Thinking Outside the Box

Columbia lets you follow your shipping box as it's reused.

Add another tick to the transparency chart. Columbia is now letting its website shoppers opt to receive their shipment in a recycled box. In August, Columbia launched e-commerce and began offering online customers the option to ship their orders in a used box. Since the launch, more than 60% of customers have chosen this option at checkout. At the same Columbia created a community site called A Box Life where shoppers can register their used box, track its journey and share box stories.
 
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Thursday, September 24, 2009 in: News and Events, Environment and Green Living
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Really? You Can Recycle that?

Some items you may have thought trash-bound are actually recyclable--and we're not talking just yogurt containers

It's Friday afternoon, and time for a lighthearted post of recycling. Recently the Daily Green posted a piece on recycling oddities. While the links for recycling bikes and running shoes may not be new news to Backpacker readers, links to where you can recycle dentures, prosthetics, hair clippings, diapers and sex toys may be. So look busy so you don't get the wrath of your boss, and check out their site for a quick slide show that's sure to kill the last few minutes of your workweek.

Have a great weekend!!!

-Berne Broudy Read Full Story...

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Friday, September 18, 2009 in: News and Events, Environment and Green Living
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New Standards for Cars and Trucks?

EPA and National Highway Traffic Safety Administration team up on a plan to up mpg (miles per gallon) and drop ghg (greenhouse gases)

Today, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) proposed the first national program to improve vehicle fuel economy and reduce greenhouse gases. The proposal would provide coordinated national vehicle fuel efficiency and emissions standards, conserve billions of barrels of oil, save consumers money at the pump, increase fuel economy, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by millions of tons.

Passenger cars and light-trucks emit nearly 20% of America's greenhouse gases in the form of carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, and hydrofluorocarbons. In April, EPA provisionally found that these four contaminants and two other greenhouse gases endanger human health and welfare. 

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Tuesday, September 15, 2009 in: News and Events, Environment and Green Living
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The Boot That Keeps On Giving

Timberland Earthkeepers 2.0 boots are designed for disassembly and reuse

There is lots of talk amongst the eco savvy about end of lifecycle accountability and recyclability and how to make it happen and who should be responsible. Timberland has followed their talk with action. Enter the new Earthkeepers 2.0 boot, the first boot designed for easy disassembly at the end of its useful life. Read Full Story...

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Friday, September 11, 2009 in: News and Events, Environment and Green Living
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Compact Fluorescents

When they're spent, don't just chuck 'em

By now you've likely replaced your incandescent light bulbs with long lasting compact fluorescents (CFLs). If you were an early adapter, you may have some bulbs that are reaching the end of their useful life. Knowing how to dispose of CFLs is as important as swapping them in for your old bulbs. Here's why: CFLs contain a small amount of mercury – about the same amount that would fit on the tip of a ballpoint pen--which is what makes it an efficient light source. Mercury is an extremely hazardous waste, according to earth911.com and can cause brain and kidney damage in human and animals when it comes in direct contact.

No mercury is released when CFLs are intact, but if they're chucked in the trash and broken or crushed at the dump instead of recycled they can cause problems. Burnt out CFLs need to be disposed of at recycling or household hazardous waste centers that accept them. Check Earth911's online guide to CFL recycling centers to find one near you. Read Full Story...

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Wednesday, September 09, 2009 in: News and Events, Environment and Green Living
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Home Front Part 4

oil out, solar in--it's not as straightforward as it should be

My husband Mike and I have made the leap. Tomorrow, our oil tanks get pulled from the basement, and on Monday our contractor Chuck Reiss and his team arrive to start installing a solar electricity and hot water system that should meet about 113% of our electricity usage. That means we'll be putting energy back into the grid. The switch is expensive (around $42,000) but we'll be getting about half the cost back between state incentives and federal tax credits. We're also making all the improvements to our existing home that Reiss recommended when he did our energy audit back in June. Read Full Story...

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Wednesday, August 26, 2009 in: News and Events, Environment and Green Living
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What a Pisser!

Pee may replace fossil fuels

The list of possible alternative fuel sources is long and growing. It's so far included biomass (corn, wood, various food crops), algae, micro-organisms, and other flora and fauna. The latest possibility: cow urine. According to MSNBC, pee-powered cars, homes, and personal electronics could be available within six months! Read Full Story...

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Monday, August 24, 2009 in: News and Events, Environment and Green Living
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Smoke and Mirrors or Extreme Fuel Efficiency?

GM announces new Chevy Volt will get 230 mpg

A week ago, General Motors revealed its new plug-in hybrid Chevy Volt, along with the claim that the $40,000 car will get 230 miles per gallon.

It's a bold and slightly ironic claim from the company that's credited with killing the electric car. I'm willing to let bygones be bygones, and I'm thrilled to see an American car manufacturer step up to the plate with a car that really does reduce its driver's dependence on fossil fuels. But the claims raise some questions: How do you measure fuel efficiency and fossil fuel consumption when a vehicle is being powered by a plug? Read Full Story...

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Wednesday, August 19, 2009 in: News and Events, Environment and Green Living
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Zero Impact Challenge Rides Again

Backpacker Magazine asks outdoor companies to make a carbon-neutral shoe

It's happening again. Backpacker Magazine has put the challenge out to the industry to build a better mousetrap--this time in the form of a carbon neutral hiking boot.

What we asked for:  a mid cut hiker that can carry a 30-lb. pack and give other backpacking boots a run for their money on the trail, with the lowest possible carbon footprint. Five companies have risen to the challenge: Hi Tec, Oboz, Patagonia, La Sportiva, and Wolverine. And they're off and running: We've already gotten boots from one company (they're not due until September 1) and we're anxiously awaiting the rest. Read Full Story...

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Tuesday, August 11, 2009 in: News and Events, Environment and Green Living
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Meat Market

your burger may come with a side of salmonella and flame retardant

In this column as well in the pages of Backpacker Magazine, we’ve written about the climate-related reasons for reducing your consumption of meat.

If reducing climate change doesn’t convince you to change your diet, maybe this will: recently a big chain supermarket in Colorado, King Soopers, recalled the equivalent of 1.86 million Quarter Pounders after 14 people got sick from eating it. The culprit: hamburger meat tainted with antibiotic-resistant salmonella, according to Boulder newspaper Daily Camera and Meat Wagon at Grist.org. And it wasn’t just in Colorado. The meat had been distributed throughout seven states. It took more than a month for the USDA to recall the meat. You can imagine the return rate wasn’t spectacular.

Tainted meat is no good not only  because it occasionally makes a handful of people sick, but moreso because it's an indicator of a bigger, scarier issue: the meat industry’s reliance on antibiotics to keep animals alive in cramped, filthy conditions on inappropriate diets. According to Tom Philpott at Grist, Cows are meant to eat grass not corn and corn byproducts, which disturbs their digestion and can kill them if not managed by antibiotics. Recently, more feedlot operators have been adding distillers grains, byproducts of ethanol production, to cattle feed. These byproducts are known to have high levels of antibiotics.

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Monday, August 03, 2009 in: News and Events, Environment and Green Living
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