Infographic: Is Bottled Water Really That Bad? Yes. - Fast Company
hilker: yikes.
“While a large portion of the world desperately seek clean drinking water, the United States and other countries spend billions on bottled water when perfectly clean drinking water is readily available. Not only are we needlessly spending money on water with lower standards than those of tap water, we are also filling our landfills with billions of pounds of oil based plastics that take thousands of eyars to degrade. This graphic will visually present an overview of bottled water.”
Dang. This is awful. If you agree that bottled water is terrible for the environment, please reblog this and help spread the word.
thedoghousediaries
Exactly. Until we clean up our electricity production, we are still polluting. As my friend Erick points out, shifting the pollution to a plant may be more efficient and result in less pollution per mile driven, but don’t delude yourself into thinking that your car is “clean”.
I may be in a minority for my support of nuclear energy, but I am confident in our technology to keep us safe; all we need to do is figure out where to bury the waste. I say, let’s get on building a space elevator, and then throw it all into the sun!
via knightsofidledays
Beyond LEED: Living Building Challenge 2.0 Certification Unveiled | inhabitat
This week the International Living Building Institute released its new green building standard to the public at Greenbuild 2009. Version 2.0 expands on its focus to now cover social issues – any Certified Living Building must be net-zero energy, net-zero water, non-toxic, provide for habitat restoration on sister sites, and urban agriculture is mandated. The 20 imperatives, all of which must be addressed, go well beyond the simple efficiency standards that our industry seems content to comply with before calling a project ’sustainable’.
via age-of-ecology
Look at all the cardboard-sleeves he’s wasting! He could have used just one for all four cups!
via forgecode.net
hippieflavor:
Bridge made of recycled plastic supports 70-ton tank • The Register
“The US Army, seeking to embiggen its green image, has proudly announced the building of the world’s first bridge made from recycled plastic and able to support heavy loads. To test the recycloplast bridge, troops drove a monster 70-ton Abrams Main Battle Tank across it.
The recycloplast bridges are also said to be corrosion resistant compared to other bridge materials, meaning that they need almost no maintenance. Steel structures typically need regular repainting and inspection to guard against rust: timber needs expensive and potentially troublesome coatings or treatments. Procurement officials estimated that there would be a 34 to 1 return on the extra expense of the plastic bridges from reduced maintenance costs.
The recyclothermoplast material comes from makers Axion International, who developed it in cooperation with boffins at Rutgers University. The firm sees it as taking on many structural and building tasks in coming years, replacing “last-generation materials, such as wood, steel or concrete”.
“Embiggen” hahahaha
It’s a perfectly cromulent word!
“Chipotle Mexican Grill (NYSE: CMG) announced today it is partnering with Houston-based Standard Renewable Energy (SRE) to install solar panels on approximately 75 Chipotle restaurants over the next year. In all, Chipotle has committed to panels that will produce 500 kilowatt hours of electricity, making Chipotle the largest direct producer of solar energy in the restaurant industry.”
