http://newlygreens.com Walking Green for a Sustainable Garden State Fri, 13 Jan 2012 15:30:15 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.1 http://newlygreens.com/feed/ Stories of green living from the early adopters walking the walk. Produced in NJ just outside New York City the show gives an East Coast flavor to implementing more balanced choices. Hosts Greg and Connie, "newlygreens" and not so newlywed, try take the stories to heart and and bring practical change into their own lives. It may not be about being the ideal, but it is definitely about finding inspiration and working toward something better. Kaizen Productions LLC clean Kaizen Productions LLC info@newlygreens.com info@newlygreens.com (Kaizen Productions LLC) 2010 Kaizen Productions LLC Eco Friendly Tales of Going Green from the Northeast sustainable, environmental, earth, nature, solar, wind, recycle, organic, green, eco, eco-friendly http://newlygreens.com/_content/_images/powered_by_podpress_small.jpg http://newlygreens.com http://newlygreens.com/podcasts/reusable-news-june-3-2010/ http://newlygreens.com/podcasts/reusable-news-june-3-2010/#comments Fri, 04 Jun 2010 22:47:37 +0000 RisaP http://newlygreens.com/?p=2817 The Headlines: Greenpeace members arrested at anti-drilling protest Beijing zoo serves the species they house for dinner No poo this week, but we’ll do some numbers: Extending the Treasury Grant Program could produce 200,000 jobs Protein made by plants to be reduced by 1/5 USA one of [...]]]> http://newlygreens.com/podcasts/reusable-news-june-3-2010/feed/ 0 ant,Arctic,arrests,Beijing Zoo,BP,Brazil,Canada,China,CO2,crocodile,deer,European Union The Headlines: - Greenpeace members arrested at anti-drilling protest Beijing zoo serves the species they house for dinner No poo this week, but we'll do some numbers: Extending the Treasury Grant Program could produce 200,000 jobs The Headlines: Greenpeace members arrested at anti-drilling protest Beijing zoo serves the species they house for dinner No poo this week, but we'll do some numbers: Extending the Treasury Grant Program could produce 200,000 jobs Protein made by plants to be reduced by 1/5 USA one of the top ten renewable energy investors The Details: Greenpeace members arrested at anti-drilling protest Ever the users of dramatic symbolism, members of Greenpeace boarded an offshore drilling support ship off the coast of Louisiana on May 24. Their mission? To scrawl crude anti-drilling messages on the side of the ship using crude oil. The ship is scheduled to travel to the Arctic over the summer to support Royal Dutch Shell's plans to survey the area for potential drilling, and Greenpeace found this to be unacceptable. Seven members of Greenpeace wrote "Arctic Next?" on the ship and held up a sign that said, "Salazar: Ban Arctic Drilling" before being captured and detained by local law enforcement. The activists were charged with unauthorized entry of critical infrastructure and unauthorized entry of an inhabited dwelling, both of which carry a maximum sentence of six years in prison. Phil Radford, executive director of Greenpeace, said, "It is outrageous that prosecutors would confront peaceful protesters with such a heavy hand while not a single BP executive has been charged for the devastation they have wrought on the Gulf of Mexico and the people and animals that depend on it." The seven members of Greenpeace were released on bail on May 25. Beijing zoo serves the species they house for dinner An unsettling article from The Guardian recently reported on the misconduct of the Beijing Zoo in China. While most other zoos try to protect the animals in their exhibits, the Beijing Zoo would rather turn a profit, selling some of the very species that inhabit their zoo as food in their restaurant. The restaurant serves the webbed toes of hippopotamus, dishes made with crocodiles, scorpions, kangaroo tail, deer penis, ant soup, shark fin soup, peacock and more. And until the zoo began receiving bad PR, they even had the bad taste to put nutritional information and serving suggestions on the cages of their exhibit animals. The management of the zoo has promised to change their menu, but no one knows yet what those changes will entail. Extending the Treasury Grant Program could produce 200,000 jobs The Solar Energy Industry Association or SEIA released a report last week stating that if the federal government only does two teensy weensy things, the green energy industry could create over 200,000 jobs by 2016! If the federal government extends the Treasury Grant Program, which was part of the Federal Stimulus Package, for another two years and gives tax breaks to green industry equipment manufacturing companies in the form of Manufacturing Investment Tax Credits, $48 billion would be invested in the solar industry, and 207,000 jobs would be created. Protein made by plants to be reduced by 1/5 A UC Davis study released in a recent issue of Science made a sobering discovery about the effects of CO2. Over the next 50 years, the authors of the study say, plants will not be able to absorb as much nitrogen due to projected higher CO2 conditions. Without taking in as much nitrogen, plants will not be able to produce as much protein.  