Category Archives: Sustainability

Latinos taking green initiatives, attitudes to heart

by Abelardo de la Peña Jr. WHAT’S HAPPENING It may not be easy being green, but Latinos are giving it a try. That’s according to an Eco Pulse survey showing that Latinos are looking for greener products, having environmental conversations with their kids and feeling very responsible to change their purchasing habits in order to [...]

Anybody Can Serve conservation kit helps homeowners save energy

by Sarah Fazio WHAT’S HAPPENING When it comes to home-energy conservation, we’re seeing more consumers embrace the idea that a little action goes a long way toward solution. The national Anybody Can Serve (So Let’s Conserve!) campaign arms homeowners with a kit full of energy-saving tools while also challenging them to lower their bills. The [...]

Surfers riding to earthquake-ravaged Chile’s rescue

by Abelardo de la Peña Jr. WHAT’S HAPPENING Chile’s magnitude 8.8 earthquake and ensuing tsunamis left its 400 miles of coast particularly devastated. Surfers from around the world, passionate for the area known for its huge, rideable waves, are organizing relief and distributing aid. Chilean native and championship big wave surfer Ramon Navarro is leading [...]

Latinos get back to the land, contribute to local food economy

by Rocio Zamora Arzola WHAT’S HAPPENING Once a farmer, always a farmer. In Iowa, Latinos raised on farms in their home countries are being encouraged to put their green thumbs to the test in the U.S. Through Marshalltown Community College’s eight-week, bilingual adult education class entitled “Start Your Own Diversified Farm,” students are given the [...]

San Francisco to citizens: Recycle and compost or else

by Lisa Leonard WHAT’S HAPPENING In June 2009, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors approved a proposal for the most comprehensive mandatory recycling and composting law in the nation — part of the city’s effort to achieve zero waste by 2020 (SFGate.com 6.10.09). Beginning in fall 2009, every household and business must sort refuse into [...]

Doomers do dinner parties with what’s already in the fridge

by Sarah Fazio WHAT’S HAPPENING For most dinner party hosts, the evening requires a trip (or three) to the grocery store. But for Doomer Dinner Parties there’s no shopping required — actually, it’s forbidden. The entire meal must be prepared from what’s on hand in the host’s fridge, pantry or garden. Doomers (a.k.a. peakniks) say [...]

JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF EARTH DAY

by Hans Eisenbeis I was walking my dog along the Mississippi River the other day, enjoying the spring weather, sure, but also envying my friends who’d flown to Cancún or Aspen for their spring breaks — wait, no one I know flew anywhere this April. Most of us are staying close to home, trying to [...]

Tap your toes, charge your laptop with YoGen MaxT

by Lisa Leonard WHAT’S HAPPENING Fidgety feet? Now consumers can turn nervous energy into electricity with the help of the YoGen MaxT. The device, from Easy Energy, sits conveniently under the user’s desk, harnessing foot-tapping power into electricity with a pedal that’s ergonomically optimized to prevent tootsies from tiring (Easy-Energy.biz 3.09). People-powered energy sources for [...]

100K House aims to make green living more affordable

by Nissa Hanna WHAT’S HAPPENING A Philadelphia development team is creating the 100K House project to prove that design-savvy, sustainable homes don’t have to cost a lot of green. The group is starting with two case study homes, and the project is named after the projected cost of the smaller design. The two LEED Platinum [...]

Seabrook creates a sustainable urban community

by Nissa Hanna WHAT’S HAPPENING Newly developed Seabrook is a mixed-use coastal community that provides eco-friendly living in a walkable urban environment. Located on the Pacific Coast between Seattle and Portland, the town promotes bikes as the preferred mode of transportation so denizens can do without cars when visiting Seabrook’s public spaces like the performing [...]

Best of 2008: Switching language = switching personality?

by Derek Reveron WHAT’S HAPPENING A study shows that people who are both bicultural and bilingual may change their personality unconsciously when they switch languages. Bicultural Latinos who speak English and Spanish change their cultural self-perception faster and easier than bilingual people who live in one culture, according to a study by researchers from Baruch [...]

“Never Greens” see red in environmental campaigns

OBSERVATION by Hillary Smith WHAT’S HAPPENING There are people out there who just don’t care. Or so it would seem, given the results of a new Mintel study which states that 10% of the U.S. population are skeptical, irritated and unmoved by environmental media (BrandWeek.com 7.22.08). And there could be more. According to Shelton Group, [...]