Happy Earth Day

I'd like to wish all our readers a very happy Earth Day '08 the best way I know how--with a rather beautiful video, courtesy of the BBC:

I also was interested to see what you all had to say about Earth Day this year. Did it seem bigger than usual? More effective? Sound off in the comments.

April's Green Thing: Short Sharp Showers

The newest easy conservation tip from Green Thing? Take shorter showers. This is a pretty easy one to figure out: shorter showers mean less water goes down the drain, and less CO2 is released when heating large amounts of water. Here's a handy little video "manual" for anyone who feels they need it:

And coming soon: a short piece on "Green" products and companies. Stay tuned.

Site Updates: Another political poll and new spring pictures

Hi everyone, just wanted to point your attention to the site's new poll and slideshow, located on the sidebar.

March's Green Thing: Lay off the meat

March's Green Thing isn't something that immediately comes to mind when thinking of environmental conservation (at least for me), but it's a great idea--if you can handle it, that is. Green Thing is asking its members to make their meat "rarer" (get it? It's funny), in an effort to lessen the environmental impact (CO2 emissions, fossil fuel consumption, etc) of the world's meat industry. It's a great idea, and I'm definitely going to give it a shot; the planet's more important than my weekly In-N-Out habit!

If you haven't joined Green Thing yet, what are you waiting for?

Ask Dr. Green: Is styrofoam recyclable?

I got a question a few weeks ago from Doug Scott, a student at City College of San Francisco. He asks,
"If styrofoam is not recyclable then why does it have a recycling emblem on it? And what does the number six inside the emblem mean? Who will take it and recycle it for me?"

Click "Read More" below to find out the answer.

Styrofoam is one item that can't be recycled in a conventional recycling bin, at least in San Francisco (I believe other cities may have different standards). But since styrofoam (or Polystyrene) is a plastic, it has been assigned its own "recycling symbol," which in fact has little to do with whether or not it can be conventionally "recycled". Apparently, depending on where you live, only items with recycling symbols 1 and 2 (and sometimes 4, 5, and 6; click here for a full rundown) will be accepted by community recycling systems. That said, there are private companies that will accept your old styrofoam packing materials; click here to find a location near you.

Green Jobs in Richmond and Cleveland

What's a "green job"? I recently came across the term in a news article. Perhaps not surprisingly, a "green job" is one that contributes to the production of renewable energy--putting up/maintaining wind farms and installing solar panels are just a few examples. As people across the country have become more aware of environmental issues and what they can do to fix them, and as the economy has taken a turn for the worse, the demand for "green collar jobs" has increased; in addition to being an important part of the environmental policies of the various presidential hopefuls, green jobs have been the subject of an exciting experiment right here in the Bay Area.


The concept of "green collar jobs" is music to the ears of the presidential candidates: green jobs benefit the country economically, while being great for the environment. Thus, Clinton, Obama, and McCain have all stepped out in favor of increasing green jobs. This is one issue on which all three of the candidates seem to agree: all three promise to increase funding and incentives for green collar jobs across America, although few specific numbers have been disclosed by the campaigns.

Meanwhile, the city of Richmond has decided to take the matter into its own hands with an ambitious program designed to train low-income residents for green jobs. The program teaches workers how to install residential solar electric systems, and the hope is that at least some of these workers will be able to take these skills and convert them to a career, thus helping them out of poverty and helping the environment at the same time. To put these new green collar workers to good use, Solar Richmond oversees a project that offers free solar electric system installations to low-income Richmond families. With these combined efforts, Richmond hopes to

New Poll: Choose your (green) President

Hi everyone. I just posted a new poll, in the spirit of the primaries and the election excitement that promises to continue until November. Pretty straight-forward. I think it'd be interesting to hear some comments on this one, too, so feel free to leave a message on this post after you vote.