ECO- Environmental Campus Outreach

Farm Bill Craziness

2011-05-23T19:57:00.000-07:00

By Madaline Goldstein

This week, I spoke to the group about our nation's farm bill- a $300 billion piece of legislation that is up for renewal next year. The Bill does a lot of good- it does the food stamps program, school lunches, and land conservation. But all of these beneficial programs are negated by the effects of a piece of the legislation- farm subsidies.

Why does giving out $25 billion per year to farmers hurt our country and the world? Because all they are growing with that money is corn, soybean, wheat, rice, and cotton. No vegetables. No fruit. And it's not even small, family farms receiving the aid- it's the huge agriprocessors who spend millions of dollars lobbying Congress to get these billions.

As a result, junk food is cheaper than produce. As a result, corn is in 25% of grocery products. As a result, Americans are not getting the nutrients they need. As a result, our environment is being destroyed with these vast lands of monocultures, killing biodiversity and demanding huge amounts of chemical, toxic inputs. As a result, farmers in developing countries cannot compete with America's cheap corn and are forced off their land.

This needs to change. You can watch this video to really see the pervasiveness of commodity crops and why we need to let Congress know how we want our tax money spent- not on huge corporations destroying our environment and our health, but on our local veggie farmer.

http://vimeo.com/21318179

Do We Need to Advertise Our Recycling?

2011-05-16T16:57:00.000-07:00

by Ariel Drehobl

Northwestern has a wonderful recycling program that places recycling bins around campus to promote the practice. Most students know that the university recycles, but not all students know that we not only recycle paper and plastic products but also have recycling receptacles for batteries, ink cartridges, and plastic bags.

ECO established Northwestern's recycling in these alternative areas long enough ago now that they should be widely known, but still many students do not seem to know that they can recycling their ink cartridges and batteries on campus.

Last Friday ECO hosted an event hosted an event at the Rock on campus to promote our recycling efforts. I was surprised by the number of students approaching us who had no idea that the ink cartridge, battery, and plastic bag bins were in Norris. They had either been hoarding their batteries, bags, and cartridges, or throwing them away. This make me realize that we might need to start better promoting these services on campus so more people know that they can recycling these destructive items instead of disposing of them in a worse way.

I ran across this video by the Friends of the Earth, a British organization that works to promote sustainable living habits. The advertisement below for recycling uses strong emotional responses to influence sustainable behavioral changes:

A Love Story… In Milk from Catsnake on Vimeo.

ECO doesn't have to make emotional ads to promote our recycling, but I believe that advertisements in some way would greatly help students to learn about ECO's recycling efforts and hopefully influence them to participate!
ECO hopes that by putting on more educational events like the one on Friday we will be able to reach out to the campus at large and spread the word that ECO is here, ready and waiting to make a difference!

2010-11-16T16:23:00.000-08:00

THE JEWISH-YOGA EXPERIENCE

By Rachel Koontz

Teaching my first yoga class during ECO's Reform minyan was an incredible experience. I felt so blessed to have a big class (35 students!) that included both students and parents since it was Northwestern's Family Weekend. The blend of spirituality, relaxation and concentration was beautiful. I could really feel the energy in the room and sensed that people were enjoying themselves. I think my favorite part was when we did Awkward pose and talked about humility before God and before others. It's amazing how yoga teaches us not only to be flexible, but also to laugh, to let go, and to do our best to lose our egos. I am so grateful to Hillel for this experience and I hope to teach again soon!

2010-10-12T21:24:00.000-07:00

Check out this new website on climate change and efforts of people around the world, complements of out newest ECO member, Elise:

The Climate Desk

Not Just for Hippies: Green Neighborhoods Really Make for More Peaceful People

2010-10-12T11:08:00.000-07:00

(Is this a spa, or a university?)

One of the major influences in my coming to Northwestern was the gorgeous campus. Among the serenity of the lake and trees, I could imagine tolerating a stressful schedule and maintaining my peace of mind. You, also, might have been struck by the beauty of the campus when you realized that Northwestern was the best university for you.

