?There’s not a comrade I leave behind, but is grieving for my going away?But since it has so ordered been what is once past can’t be recalled?Now fill to me the parting glass, good night and joy be with you all

If I had money for to spend, If I had time to waste away?There is a fair maid in this town, I feign would while her heart away?With her rosy cheeks and dimpled chin, my heart she has beguiled awa’?So fill to me the parting glass, good night and joy be with you a’

If I had money for to spend, I would spend it in her company?And all the harm that I have done, I hope it’s pardoned I will be?And all I’ve done for want of it to memory I can’t recall?So fill to me the parting glass, good night and joy be with you all

A man may drink and not be drunk, a man may fight and not be slain?A man may court a pretty girl and perhaps be welcomed back again?But since it has so ordered been by a time to rise and a time to fall?Come fill to me the parting glass, good night and joy be with you all

http://www.makem.com/discography/recordings/lyricpage/partingglass.html

Originally posted by:
Sunny Lam
Ffenyx Rising
http://ffenyx.wordpress.com
http://www.linkedin.com/in/sunnylam

Not a Drop to Drink!

We?re all looking at food these days and yet it takes several times the weight of the food in water to grow it. A figure I last recall back in a food security class was that it takes roughly 1000 tons of water to grow 1 ton of grain. When we ship food, we?re actually shipping water (and it took hundreds of tons of water to pull out the oil to make the fuel for the ship I might add – especially if it?s something like what we?re seeing with the Alberta tar sands).

At the same time, water everywhere is a) getting dirtier or b) vanishing like the wind. Pollution in Lake Erie and the Detroit River, waste dumping in cities like Seoul, the river Thames and many more examples can be found of pollution. These days people take in so many pharmaceuticals that geography researchers can actually tell a lot about a neighbourhood?s drug use by testing the sewage water (http://www.ehponline.org/docs/2008/11022/abstract.html). Some of these drugs like birth control pills can really mess with the hormones (grins – talk about pollution – don?t forget your toothpaste has chemicals in it too – think Triclosan).

Regarding vanishing water, we?re draining underground water reserves (aquifers) like there?s no tomorrow to either bottle water (the Nestle water bottling plant in Guelph, Ontario for example), irrigate our crops (the worst example is Mexico, where they?ve drained so much water that the land has literally shrunk, losing elevation – in one picture I saw with a telephone pole, it looked like Mexico?s elevation had fallen 20 ft) or some other huge technological reason (like putting water in a reservoir behind a dam like the Three Gorges Dam is doing – this Scientific American article gives a good idea of what I?m talking about).

Climate change or climate chaos are making many places drier and cutting down their water supply. An example is California (http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2002-06/uoc–ncs060302.php). Some previous research I did on climate change impacts on agriculture indicated Californian agriculture would take a huge hit while places like Pennsylvania would see more rain (and water) meaning that growing food there ?may? be better in the future (way more factors than just rain to get a good crop these days).

Talk about cost accounting!

Feel free to revise my figures if you have more detailed information at hand.

Here?s an article on Canada?s ?water? (below).
******************************************

Canada?s Fragile Fresh Water System

Water seems abundant in Canada, but is it really?
In the land of glacial waters and spring thaws the last thing most Canadians think about is where their next drink of clean water is coming from. Big mistake. Canada does not have a limitless supply of fresh water. Only a small fraction of the water we see when visiting the Great lakes, for example, is “new” and if we consume it or pollute it or otherwise make it unusable it will not be readily replaced.
In today’s Globe and Mail John Austin makes his case to Canadians that we have to protect and conserve this finite resource:
Water is something Canadians and Americans take very much for granted, particularly people in the vicinity of the Great Lakes, where water’s abundance has long been the foundation of agriculture, industry, trade and economic development. Around the world, water matters powerfully, and in new ways. Not only is it a vital and increasingly precious source of life ? access and proximity to it is a valuable commodity in today’s economy.
Most Canadians haven’t yet realized that their country faces an imminent shortage of fresh water. A March 19 Ipsos-Reid poll showed that 80 per cent of Canadians are confident that the country’s supply will meet long-term needs. Two-thirds don’t think there is a shortage. This attitude helps explain why Canada is second only to the United States when it comes to wasting water.
Part of the challenge is that most don’t understand the important distinction between regular fresh water and renewable fresh water. Canada has about 20 per cent of the world’s regular fresh water, which gives the false illusion of an immensely abundant supply. But little of this water is replenished annually. Most of Canada’s fresh water is a legacy of the melting large ice sheets that once covered much of the country’s land mass. When water is used or evaporates, it doesn’t always return in useful quantity or quality.
That’s why we talk about renewable water sources. Roughly 7 per cent of the world’s renewable fresh water is found in Canada. More than half of it flows northward into the Arctic Ocean and Hudson Bay, which leaves the 85 per cent of Canadians who live close to the U.S. border with access to just 2.6 per cent of the world’s renewable fresh water.
The Great Lakes are an intricate part of our two countries’ shared environment, health and economy. They provide drinking water to 8.5 million Canadians while supporting 45 per cent of Canada’s industrial capacity and 25 per cent of its agricultural capacity. They contribute $180-billion a year to Canada-U.S. trade, sustaining a $100-million commercial fishing industry and a $350-million recreational finishing industry.
According to Environment Canada, water directly contributes between $7.5-billion and $23-billion a year to the country’s economy. On the U.S. side, a recent Brookings Institution study suggested that making priority renovations of sewer infrastructure, cleaning up toxic areas and protecting important pieces of the Great Lakes ecosystem would eventually pay off with $80-billion to $100-billion worth of regional economic development.
Exacerbated by climate change, even the world’s largest freshwater resource is not immune. Home to a broad variety of natural habitats, the Great Lakes are under serious threat. Huge swaths of wetlands have been lost, thousands of kilometres of rivers have been impaired and much shoreline has been degraded. Invasive species ply the waters, and climate change places human and ecosystem health in peril.
For the past decade, drought and warmer temperatures have caused constant decreases in the water levels of Lake Superior, which feed into the other four lakes ? just one of the risks facing the system. That’s why McMaster University’s Dofasco Centre for Engineering and Public Policy gathered leading water and energy experts from Canada and the United States last week to confront the emerging public policy challenge. The conference ?Energy 2100: Making the Lakes Great? addressed the challenge of developing energy policies to sustain the Great Lakes ecosystem and the health of people living within its basin.
While most Canadians believe that water is a human right, it is important to realize that it’s a finite resource and part of a fragile ecosystem. We need our actions and policies to reflect the importance of maintaining that balance.

