Earth 911 iPhone/iPod Touch App

Hey guys - if you're an iPhone or iPod Touch user, I've got a great app for you! It's a free download from iTunes, and it's called iRecycle. It allows you to select a type of item to recycle, for instance, computers or batteries, and you then put in your location to generate a list of stores or facilities that can accommodate your request. You get phone numbers, store hours, and even directions on a mobile map to the place you need to be. Here are some screenshots:











Check it out!

http://earth911.com/iphone/

Looking Toward The Future.

Sorry for the delay. Here is the article I wrote for The Good Human last week. It's not specifically about environmental issues, but deals with them. It's more about trusting our knowledge to the people who are ultimately going to need it: our students.

http://ping.fm/dFFIV

The Good Human

I'm going to be writing a guest post for The Good Human this week, on the topic of teaching responsibility for the future. I will link to it here when it's posted!

Sorry - It's Been A While

Hi. Remember me? Yeah, I know I've been negligent in my blogging duties. But it's been busy! I know, it's no excuse. A lot of interesting things have been going on, though. Best Buy has a new comprehensive recycling program, more states have passed laws (or are working on doing so, and companies who were dragging their feet on making safer products are starting to feel the heat. Oh yeah, we had an election, too. Did you catch it? It was kind of important. :) Anyway, I'll be back shortly with a list of new links for you to check out, and hopefully be able to post more frequently in the future. See you soon!

The Good Human... and Where Have I Been?

Sorry it's been so long since I posted... it's been a maddening few weeks at school! So much stuff going on, and I keep telling myself "I'll post tomorrow". Well, it's tomorrow, so here's a quick tip that's very helpful from a great blog I found.

I started reading The Good Human over the summer, and contacted the writer and spoke with him briefly. He's a very down-to-earth guy, with a lot of cool stories on small things we can all do to help out our planet along the way. One of his posts which was of particular interest to me, was on where to recycle e-waste. I made sure I told all my 7th graders about it, as they can use the information in their projects, which happen to be websites that they are building on the topic of - you guessed it - electronic waste.

Click on over here for some places you can go in your area to get rid of this nasty stuff safely!

The Good Human - How And Where To Recycle Household E-Waste.

Back To School!

It's been a while, but we're back at school! I will begin posting some interesting new stuff about green tech very soon. As soon as things are underway and I can take a breath! How many more days until next summer...? :)


Posted with LifeCast

Reduce Your Carbon Footprint When You Travel

So I'm going back to Florida to visit my Nana, who is very sick, after school is finished in June, and bought my plane ticket yesterday. After the purchase, I was presented with an interesting option: I could choose to donate a few dollars to help "offset my carbon footprint".

A company called Sustainable Travel International, a "non-profit that supports global climate protection and environmental conservation", is working with Continental (not sure about other airlines) to collect donations from travelers who fly and want to contribute to the environment. You have a choice between a few different options. I foolishly didn't copy all the information for the post, but I can tell you I decided to give $9.51 (suggested based on my carbon emission estimate, below) to the Gold Standard Projects, which are defined as:

Wind power and other renewable energy projects that have audited and meet criteria established by a consortium of 44 international environmental organizations, including the World Wildlife Fund.

There were Silver Standard Projects, and something else I can't remember, but this one blended the almost-ten-dollars between a few things, like re-forestation efforts as well as

My carbon emission estimate (based on my itinerary) was 0.2641 metric tons of CO2. It's strange to think I've been personally responsible for generating a fifth of a metric ton of anything, but I do know that jet fuel is a nasty, toxic substance, and burning it sure isn't helping matters. But we've got to get where we're going, and planes aren't going anywhere, so in the meantime, I feel at least a little better. Maybe someday we'll all fly places on aircraft that doesn't spew horrific amounts of pollutants all the time...

Spring Cleaning

Here is a website that was brought to my attention by a colleague, highlighting some helpful tips on how you can de-clutter your life this spring by responsibly removing old electronics from your living space - and the waste stream.

Spring Cleaning - Harvard CMCH

Cool Cell Solution

I came across this post on a blog I read fairly regularly that described a great new way to recycle cell phones. It basically works like your printer ink that you can mail back when the cartridge is used up. I only had time to scan this briefly, but it looks very cool and I'll definitely be investigating more closely...

Cell phone recycling

Green Tech News Roundup

I promised that I would have a bunch of good info when I returned from vacation, and true to my word, I do. There was a huge push in green news last week, probably to coincide with Earth Day. I marked a bunch of the best ones to re-post here, so let's take a look at some of the more interesting ones, shall we? Ok.

From EcoGeek - Dell unveiled a wooden desktop unit, the case of which is constructed from bamboo. I love love love bamboo. It's an incredible wood - and it looks awesome in just about any place I've ever seen it used. Although I don't know how I feel about the design of this machine - but that doesn't mean it's not a good idea. The PC also uses other recycled materials and less energy.

From PCWorld.com - Green IT Can Be Simple; interesting article about power conservation made simple through some engineering changes in hotels.

Also from PCWorld.com - challenges faced when recycling e-waste; deals with the process of convincing hardware manufacturers to employ take-back policies when building and selling new equipment.

From Lifehacker - Easy Ways To Go Green With Your Computer; lists some very simple strategies for saving power and paper at home, as well as changing some basic system settings to enable maximum use from your PC while also saving energy.

I feel like there were more... oh well. If I come across anything else, I'll throw it right up here. Click on through above for some helpful tips.

Happy Earth Day!

Well, it's that time of year again, and everyone on the Internets is all over it. Me? I'm in sunny Florida, on a well-deserved vacation. But I'll be keeping track of all the cool tips to go green, specifically with your electronics. When I have time to sit down and sort through everything, I'll post the best ones here.

In the meantime, enjoy your Tuesday, and we'll talk soon.

Green Laptop From Fujitsu

PC World reports Fujitsu is readying a new laptop based on sustainable materials such as bio-based plastics and wood. I'm not sure how I feel about a laptop shell made of wood, but I like everything else I'm hearing.

The prototype of the WoodShell uses natural materials, such as forest-thinned cedar and bio-based plastics for its housing and parts, according to Fujitsu.

Of course, if my MacBook shell were made of wood, I would have already had several small forest fires on my hands. That thing gets ridiculously hot! Anyway, it's a cool article, and it's nice to see companies starting to really think outside the box, as they say.