Toilet Paper Is Now Greener Than Ever Thought Possable

MSNBC reports that there is a new green breakthrough that might catch on. Toilet paper is not being marketed without the brown cardboard roll inside of it. Though on a small scale, this will most likely save the use of much paper which does not need to be used.



If you think about it, the roll inside toilet paper is completely unnecessary. So what if the paper does not come off the roll as neatly? It is all going to be used in the same fashion. On a serious note, this minor breakthrough is just one step towards cleaning up our act and living our lives with the most efficiency.

Here is a video about our plastic waste from VBSTV, an independent internet news site. Even if you do not believe in global climate change / global warming, this is a problem that no one can deny.

Wal-Mart doing some good.

Wal-mart, a massive supermarket chain with over 2 million employees that rivals some countries, is going to double the percentage of local produce. The "local" refers to any produce grown in the state, this is quite general, but it would help smaller economies and farmers. The NY Times article by Stephanie Clifford says:

Wal-Mart Stores announced a program on Thursday that focuses on sustainable agriculture among its suppliers as it tries to reduce its overall environmental impact.
The program is intended to put more locally grown food in Wal-Mart stores in the United States, invest in training and infrastructure for small and medium-size farmers, particularly in emerging markets, and begin to measure how efficiently large suppliers grow and get their produce into stores.

  This program would help local economies and reduce pollution from transportation. This new plan, which should be enacted by 2015, will be a significant step towards a greener America.

Spare The Air Day(s)

The fourth Spare the Air Day of the season was called for Thursday as hot, stagnant air remained in the Bay Area.

After going most of the summer without a Spare the Air day, the Bay Area is having its third in less than two weeks.
With ozone levels in the air expected to approach unhealthy levels today, the Bay Area Air Quality Management District declared a Spare the Air day for the region.
The agency encourages people on Spare the Air days to take bikes, public transit or carpools instead of driving solo, to cook indoors rather than barbecue, and to avoid using aerosol sprays and gas-powered gardening equipment.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/09/01/BA4A1F6ETS.DTL&type=science#ixzz0yKxo4lwW

 San Fransisco promotes another Spare the Air Day today. The aspirations of this tradition seems to be a great idea just before the traveling weekend coming up, especially as drivers start to ravage the roads. It is reported that this weekend traveling is going up 11% so people can head to cooler areas.

The travel organization projects that 3.5 million Californians will drive to their destinations over the three-day weekend. Roughly 315,000 will fly, and 170,000 will use a train, bus or boat.

 The negative aspects are inevitable this weekend, so it is fortunate that the Bay Area is promoting green thinking. As Thomas Friedman says in the introduction of Hot, Flat, and Crowded, it is becoming increasingly important to diminish the threat of global warming. Save the Air Day is one idea that will hopefully contribute to the end of our unhealthy reliance on energy.

Air Can?

Thomas L. Friedman's Hot, Flat, and Crowded explains the necessity for a better environment. Friedman argues that the world has a problem and we need to make changes, fast. This Hong Kong infomercial about fresh air in a can demonstrates the need for improvement in the air.

The New York Times reported:

HONG KONG — ‘‘Do your feeble breathing skills let you down? Does standing up tire you out?’’ The answer: Buy a breath or two of ‘‘Fresh Air’’ — the ‘‘revolutionary new product’’ that lets you experience breathing ‘‘like the rest of the world does.’’

The product's main focus:

‘‘Fresh Air’’ is the new campaign tool of Hong Kong’s Clean Air Network, a nongovernmental group that promotes awareness of, you guessed it, the wretched air quality in this city of seven million.

Although this product might seem like a joke, it does raise awareness of the bad air quality of major cities and the need to reduce pollution. Tom Friedman stresses a move to Code Green, influencing innovation in energy efficiency and clean power. The world faces this problem, and this Hong Kong campaign is a force than can help propel improvement in the atmosphere.