John Austin is a non-resident senior fellow with the Brookings Institution, director of the Great Lakes Economic Initiative and vice-president of the Michigan State Board of Education

Originally:

Posted by Robert Ouellette on 04/28 at 07:52 AM

http://corporateknightsforum.com/index.php/CKtemplates/CKcomments/2007/

Keywords: climate change, fresh water, Great Lakes, drought, temperature, scarcity, water, oil, climate chaos, energy, drug, pharmaceutical, irrigation, pollution

Originally Posted:

Ffenyx Rising

http://ffenyx.wordpress.com

Turning Up the Future Furnace

Here?s a recent article by AP on the increasing temperatures worldwide – now and into the future. It?s based on the work of Andreas Sterl whose computer model looks at things like heat waves – such as the one that hit Europe in 2003. Something few if any other scientists have done (they?ve been looking at average world temperature).

?Those figures make sense, Ken Kunkel, a top Midwestern climate scientist and interim director of the Illinois Water Survey.?

His conclusions: climate chaos is going to make heat waves happen more often and with more power.

When I looked at Canada?s weather statistics, weather related disasters have also been on the rise for the last 30-40 years. This will include heat waves at certain times of the year (the summer of course). The signs are out there.

Here?s a table of the Number of Weather Related Disasters in Canada (which are increasing):

http://ffenyx.files.wordpress.com/2008/07/pasted-graphic-22.pdf
http://ffenyx.files.wordpress.com/2008/07/pasted-graphic-2.pdf

The article is below and it uses Fahrenheit measures. To give you an idea of what that looks like in Celsius, 120 F = 48.8 C.

Here let me do the conversions below for you.
******************************************

Hot future shock: Heat wave temperatures to soar

By SETH BORENSTEIN
AP SCIENCE WRITER

WASHINGTON — During the European heat wave of 2003 that killed tens of thousands, the temperature in parts of France hit 104 degrees (40 C). Nearly 15,000 people died in that country alone. During the Chicago heat wave of 1995, the mercury spiked at 106 (41 C) and about 600 people died.

In a few decades, people will look back at those heat waves “and we will laugh,” said Andreas Sterl, author of a new study. “We will find (those temperatures) lovely and cool.”

Sterl’s computer model shows that by the end of the century, high temperatures for once-in-a-generation heat waves will rise twice as fast as everyday average temperatures. Chicago, for example, would reach 115 degrees (46 C) in such an event by 2100. Paris heat waves could near 109 (42.7 C) with Lyon coming closer to 114 (45 C).

Sterl, who is with the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute, projects temperatures for rare heat waves around the world in a study soon to be published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters.

His numbers are blistering because of the drying-out effect of a warming world. Most global warming research focuses on average daily temperatures instead of these extremes, which cause greater damage.

His study projects a peak of 117 (47 C) for Los Angeles and 110 (43 C) for Atlanta by 2100; that’s 5 degrees higher than the current records for those cities. Kansas City faces the prospect of a 116-degree heat wave (47 C), with its current all-time high at 109 (43 C), according to the National Climactic Data Center.