It turns out that we’re not alone.

Characters such as Ralph Waldo Emerson, or Henry David Thorough, inspired the current environmentalist movement. They were transcendentalists who found great peace and serenity in nature, and encouraged others to rejuvenate themselves with what nature had to offer.

Recently, social-scientific research has confirmed that this isn’t just a whimsical suggestion for the poets. Frances Kuo is a social psychologist who wanted to know whether greener neighborhoods really make for more peaceful citizens.

“In one study, she compared the self reported levels of violence of two comparable groups of citizens living n housing projects in Chicago: One of the groups lived in a housing project with nice parks and lawns nearby; the other lived in a housing project with no greenery, surrounded by barren asphalt.”

As Emerson and Thorough would have predicted, the citizens in the green urban areas reported less aggression in their neighborhood and performed better on assessed the ability to concentrate.

Green spaces—parks, weeping willows near Norris, perhaps a lakefill—calm people’s minds, allowing them to handle frustrations and focus on the task at hand. No wonder Northwestern students are so successful J

~Michal Yablong

2010-05-31T11:37:00.000-07:00

The Bag-Monster’s Nemesis

We all saw him a couple weeks ago—that terrifying, ugly monster. You know who I’m talking about: The Bag Monster.

Finally, the Bag-Monster has met his match, but not in the hero anyone suspected. Scientists have been working on projects to rid us of the seemly insurmountable problem of plastic bag litter and waste: but a high-school pipsqueak beat them to it.

Danial Burd, a Canadian high-school junior, has found a way to make plastic bags degrade in as little as three months. The finding wasn’t just good for him—landing him a first-prize trophy in the Canadian-wide science fair—but a chance for us to be relieved from a major environmental issue.

Burd recognized that plastic does eventually degrade on its own, as it is slowly eaten by microorganisms. He set out to recognize what these microorganisms were—and their optimal living conditions—hoping that this would speed the degradation process.

And it did. By concocting a mixture of household materials such as yeast and tap water, Burd found quantifiable results; the plastic exposed to the bacteria was seventeen percent lighter than the control after a month and a half. He was able to identify Sphingomonas and Pseudomonas as the hungry little plastic munchers. At warm temperatures and the bacteria’s optimal conditions, the little buggers had consumed almost half the exposed plastic sample in six weeks.

At last, the Bag-Monster has met its nemesis.

POWERRR!

2010-04-19T22:09:00.000-07:00

NPR reporter Adam Frank put the paradox perfectly: “The Babylonians didn't do it. The Romans didn't do it. The Chinese of the Tang Dynasty didn't do it. The Persian Empire didn't do it. For 50,000 years of human cultural evolution it didn't happen. For 6,000 years of civilization it didn't happen.”

For all of our human existence, we have managed just fine. But in the matter of a century, we imperil all of civilization; With what? With civilization.

Our first time approaching that danger zone was with the nuclear arms race. It had families fearing the safety of their entire city. Now, it’s resource depletion, which may leave families fearing for their entire world.

Such irony; I can almost hear a violin playing in the distance. Or the soundtrack from Psycho. But seriously, it is a fascinating quirk that the more technologically advanced we become, the more we are doomed to our own actions.

We have so much more power now than ever before. This is because we’ve gone from human power (physical labor), to human power PLUS the incredible amount of energy stored in fuel, gas, or even an atom. It used to be that a thousand slaves were necessary to get a big job done. The demand for things was kept in check by the supply of power that we had to give.

Now, our demand has skyrocketed because each person possesses much more than one person’s manpower. With increased supply of power, we can enjoy the benefits of increased demand. Yet, all this time, our resources have hardly changed their supply at all.

Everyone wants to be a comic book/ Cartoon Network action-character who acquires an exorbitant amount of power for an average human body. In a way, Our advanced civilization IS that superhero.

But as we Cartoon Network fans know, the hero doesn’t always come out on top. If he doesn’t limit his use of power, the story ends badly. Sometimes, even, he becomes corrupt with his own power and spirals down a path of self-destruction. This may be a dramatization of the position that our global population is in (everyone would have to wear capes/ underwear on the outside to be that dramatic). But we must realize how our current power exceeds our resources if we aren’t discerning about when to use it.