In 50 years, people will be eating plant-based food that contains 20 percent less protein than the plant-based food of today. And in case some of us are not big salad eaters, we will still be affected because any foods made with carbohydrates such as spaghetti and bread are created from wheat and other grains that grow on plants. So this affects virtually everyone. USA one of the top ten renewable energy investors We just got its hands on a Pew research study and found the countries that have invested the most into renewable energy sources. And the U.S. Kaizen Productions LLC clean 10:36 http://newlygreens.com/podcasts/reusable-news-april-22-2010/ http://newlygreens.com/podcasts/reusable-news-april-22-2010/#comments Thu, 22 Apr 2010 12:50:42 +0000 RisaP http://newlygreens.com/?p=2422 The Headlines: Dozens of solar companies donate to Haiti Ray LaHood defends his pro-bicycling remarks Electric motorcycles in the works Who’s on the efficiency honor roll? And 3,000 companies apparently unite for climate action The Details: Dozens of solar companies donate to Haiti The New York Times [...]]]> http://newlygreens.com/podcasts/reusable-news-april-22-2010/feed/ 0 ABCE,American Businesses for Clean Energy,Arizona,Bank of America,Bicycling,ClimateAd.org,Connecticut,Democrats,Earth Day,Electric Motorcycles,Florida,Forbes The Headlines: Dozens of solar companies donate to Haiti Ray LaHood defends his pro-bicycling remarks Electric motorcycles in the works Who's on the efficiency honor roll? And 3,000 companies apparently unite for climate action The Details: - The Headlines: Dozens of solar companies donate to Haiti Ray LaHood defends his pro-bicycling remarks Electric motorcycles in the works Who's on the efficiency honor roll? And 3,000 companies apparently unite for climate action The Details: ... Kaizen Productions LLC clean 14:10 http://newlygreens.com/podcasts/reusable-news-april-8-2010/ http://newlygreens.com/podcasts/reusable-news-april-8-2010/#comments Thu, 08 Apr 2010 12:00:01 +0000 RisaP http://newlygreens.com/?p=2309 The Headlines: Obama’s new energy plan “State of the Planet 2010″ conference Millenium Development Goals deadline Anti-climate change industry takes a hit East Anglia Professor Exonorated The Details: Obama’s new energy plan Fresh from his victory with the passage of the new health care bill as well [...]]]> http://newlygreens.com/podcasts/reusable-news-april-8-2010/feed/ 0 2010,2015,Alaska,Ban Ki-moon,Beijing,British House of Commons,climate denial industry,Columbia University,conference,Democrat,Earth Institute,East Anglia The Headlines: - Obama's new energy plan - "State of the Planet 2010" conference - Millenium Development Goals deadline - Anti-climate change industry takes a hit - East Anglia Professor Exonorated - The Details: - Obama's new energy plan - The Headlines: Obama's new energy plan "State of the Planet 2010" conference Millenium Development Goals deadline Anti-climate change industry takes a hit East Anglia Professor Exonorated The Details: Obama's new energy plan Fresh from his victory with the passage of the new health care bill as well as the new higher education bill, President Obama unveiled his new energy plan on March 31. The plan throws back to the Republican campaign chant of "Drill Baby Drill". Is the "everything under the umbrella" strategy an olive branch to open the dialog or a slap in the face to environmentalists? Perhaps both. Here are the four main points of the plan as summed up by the L.A. Times: 1. Open two-thirds of the eastern Gulf of Mexico's oil and gas resources for drilling. 2. Proceed with drilling off Virginia, provided the project clears environmental and military reviews. 3. Allow for drilling off the mid- and southern Atlantic coasts. 4. Allow for potential drilling in Alaska's Beaufort and Chukchi seas -- areas hotly defended by environmentalists -- but issue no new drilling leases in either sea before 2013. Environmentalists and other liberals are up in arms. We'll see how this affects Obama's decisions, and how Congress decides to proceed with this new legislation. Several nations participate in "State of the Planet 2010" conference On March 25, participants from New York,  Beijing, New Dehli, Nairobi and London all got together with individual events as well as through video-conference to discuss the title of the event, "The State of the Planet." The New York end of the conference was hosted by The Earth Institute at Columbia University and in London by The Economist. And many classrooms around the world streamed live webcasts of the event. Topics discussed included climate change, poverty, economic recovery, and international systems of crisis management. [Insert Ban Ki-moon clip] That was UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, speaking from The Earth Institute. He was just one of many speakers, including Mexican President Felipe Calderon, Prince Albert II of Monaco and various business owners and professors from around the world. Ban Ki-moon is also making headlines on his own in our next story... Millenium Development Goals deadline fast approaching If you're unfamiliar with the U.N.'s Millenium Development Goals or MDGs, there are eight of them, and they include halting the epidemic spread of HIV/AIDS  as well as cutting cases of extreme poverty in half. The U.N. has given themselves a deadline for these lofty ambitions: 2015. Not surprisingly, the U.N. is nowhere near reaching these goals after 10 years since the initiative