Need for Speed... or Green for Speed?

This week for the current event I found an article about NASCAR. The article was entitled "NASCAR, rooted in fossil fuels, turning over new, green leaf." This article may seem curious to readers because NASCAR cars guzzle gas continuously as they only get about 5 mpg. The engines used in the cars are internal combustion engines that many find synonymous with global warming. So what is NASCAR doing to achieve this greener image?

The article specifically talks about what the racetracks, not the cars, are doing to become greener. It is mentioned that racetracks are building solar farms to power their air conditioned suites. They are also planting trees to offset their carbon emissions. Race shops are being built in accordance with the LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification. A specific team shop that was mentioned is Roush Fenway Racing.

NASCAR has also focused on reducing its carbon footprint in campgrounds and grandstands at tracks. In order to reduce the footprint, they had to calculate the current carbon footprint. With help from carbonfund.org the 2008 Daytona 500 carbon footprint was calculated at 14,163 tons. Carfax sponsored NASCAR in 2007 and made an environmental donation to offset more than 4,200 tons of emissions for a Nationwide Series race at Michigan International Speedway.

Vehicles in general are trying to go towards the green route. General Motors, Ford, Toyota and Dodge are all producing hybrid automobiles. The president of Toyota Racing Development is interested in following the green look because it make racing more relevant to what consumers are looking for in businesses.

Other efforts include recycling bins at events, oil recycling, and its Green Cleaner Air project. The project will plant 10 trees for every caution flag at 11 races throughout the season and then at all tracks in 2010. In the end, NASCAR says it will offset a race's impact by planting 20 green acres.

If you would like to see the full article that was published in USA Today, visit http://www.usatoday.com/sports/motor/nascar/2009-10-28-green-cover_N.htm

Flying Green

"Southwest Airlines Talks Environmentally Friendly Plane" is an article that I found from searching Google. The company is talking about the Boeing 737-700 which is designed to not only use environmentally products but also reduce weight. By reducing the weight on board by five pounds per seat, the plane will use less fuel resulting the the airline saving money and cutting down on carbon emissions. The article says that Southwest always has been and will remain committed to leading the industry in emissions reductions through fuel efficiency. The Boeing plane is a test environment for the other ideas Southwest Airlines wants to try.

http://www.comparecarrentals.com/news/southwest-airlines-talks-environmentally-friendly-plane-53821011.html

Me and My Big Feet

So after the first month of my sustainability goals, I have to say that I am starting to be more of a slacker. I have had to use my laptop more so it has been plugged in to charge more often than it was the first few weeks. I have still been good about unplugging my phone and not charging it at night. As far as taking the bus instead of driving goes, I have taken the bus to a lot of my events, but on the way home I end up getting a ride. At least I am carpooling and not just driving by myself! As far as taking the quiz again, I don't think the number of Earth's I need would have changed much. The biggest category that I "over-consume" is food and so far that hasn't changed. I also don't see that changing in the future...

One more goal to work toward the rest of the quarter is to get my roommates on board. I have looked up the stairs in the morning countless times to see the light on in the kitchen and not knowing when the last time someone actually was in the kitchen. Before I get in the shower, I go upstairs and turn the light off. Another thing is recycling. We have a recycle bin but it gets full about every other day because they don't crush boxes or milk jugs down. Then the bin overflows so they start throwing things away again. I will talk to my roommates about reducing the household's ecological footprint by turning off the lights when they aren't in the room and recycling even when the bin is full. This may be the hardest goal to reach because it is not about what I can do myself but educating my roommates and getting them to think about the environment as well.

Great Strides Toward Reducing EF

So I haven't blogged in a while but this past week I have slipped up on a few things. I was in a rush for school one morning and instead of unplugging my charger I just unplugged the phone. I of course realized this when I was dashing to the bus and didn't turn around to go back. The other thing was that last Thursday I was on campus all day and was going to the volleyball game that night. Since I had been on campus I didn't have my car but after 7pm the bus I need only comes once an hour. I missed it by 5 minutes and so I asked a friend for a ride home. My task of not getting rides and always taking the bus is difficult in these kinds of situations but I'm still working on it.

One thing I continue to do well is conserving power use of my laptop. I only had to fully charge it twice this week. It really depends how much I am on it for school or if I stay on campus to get my stuff done.

Something else that was brought up in my apartment with my roommates is when we are going to turn on the heat. My room is downstairs and it is already very cold. I just put flannel sheets on my bed and sleep in a sweatshirt and sweats with socks every night. I still have more blankets to put on my bed as the months get colder so I don't have to turn on the heat. We will save money and energy that way. We came to an agreement that we will not turn on the heat until December 1st. Up until that time we will grab an extra blanket, sweatshirt, something else to keep us warm instead of reaching for the thermostat.