If we master the ability to reserve our technological, twenty-first-century strengths for the times we need it—limiting our power rather than spending in excess—our generation will become its own hero.

Denmark is brilliant!

2010-04-12T19:06:00.001-07:00

There must be something in the water in Denmark, because not only is it the happiest country, but is also a leader in wind energy and now trash-to-energy. 54% of Denmark's trash is now burned in incinerator plants that turn the trash into heat and electricity, and can still reduce pollution that landfills emit. The rest of Europe is catching on and investing in these green-friendly trash-converting energy plants. When is America planning to catch up?

Read the New York Times article to learn more!

-ECO President, Jennie van den Boogaard

How Carbon Trading Works

2010-03-11T15:25:00.000-08:00

Don't know how carbon trading works? Check out this episode of the the Stuff You Should Know podcast from HowStuffWorks.com. It demystifies carbon trading, discussing everything from cap-and-trade schemes to carbon credit.

You might also consider subscribing to the podcast on iTunes. Every few days Josh Clark and Chuck Bryant explain how various phenomena work, from "How Aphrodisiacs Work" to "How Muppets Work" to "How Alien Hand Syndrome Works".

Ethical Fashion – People Tree

2010-02-05T18:28:00.000-08:00

I just recently found out about a fashionable green clothing line called People Tree based in the UK. Unlike other green clothing stores which simply sell clothes made from organic materials, People Tree takes their environmental principles all the way into the production process to reduce their carbon footprint as much as possible. They use recycled and biodegradable substances when possible and try to protect the water supplies and forests in the environments they work in.

Not only is People Tree eco-friendly, they’re also a fair trade organization. That means that People Tree designs their clothing around creating jobs in developing countries. Thus, the designer will specifically try to create garments that require a human labour (hand embroidery, knitting, etc) so that work can be created in poor communities. For example, the designer might add embroidery to a simple top, providing income to a family-run business in India.

Another cool factoid – the gorgeous Emma Watson recently collaborated with People Tree to release her first line of clothing. She believes that “young people like me are becoming increasingly aware of the humanitarian and environmental issues surrounding fast fashion and want to make good choices but there aren't many options out there.”

Even if you can't buy anything, you should check out the People Tree website. The clothing is cute, fashionable, and most importantly, green!

Some pictures of their clothing.

-Rashmi Singh

The Chicago Diner=Vegetarian/Vegan Deliciousness

2010-01-20T13:42:00.000-08:00

Three day weekends are the best. They're even better when you decide to spend that Sunday in Chicago with friends. We shopped and enjoyed the beauty of our city. Strolling through Belmont later that night, my meat-loving friends and me, the lonely vegetarian, ate at the famous Chicago Diner. The Chicago Diner has been an all-vegetarian/vegan restaurant since 1983, and has won "Best Vegetarian Restaurant" from numerous vegetarian organizations and newspapers.

Take a tip from ECO: Even if you have no desire to become a vegetarian or vegan, just try eating less meat. In order to produce a single kilogram of beef, farmers have to feed cows 15 kg of grain and 30 kg of forage. 18% of greenhouse gases come from livestock (more than transportation). By eating less meat, you'll be eating healthier and helping out our bruised environment.

Despite a 45-minute wait, my friends and I braved the cold for a delicious faux meat meal. We recommend the "meat"loaf dinner, enchiladas, and the avocado tostadas. There's nothing better than a delicious, healthy, and completely meat-free meal.

-Jennie van den Boogaard

Psst...don't tell anyone, but cars are evil.

2010-01-09T20:02:00.000-08:00

I'm from a small town in Florida, where the population is less than 8,000 but the distance between each building makes it impossible to walk anywhere. Unfortunately, this is a common theme in America. Since the invention of the car in the 1886 by Carl Benz, and Ford's assembly lines in the early 1900s, the car has epitomized the American way of life. And when Eisenhower approved the 1956 bill that created our massive highway system, not only was the car cemented as a way of life, but another eco-unfriendly monster was created: suburbia.