began. So Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is now calling for a summit of all the world's leaders to address the issue. Scheduled to take place in New York in September, the summit, according to the Secretary-General should "focus attention and accelerate the process to achieve, to realize, the goals of the MDGs by the target year, 2015." Now the ball is in the court of the leaders of the world. We'll continue to update you on this story as it develops. Anti-climate change industry takes a hit [Koch is pronounced Coke] Greenpeace has been making news every week, and this week is no exception. They just exposed Koch Industries, one of the largest privately-owned companies in the world, for funding the anti-climate change industry. Greenpeace accuses the Kansas-based company of discreetly delivering nearly $50 million "to climate-denial front groups that are working to delay policies and regulations aimed at stopping global warming[...]" Greenpeace's report, entitled "Koch Industries: Secretly Funding the Climate Denial Machine", is aimed at showing the public how much of the information they see as the "real" truth about climate change is really coming from private and incredibly biased sources. Kaizen Productions LLC clean 6:36 http://newlygreens.com/podcasts/reusable-news-october-8-2009/ http://newlygreens.com/podcasts/reusable-news-october-8-2009/#comments Thu, 08 Oct 2009 20:00:13 +0000 RisaP http://newlygreens.com/?p=1717 Obama Begins Gingerly to Attempt to Get the Ball Rolling on Tougher EPA Regulations – NY Times.com The New York Times reports that President Barack Obama has finally decided he’s tired of waiting for Congress to start regulating greenhouse gas emissions and has authorized the Environmental Protection Agency [...]]]> http://newlygreens.com/podcasts/reusable-news-october-8-2009/feed/ 0 Atlantic Highlands,EPA,Obama,Roz Savage,Timberland Boots,Toilet Paper,TP,Wyclef Jean Obama Begins Gingerly to Attempt to Get the Ball Rolling on Tougher EPA Regulations - NY Times.com The New York Times reports that President Barack Obama has finally decided he's tired of waiting for Congress to start regulating greenhouse gas emissio... Obama Begins Gingerly to Attempt to Get the Ball Rolling on Tougher EPA Regulations - NY Times.com The New York Times reports that President Barack Obama has finally decided he's tired of waiting for Congress to start regulating greenhouse gas emissions and has authorized the Environmental Protection Agency to do just that. The EPA will soon regulate greenhouse gas emissions from hundreds of power plants and large industrial facilities. The proposed rules, which could take effect as early as 2011, would place the greatest burden on 400 power plants, new ones and those undergoing substantial renovation, by requiring them to prove that they have applied the best available technology to reduce emissions or face penalties. Another one of Obama's almost adorably lofty goals will be to pass a Climate Bill this year. Let's see how that goes. Progressive Green thinkers hope to have the world off of Toilet Paper someday soon - Treehugger.com Treehugger recently brought alternative bathroom hygiene to our attention and soon, with any luck, toilet paper will only be used to tp people's houses on Mischief Night. Going without paper has proved to be healthier and it actually saves water. Still scieved out by it? Lots of people around the world get on just fine with TP. Making a roll of toilet paper uses 1.5 pounds of wood, 37 gallons of water and 1.3 KWh of of electricity. In one day, Americans use 34 million rolls of TP which equates to 221,000 trees, 255 million gallons of water, and produces 88 million pounds of Greenhouse gases. A new product called the Blue Bidet insists it can cut toilet paper use by 75% (the other 25% you would still need to dry your rump.) There is a toilet attachment model which only costs 69 bucks here in the US. It can reportedly be installed in a 1/2 hour. Still unconvinced? Wait for a rich friend to try it first, then make an assessment. Just when you think it can't get any cooler being Green, Hip Hop makes an entrance - AP Coming to us from the Associated Press, the Timbaland boot company is teaming up with rapper and former Fugees member Wyclef Jean to create a new line of eco-friendly footware. The 16-boot collection goes on sale in November. A cut of the profits will go to help the reforestation of Haiti, Wyclef's native country. TOXIC NEW JERSEY ELEMENTARY SCHOOL FINALLY WINS RELIEF Vapor Intrusion Controls May End Three-Year Ordeal at Atlantic Highlands The students, staff and parents of a New Jersey elementary school suffering from an underground plume of toxic chemicals finally may be getting some help, according to documents released today by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER). A state-approved vapor intrusion plan will be in place next month at Atlantic Highlands Elementary School in Monmouth County on the northern New Jersey shore. For more than three years, children and teachers have been exposed to unsafe indoor toxic air pollutants that exceed state vapor intrusion levels. In announcements this week, the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) says that it will oversee installation of a "sub-slab vapor mitigation system" to reduce chemical exposures within school facilities. "While this is good news, it