This is a cool video in which Roger Doiron of Kitchen Gardeners International puts his hoe where is mouth is. Since he had been campaigning for the president to start a food garden in the white house lawn, he decided to take it upon himself to convert his own yard into a garden. Truly an inspiration to all of us who want to be the change we’d like to see in the world. (Via Justin)

This week, we are back with Justin from Episode 9. Justin has worked in the area of sustainable development and the environment in the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Peru and the states. Ever since I’ve known him, he’s always had a book in hand, taking advantage of any chance to read throughout his day. He gives us a run-down of some of his favorite green books which include: Eco Pioneers by Steve Lerner, Plan B 3.0 by Lester Brown, The Natural Step for Communities by Sarah James & Torbjorn Lahti, Four Season Harvest by Eliot Coleman, Permaculture a Designer’s Manual by Bill Mollison, and Natural Capitalism by Paul Hawken. All of these books are available at your local library and Plan B 3.0 can be downloaded for free from the Earth Policy Institute.

It’s fairly common knowledge that the first diesel cars were actually made to run on biodiesel. I’ve also heard that the oil companies are withholding cutting-edge battery technology patents from the public and only making them available for production in hybrids. But did you know that the Ford company actually made a car out of hemp? Check out the video from Youtube.

Further Reading

In her new book, Elizabeth Royte tells the story of how bottled water became the drink of choice for America. Bottlemania explains how a country with excellent, free, public tap water was persuaded to buy water in plastic bottles. Anyone who feels good about recycling their plastic water bottle will learn that they’re bottle is actually “downcycled” into other materials that are then thrown out. Bottlemania explores how water has become business and the effects this is having on a global scale. So sorry Aquapodmoms, even if I am fooled by the 6-8 glasses wives’ tale, I’ll still be using my sweet metal water bottle filled with FREE tap water.

The Colorado River peters out just before reaching the Gulf of California. The water is diverted to fuel agriculture and the breakneck growth of the arid southwest. While many Midwesterners have moved to Arizona and New Mexico in the last few years, folks fleeing the cold weather and poor Midwest economy won’t be taking the Great Lakes with them. A coalition of Great Lakes states including Pennsylvania, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio and New York have agreed to the Great Lakes Basin Compact in order to conserve this non-renewable resource. The compact will still have to pass muster in Congress where regional special interests representing dryer states might balk.

Listen to the full story on NPR.

I recently got back from a trip in the South. We took the easy, cheap route and flew Southwest, a no-frills airline that puts its employee’s first. Our flight attendant told us that a week earlier she counted Al Gore among the all-coach passengers. Much has been made by Al Gore’s political enemies of his energy consumption (in the name of environmental awareness), but no one can doubt his thrift.

This got me thinking about how the airline industry could become more green. There were some definite misgivings when Richard Branson’s Virgin Atlantic flew a plane on biofuel. Changing out jetfuel is a large step, but I think airports and airlines could take some very small steps to improve their environmental record. The TSA has made a lot of cash by picking up coins dropped from the security screening process. How much have they made from recycling all those water bottles they confiscate from folks at the gate?

Here’s a quick idea I drew out for making the refreshments on planes a little more environmentally-friendly, safer, and less staff-intensive. Each seat in the plane would have a magnetic valve projecting from the armrest that would act as a cup holder. A metal-bottomed cup could be passed out by flight attendants and cups would be filled from the bottom with pressurized refreshments stored in the back of the plane. Obviously, the planes would have to be fitted with piping for the drinks, but the system would cut down work for staff and would eliminate the waste of disposable cups, cans, and bottles.

Click the image for a larger version

In Episode 4, we met Hakan and Laura, a couple who use bio-fuel made from waste vegetable oil. They introduced us to Ray Kemp, the man behind KF3 BioDiesel Production, and the subject of Episode 8. Ray has spent the last few years perfecting a process for locally made biodiesel that he produces with reclaimed equipment. He has also found valuable uses for the byproducts of the production process, making his company completely sustainable. Check out this four-part episode:

Part 1.
Ray shows us the differences between biodiesel and petrodiesel. He explains how he able to return all of the byproducts of his process to the earth.

Part 2.
Ray explains how localized production of biodiesel is best for a distributed resource such as used cooking oil. Using Ray’s business model, a community biodiesel production facility could be started with a capital investment from between $ 5-10 K.

Part 3.
We learn about the four parts to Ray’s process: Collecting the oil, processing the oil, distributing the fuel, and dealing with co-products of production. We find out which kind restaurants are preferred to collect from and we see the production facility that Ray uses to convert cooking oil into biodiesel.

Part 4.
In this final segment, Ray explains how a Biodiesel Users Group works. Due to the skyrocketing fuel costs, biofuels have become relatively cheaper, though Ray tells how his production costs have also gone up. Ray articulates his dream of all biodiesel going to power school buses and explains how the do-it-yourself mentality of his process hearkens back to America’s founding principles.