Suburban areas, like Satellite Beach, Florida, are offshoots of larger cities where millions commute to and from work every day. The car made this all possible. Realistically, the car could be blamed for several of society's evils, such as obesity and drunk driving. But what really makes the car, and subsequently suburbia, so malevolent, is what it's doing to the environment. Cars cause almost a quarter of current greenhouse gas emissions. In addition to the 42,000 deaths from accidents, car exhaust causes 30,000 deaths and 120,000 premature deaths. And that's just from one year in the U.S. Pollution and smog are the reason for a high increase in childhood asthma and stunted mental growth in children. Lucky for us (if you can call America's obsession with the automobile lucky), we have much stricter laws for pollution than many other countries, like Thailand or Mexico, where millions are severely affected by the overpopulation of cars.

Yet, we remained addicted to the socioeconomic value of cars. Globally, cars represent wealth and status, something for which humans have traded in their health and the health of our mother nature. Why do less than five percent of Americans use public transportation? Why do we love our long commutes and identical, indifferent suburban culture? Why are we willing to deny science and common sense and insist global warming is the "greatest hoax ever perpetrated on the American people?" Because we are literally addicted to cars, and we're unwilling to change our lifestyles to halt the eventual climate change that might possibly lead to human extinction.

So ask yourself this: is walking really that bad? Is the CTA so terrible? Are traffic and car payments and parking lots really that wonderful? All I know, is that since I came to Northwestern, I've had to walk everywhere or take public transportation, and I love it. I have time to really enjoy the life I'm living, and spend less time stressed about where I'm going.

-Jennie van den Boogaard

Getting Away From It All

2009-12-22T02:58:00.000-08:00

[Created by Andy Nelson for the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre and the World Bank]

Getting off the beaten path is a bit trickier than it used to be.

This map reveals the ever-diminishing, remote areas that are left. Here, the brightest areas are the most densly populated and accessible, while darker regions are the more secluded, with blue lines representing shipping lanes. “Remote” areas must be is at least 48 hours away from a major city: and with web-like development of roads, railways, and shipping lanes, approximately 10 percent of the world’s land can be considered remote. Judging from Nelson’s map, much of this ten percent remains isolated simply because it is uninhabitable.

A majority of the world’s population lives within an hour of a major city, largely because “accessibility is a precondition for the satisfaction of almost any economic or social need,” Nelson says. “The main story of the map is connectivity. It brings home how important it is to manage our resources, lifestyles, and economies in a sustainable manner, since we are all interdependent, and shows the remote places left behind. It also reminds us that the price of connectivity is that there is little wilderness left.”

While most of us aren’t looking for homes yet, this is in important element to keep in mind when the time comes. When regions are accessible, they become populated. My personal experiences in Montana showed me that logging roads—intended for logging trucks—became portals for people to live deeper in the wilderness, feel like they “got away from it all:” all with an easy road that could zip them back to town as soon as they ran out of tissues or detergent. It may feel like the best way to be close to Mother Nature is to live “out-there” or in a place with a large yard and plenty of space. In actuality though, discouraging frequent use of such wide-spanning roads is the key. If it’s between a high-rise or a cabin-in-the-middle-of-nowhere, hail Urbania!

Lustful for LUSH Cosmetics

2009-11-30T12:21:00.000-08:00

I chose to carpool to the Orlando airport this past Sunday on my way back to Evanston, and we all should carpool as much as possible. But that's another blog for another day. Because I chose to carpool I found myself with an an extra three hours to kill before my plane would board.

Naturally, I walked all over the airport, and came across an awesome store that I didn't know existed. LUSH Cosmetics is an environmentally friendly chain located in 36 countries, committed to a green conscience for bathroom products. The store offers all kinds of shampoos, soaps, and lotions, and they're all made of solids. Solid products last much longer than bottled liquids, use less plastic packaging, and take less energy to transport. LUSH tries to use all recycled materials, and boasts that 89% of its packaging is. The chain has also switched to organic materials, and all of its products are vegetarian and vegan. LUSH refuses to test on animals and even donates at least 2% of its profits to charities that support animal rights, HIV/AIDS awareness, conservation, clean water, and sustainability.