is long past due because the state DEP again has fallen down on the job." stated New Jersey PEER Director Bill Wolfe, a former DEP analyst, who had been prodding the state to address the long-standing problem. "Even this new remedial action is the result of a voluntary negotiated settlement and not a state enforcement action." The situation does call into question how seriously the NJ DEP actually takes it's own rhetoric about putting the health of children first. ROZ SAVAGE ARRIVES IN TARAWA Roz Savage, ocean rower and environmental campaigner completed stage 2 of her epic bid to become the first woman in history to row solo row across the Pacific Ocean in early Sept. She launched this stage of her voyage on May 24, from Honolulu, Hawaii. Kaizen Productions LLC clean 9:11 http://newlygreens.com/podcasts/december-tidings-wp-887fm/ http://newlygreens.com/podcasts/december-tidings-wp-887fm/#comments Thu, 18 Dec 2008 22:47:56 +0000 Greg http://newlygreens.com/?p=1353 http://newlygreens.com/podcasts/december-tidings-wp-887fm/feed/ 2 Australian Conservation Foundation,Banning the Bag,Celebrate Green,gore,Holiday Tips,Natural Gas,Obama,Poznan In This Episode: Feature Story - Poznan Wrap Up Tony Mohr is the Manager of the Climate Change program at the Australian Conservation Foundation. Tony develops and communicates ACF’s climate change policy to governments, companies and Australians. In This Episode: Feature Story - Poznan Wrap Up Tony Mohr is the Manager of the Climate Change program at the Australian Conservation Foundation. Tony develops and communicates ACF’s climate change policy to governments, companies and Australians. His team have been influential in the development of emissions trading in Australia, the Garnaut review and the Mandatory Renewable Energy Project.  He's also got a cool accent Mate! Tony recently returned from the Poznan Conference. We spoke to him to get a world view on the outcomes of the event. The Bullet Points: The European Union made good progress at side negotiations holding to their 20% by 2020 goal. All told the conference was somewhat disappointing.  A lot of discussion and debate about finer points but not a lot of real substantive results. Some countries sighted concerns about the global financial crisis but as Tony pointed out, the financial crisis is short term, Climate Change is long-term.  Happily most delegates seemed to recognize the need to press forward on solutions regardless of the world financial situation. There is much anticipation of how the Obama administration will approach Climate Change around the world.  Regrettably this anticipation proved to be an easy out for many nations as they "wait and see".  The lack of real details from Poznan will potentially complicate negotiations in 2009. There are a dozen or so conferences leading up to 2009 negotiations in Copenhagen.  Perhaps you might consider Denmark in your travel plans this year... More info at the end of these show notes. Green Sprouts :: Special Guest Corey Colwell-Lipson from Celebrate Green.net Some Great ideas for Greening Your Holiday: Go for meaning over stuff Wrap in a nice fabric instead of wasteful wrapping paper (the US could save 47,000 football fields of wrapping paper by wrapping just 3 gifts...)  Also known as furoshiki or bojagi Rent a Tree.  Many garden centers now rent living Christmas trees.  Some stores will resell the trees or donate them to local parks. Hide the presents.  Make it a game, a scavenger hunt.  No need to wrap, just leave clues. Make the holidays about spending time not necessarily money.  Create an activity calendar with your kids.  Is a month too much for your schedule?  How about 12 days for Christmas or a week.  Bake cookies, play games, hike. Get together with your friends for dinner instead of swapping more "stuff" Lots more tips at the Celebrate Green site Reusable News: Obama appoints Energy Secretary and EPA Administrator Barack Obama has named Nobel Prize winner Steven Chu as his energy secretary and Jersey Girl, Lisa Jackson, currently Governor Corzine's chief of staff, as head of the environment protection agency (EPA). The US president-elect said the new administration's priorities were to end US dependence on foreign oil and fight climate change and as such we must move away from fossil fuels. Mr Obama has pledged to make big changes in environmental policies. "All of us know the problems that are rooted in our addiction to foreign oil," he said. "It constrains our economy, shifts wealth to hostile regimes and leaves us dependent on unstable regions." He said these "urgent dangers" were only eclipsed by the long-term threat of climate change. "Unless we act, [climate change] will lead to drought and famine abroad, devastating weather patterns and terrible storms on our shores and the disappearance of our coastline," He reiterated excerpts from his campaign stump speech when he said this crisis offers us boundless opportunities to create new jobs in the environmental industry. People who have followed the science of climate change will recognize Mr. Obama's comments as echoing the decades of cries from leading scientists on the issue. Having a representative in the White House who acknowledges scientific findings and allows substantiated data to guide his actions will be a welcome change indeed. More at BBC News Kaizen Productions LLC clean 41:19