A few cities, such as Phoenix, which once hit 122 degrees (50 C) and is projected to have heat waves of 120 (49 C), have already reached these extreme temperatures once or twice. But they would be hitting those numbers a little more often as the world heats up over time. For New York, it would only be a slight jump from the all-time record of 104 (40 C) at John F. Kennedy Airport to the projected 106 (41 C).

It could be worse. Delhi, India is expected to hit 120 degrees (48.8 C); Belem, Brazil, 121 (49 C), and Baghdad, 122 (50 C).

Those figures make sense, Ken Kunkel, a top Midwestern climate scientist and interim director of the Illinois Water Survey.

These are temperatures that are dangerous, said University of Wisconsin environmental health professor Dr. Jonathan Patz.

“Extreme temperature puts a huge demand on the body, especially anyone with heart problems,” Patz said. “The elderly are the most vulnerable because they don’t sense temperature as well.”

And it’s not just at the end of the century. By 2050, heat waves will be 3 to 5 degrees hotter than now “and probably be longer-lasting,” Sterl said.

By mid-century, southern France’s extreme heat waves should be around 111 degrees (43.8 C) and then near 118 (47.7 C) by the end of the century, Sterl’s climate models predict. In the 1990s, that region’s extreme heat wave peaked at 104 degrees (40 C); in the 1950s, the worst heat wave peaked around 91 degrees (32.7 C), according to Sterl.

Last updated July 2, 2008 1:04 p.m. PT

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1501ap_sci_extreme_heat.html

Cardboard Ferrari, Bike and an Eco-Laptop

EcoGeek recently highlighted several amusing ?eco-technologies? – a cardboard ferrari, a cardboard bike and a laptop with bamboo casing and recycled plastics. The ideas on the face of it are fascinating though I?m unsure if it will really solve the underlying causes for the social and environmental devastation that we wreak in our day to day lives (is technology inherently destructive or is that just an expression of an intelligent human mind?).

Ferrari with Green Mods: Ferrari FFX Millechili

Summary: The Millechili is a hybrid concept model using the electric drive train to boost power and efficiency. What makes it special is the stuff that went into making it – light carbon fiber, plastic and cardboard (okay so it?s not entirely cardboard – haha). That?s the stuff that?s used in F1 racing cars now. On the side, it throws in an ?advanced aerodynamic undercarriage system that uses jets of air to keep whirlpools of drag from forming beneath the car.?

Reference: http://www.ecogeek.org/content/view/759/69/

Cardboard Bike: So Cheap You Won?t Have to Worry About Thieves

An industrial design student (Phil Bridge) from Sheffield Hallam University (UK) built Ta-dah! a cardboard bike which might later be called ReCycle. He figured it?d help turn some of our over-used packaging into something useful.

?Bridge said he designed the bike after learning that a bicycle is stolen every 71 seconds in England, so he decided to make a bike cheap enough that it wouldn?t matter if it got lifted (Hey, bikes thieves should go green too!) and designed the bike as eco-friendly as possible.?

Phil says the prototype is made ?entirely from recyclable and recycled materials, using interchangeable mechanical parts?. It costs about $30 US to make. ?The body of the bike is environmentally-friendly and biodegradable industrial cardboard used in constructing partitional boarding.? Of course the issue is that it does get pretty wet in the rain and I?m not sure people like riding soggy bicycles (I know I wouldn?t).

?… Bridge thinks the lightweight quality of the cardboard could actually be a benefit. A bargain bike is less susceptible to thives. Low-cost bikes at the moment are very heavy which can put potential riders off. Plus, it?d be easier to get it into a tree.?

The bike can support anyone up to 168 pounds and the wheels and chains are standard for use on bikes.

Reference http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/EcoGeek/~3/325490967/

Asus Eco-Laptop: Bamboo Exterior

Apparently, ASUS has come out with a line of laptops to reach out to the eco-minded consumer. The case is covered in bamboo (alas not made entirely of it). The real show is the fact that:
a. all of the plastic is labelled and recyclable
b. it?s lined with cardboard
c. there are no paints, sprays or electroplating
d. it looks like it?s made to be easy to take apart and fix (something laptops usually are bad at being)
It?s supposed to be out 2008 and the cost is MIA. It?s amuses at first though I?m not sure how it will really pan out. I suppose it might be the step in the right direction if you assume that having all this technology is inherently a good thing to begin with.

Reference http://www.ecogeek.org/content/view/555/64/

Overall, I definitely sympathize with the bike idea more than the other two. (grins) Of course it?s important that the other products become more environmentally and socially friendly in their design – preferably using lifecycle analysis to help determine what?s using too much energy as well as ethical considerations. If we can?t go back then we might as well make sure we?re going forward the right way.

Originally Posted:
Ffenyx Rising
http://ffenyx.wordpress.com

Keywords: ASUS, bamboo, cardboard, automobile, ferrari, laptop, bike, recycle, plastic, design, lifecycle analysis, LCA