Of course, I wound up spending $40 on a bunch of soap, but at least I felt good about doing it. And I can tell you already, it was well worth it.

Go to their website to find out more information or just to shop! http://www.lushusa.com/

-Jennie van den Boogaard, 2013

What’s the deal with COP15?

2009-11-27T13:12:00.000-08:00

by Michal Yablong

If you are involved with one of Northwestern’s eco-initiatives, it’s likely that you know that there will be a big event occurring this December in Copenhagen. But if you are feeling fuzzy on the details of why the meeting in Copenhagen is so important, or where the controversy lies (because of course, there has to be controversy…), here is a condensed explanation:

COP15 does not stand for COPenhagen, rather, “Conference of the Parties; the 15^th meeting.” Every year, the UN’s Conference of the Parties discusses ways to reduce the world’s greenhouse emissions and discuss our current status. This year’s meeting, hosted by the Danish government, is of particular importance. In the words of Brian Merchant, a Discovery channel reporter, “This is where the biggest economies and smallest countries, the most-polluting nations and those threatened to be destroyed by climate change altogether will all meet in an attempt to find a way to halt global warming before it's too late. If you only watch one global climate event this year, make it this one.”

At least 192 countries will be in attendance, as COP15 is an especially big deal for two reasons:

1- 1- Earlier in the decade, it was recognized that CO2 output must be reduced…but now scientific evidence says drastic emissions-changes are necessary by 2020. Countries are realizing that it is not worth sacrificing the habitability of our planet for short-term economic gains.

2- 2- COP15 will establish a global climate change agreement to take over the Kyoto Protocol agreement that will expire in 2012. (The role of the Kyoto Protocol was to set binding targets for industrialized countries to lower their carbon emissions by 5% over several years.)

Science says that greenhouse emissions must not rise after 2020 to avoid disastrous climate changes. Think water shortages for half the world’s population, elimination of the coral reefs, rises in sea level around the globe of over 1 meter over the century, and extinction for about half the existing species of plants and animals. In order to avoid turning our watery blue planet a hospitable place, emissions reductions between 25-40% from 1990 levels must occur. The countries that are most capable of bringing about such a change are the rich counties of the world; America, India, and China are among those at the top of the list.

This is an attainable goal with current technology and other technology due to come out soon. The problem, however, is political. Aside from Norway and Japan, who promise 30% reductions, everyone falls way short of what is needed. India and China both have enormous carbon emissions (although not per capita), and say they cannot reach such a high goal at the same time as working toward alleviating poverty. This may not be true, but it makes a complex situation even more complex. On top of it all, everyone seems excited about what Obama is doing, but when it comes down to it, I couldn’t actually tell you what Obama is doing.

Before countries can commit, climate legislation must be passed—often a slow process. Governments such as the Australian parliament and the US Congress are grappling to accomplish this in the few weeks left before everyone assembles in Copenhagen. But amidst the turmoil and the rush against time, it’s good to know that the world is finally, unanimously ready to take action.

Achilles' Heel: Our "Eco-Weak Spot"

2009-11-20T12:51:00.000-08:00

This is a line we’ve either heard, told someone else, or grumbled to ourselves;

“I would be more eco-friendly, but it’s so inconvenient, and sometimes it’s annoying. I mean, people are always telling me to ‘Turn of the lights!’ or ‘get out of the shower…’”

Or:

“I really am a good person, but sometimes those little things are hard to give up, and you are asking too much.”

Sound familiar? Well, if you’re reading this blog, you’ve probably heard the line from someone else, but then the question is, how do you reply? At an ECO fireside last week, someone asked this question and no one was quite sure how to respond. With some retrospect, I know two ways we could have responded. These suggestions can help anyone trying to spread awareness of behavioral impact on the environment.