Assignment 3

I chose to look at my deodorant, which is the Suave brand Tropical Paradise scent. Although the exact deodorant couldn’t be found, the ingredients in the Fresh scent are exactly the same. The active ingredient is Aluminum Chlorohydrate (20%). The inactive ingredients are Cyclopentasiloxane; Isopropyl Palmitate; Stearyl Alcohol; Mineral Oil; Talc; Hydrogenated Castor Oil; Fragrance (Parfum); Steareth-100; BHT. The overall product is rated 4 out of 10. It is moderately hazardous and 36% of antiperspirant/deodorants have lower concern. The ingredients I should be worried about are mainly BHT and fragrance, which are given a score of 7 and 8 respectively. Mineral Oil is scored 1, Aluminum Chlorohyrate is a 3, Cyclopentasiloxane is scored 2, Talc is also scored 2, Steareth-100, Stearyl Alcohol and Isopropyl Palmitate are scored as a 1. Hydrogenated Castor Oil is scored 0. I don’t really want to stop using deodorant in my personal care ritual so I looked at the list of deodorants to see if I could find one with a 0 rating. The interesting thing was that even though a bunch were listed as “0” there were still ingredients in the deodorant that are linked to cancer, developmental/reproductive toxicity, persistence of bioaccumulation and occupational hazards. That to me means it’s not truly 0 risk. So although these ingredients are linked to some known hazards at moderate and high doses, I don’t really see myself discontinuing use of this product. Perhaps I could lower the score by getting an unscented deodorant because fragrance is high on the toxicity list and I could possibly eliminate that hazard.

http://www.cosmeticsdatabase.com/product/101677/Suave_24_Hour_Protection_Antiperspirant_%26_Deodorant_Invisible_Solid_Fresh/

Green Walls

I found an article at Seattle Times online that talked about PNC Financial Services installing a green wall on the side of their headquarters. The wall is described as being the size of two tennis courts. The purpose of the wall is not only for an art piece but to provide vegetation, the benefits of natural insulation and removal of air pollutants. The wall covers nearly 2,400 square feet of the building but only requires about 15 minutes of watering in the peak season and less during the winter. The water is provided by the building's plumbing system. The biggest benefit of the green wall is to help cool the buildings through shading. The wall also captures water and releases it back into the atmosphere and storm water systems more slowly. Green Living technologies is the designer of the wall and also says that the wall can offset carbon output for one person daily!

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2010046023_apusgreenwalls1stldwritethru.html

Applesauce

One of the first events came to me in my e-mail inbox and is the same thing that another classmate already shared and that is about Apple computers. The e-mail was entitled Apple Launches Major Green Effort and had a link to this website:
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/09_40/b4149068698190.htm

The website had a video from Business Week that explained how Apple hasn't done well in environmental rankings and is trying to change that now. They believe that they have been attacked by Greenpeace unfairly and are looking to change the way their carbon footprint is calculated. Instead of having the footprint based on the energy used to make the computer, they want to look at how much the consumer uses the computer and then based on the life cycle calculate the footprint. Lengthy research has been done to see how often computers are used and even type of usage because just checking e-mail takes less energy than doing video editing. The video mentions that the environment is very important to Steve Jobs. He has always looked at Apple as a green company because they were one of the first ones to stop lead use in monitors. Now the company is doing their best to help others see them as a green company too.

Week One Progress

To recap, my three goals for the quarter are to turn off and unplug my laptop when I am not using it, not charge my cell phone at night and unplug the charger when not in use and finally, use the bus to get to my evening activities.

I have to say that I did very well on the first two goals last week. I had my computer off and unplugged all day while I was on campus and turned it off and unplugged it before bed each night. I noticed that not having my laptop on all the time made it less easy to access which also meant that I spent less time on myspace and facebook and was more focused on school as well as actually hanging out with friends rather than hiding away in my room. I still checked my e-mail in the morning before class and when I got home at night but I wasn't stuck to my laptop like I usually am. I think spending more time with friends, worrying less about what was happening online, and doing other activities also improved my overall happiness for the week. By using my laptop very minimally throughout the week, I only had to fully charge my lap top ONCE! I got through the entire week on one battery charge. This was shocking to me because normally I use it throughout the day on battery and then plug it in to charge at night so I never really drain the battery completely. I didn't realize how long my battery actually can last. That was a real eye opener for me and I am continuing to keep my laptop unplugged this week.

The second goal was to not charge my cell phone at night and unplug the charger from the wall when I wasn't using it. I also followed through with this goal and did not leave my phone plugged in once overnight. I also let my phone die completely before charging it a few times. In the morning I would assess how much battery I had left and whether it would last me through the day or not. If I didn't think it would last, then I would plug it in while I was getting ready for school. That seemed to be a long enough time period to restore full battery and last me through the day. Again, by not charging my phone every night I found out how long my phone actually lasts. Over the weekend I let it die completely and then charged it fully so it would be ready for the school week. I think by these two actions alone I saved a lot of energy that I normally would have just wasted each week.

My third goal was to take the bus to my evening events or if I had to drive I would car pool. I definitely could still improve on this goal. I took the bus to my events at night but I found people offering me rides home and took them up on it instead of just taking the bus back. I also found that I did a lot less driving but other people drove me around more so that kind of defeats the purpose. One small improvement was that I did more car pooling. Sometimes my friends and I will agree to meet someplace and each take a car. The last week we did a lot more coordinating so that we could car pool places and cut out on taking two cars when it wasn't necessary. I know that when it's cold and dark and wet and I have to walk up the hill from the park and ride I am more likely to take a ride than volunteer to take the bus so I still need to work on that.

Even though I know I still have more to work on, I feel like having these three goals made a difference in my footprint this week. Also, because I was so focused on these three goals it made me more aware of turning off lights, water, recycling, etc. I found myself being an advocate for these things around my apartment and even at friends' houses which was a little surprising to me. I know what I'm doing or not doing anymore is not much, but it's a start.