When this argument reoccurs in the future:

1- Validate what they are saying, because although it is not in keeping with how you feel, they are being sincere. It’s true: oftentimes there are “little things” that, while not eco-friendly, are very comforting and difficult to give up. For instance, some people will always leave the lights on because they hate walking into a dark room. And if we do try to scale-back on such a habit, they will simply feel resentful and won’t make other important changes.

However, this does not mean that we have to abandon economy completely. There are two positive approaches;

Ø First, that we can make this habit less wasteful in ways that will not even affect us; in fact, they may benefit us! Try changing the lightbulbs to CFL (compact fluorescent lights). With this simple change, we will be expending about 1/5^th of the energy as before, in addition to saving money on electric use and replacement lightbulbs (CFL’s last about 10x longer than an incandescent bulb).

Ø Second, try finding another area of our life that is also wasteful—but easier to change. Perhaps we leave the lights and the air conditioning on when we go out. If this is the case, try just turning off the air (or at least bringing it closer to room temperature so that it is not so wasteful). A different tactic would be to try serving ourselves with less food that won’t get eaten, or cutting back on meat-consumption. Although this activity seems unrelated, it is another way of reducing global CO2 output. No one said being eco-friendly was easy, but if we pick our battles, it is not excruciatingly difficult.

2- Recognize these habits for what they are…Habits! As the adage goes, “It takes 30 days to change a habit.” So what if we just tried to fix these habits for one month? Perhaps by only keeping half the houselights on, or turning off the AC when we leave for work in the morning, we coud create a new, positive habit. Whatever we choose, after a couple days or weeks, this Achilles' heel won’t be such a weak spot. We will feel proud of ourseves for making a contribution (and will enjoy the $ savings!). In fact, it might become second nature.

What are we waiting for? These approachable, incremental changes can set the tone for a more eco-friendly way of living.

Greenwalls. Yeah, I'm not kidding.

2009-11-18T20:31:00.000-08:00

In my last blog, I explained what green roofs are and how they're taking over Chicago. Well, a recent New York Times article revealed that the green revolution is spreading from our roofs. A company called Green Living Technologies is selling instructions for making garden walls. Using portable metal slats, each section holds soil and seeds, creating the "edible wall." And like green roofs, green walls provide insulation, reducing heating and cooling costs, and overall, energy consumption. As more people adopt green walls, theoretically, this will combat high food costs and the energy use to transport fruits and vegetables long distances. It's a win-win, with a tasty bonus. Check out the full article here http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/19/business/energy-environment/19WALLS.html?_r=1&hp

-Jennie van den Boogaard, 2013

Greenroofs

2009-11-11T12:09:00.000-08:00

You're probably thinking, what the heck is a green roof? Is it a roof painted green? Or a roof with solar panels? Or is it a futuristic roof that has mechanical arms and reaches into the building to sort the recycling? I'll give you a hint. It's none of those, although I bet I'm not the only one who would prefer to have a machine recycle for me.

A green roof is, in simplest terms, a vegetated roof cover. Instead of shingles or tiles, a green roof incorporates plants and other growing material. There are two types of green roofs: extensive or intensive. Extensive green roofs (aka eco-roofs or low-profile) do not have as many layers as intensive roofs. So they're lighter, cheaper and require very little maintenance. The purpose of extensive green roofs is to build an ecological roof cover with limited human access. Intensive green roofs (aka high-profile) can include a wider variety of plants since the layers are deeper. Intensive green roofs can become full-fledged gardens. Green roofs are often a mixture of both extensive and intensive varieties.

All green roofs vary depending on the structure of the building and the green roof type, but most include a single to multi-ply waterproofing layer, drainage, and plant material, covering the entire roof deck surface.

Green roofs promote energy efficiency, moderate roof temperature, and provide shade in hot weather and insulation in colder months, leading to a reduction in greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. They also help prevent flooding, as the vegetation soaks up excess water, giving our drainage systems a break.

Chicago has over 200 green roofs, covering 2.5 million square feet, more than any other city in the United States. So the real question here is when will Northwestern join in on the green roof fun?

For more information go to http://www.greenroofs.com/index.html, or http://www.explorechicago.org/city/en/about_the_city/green_chicago/Green_Roofs_.html, or http://www.greenroofs.org/grtok/sbp_browse.php, or http://www.inhabitat.com/2006/08/01/chicago-green-roof-program/

Act now, benefit later

2008-03-25T09:19:00.000-07:00

So a lot of people care about the environment. But what are we doing to help ensure a greener future? The New York Times has an article today about how difficult it can be for people to make the sacrifices necessary now for abstract benefits in the long haul.

Remember, guys, it's easy to do little things that help the environment and fight global warming. Simple choices such as the light bulb you use, the food you eat and the temperature at which you set the thermostat all have a real, tangible impact.

You can read the article here.

What's black and white and re(a)d all over?

2008-02-26T07:34:00.001-08:00

Sorry for the lack of posts lately. Trying to gauge interest in the whole blog thing.

I know we've talked before about the benefits of reading the newspaper online. One of my favorite magazines, Slate, has a story on paper use by newspapers. They use the example of my hometown paper, the Minneapolis Star Tribune, to show the way papers are being more environmentally friendly. Some even argue that newspapers, as they become friendlier, will be better for the environment than actually using your computer for the news. Skeptical? See what you think from the article.

Should I Cancel My Newspaper Subscriptions? - [Slate]

Fabrics for the Cause

2008-01-29T22:35:00.001-08:00

Here's a story on the environmental impacts of two major fabrics: wool and cotton. I had no idea that this was such an in-depth issue until I read this piece.

The main points to take away are that in growing cotton, strong nitrogen fertilizers are often used and emitted into the atmosphere. As for wool, the story mentions the same argument that is used against cows: methane. Apparently sheep are at fault here too--but should that prevent us from using wool? I guess it is a big deal:

"The bottom line is that cotton probably wins this face-off by a nose, given the sheer volume of methane issuing forth from the planet's sheep."

Wool or Cotton? - [Slate]

Wind Energy Continues to Grow

2008-01-28T18:34:00.000-08:00

2007 marks record growth in American wind energy, according to the American Wind Energy Association. 5,244 megawatts of capacity were installed last year, making up 30% of all new energy capacity and a 45% increase since 2006.

In order for this trend to continue, the country needs more manufacturing of turbines, more incentives for wind farms, and much more government support for the implementation of alternative energy.

Wind Energy Grows 45% in 2007 - [ENN]

21 Things You Didn't Know You Can Recycle

2008-01-28T17:33:00.000-08:00

Here's a great source for information on recycling unusual items--did you know that you can send in old tennis shoes to be made into athletic and playground turf? It also has information on the recyclable toothbrushes and razors that we talked about on Sunday.

This comes from a very useful environmental news site called Environmental News Network. It's on my RSS feed and it's where I get most of my daily info on the environment.

21 Things You Didn't Know You Can Recycle - [ENN]

NY Times Article on "Meat-Guzzlers"

2008-01-28T10:06:00.000-08:00

Just saw this in the New York Times:

"(A)ccording to the United Nation’s Food and Agriculture Organization...livestock production generates nearly a fifth of the world’s greenhouse gases — more than transportation."

So how can you help the environment? Well, if you aren't quite ready to "Go Veg," try substituting one meal a week in which you would have eaten meat with something vegetarian. Instead of a burger, you could have pizza, pasta, salad, tofu, cereal, a delicious smoothy -- the possibilities are endless!

You can check out the article here: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/27/weekinreview/27bittman.html?em&ex=1201669200&en=3f189a22ce28dc36&ei=5087%0A

ECO!

2008-01-27T11:19:00.000-08:00

We're online! Welcome to the official blog of ECO - the hot, new environmental group at Northwestern. We're going to be updating this with the latest ECO news, environmental tidbits and general information about how you can live a greener (read: better) life. So definitely make sure to bookmark this page and come back often!

- The ECO Crew