s30lee:

This is just a thought, with the thought that trash going to the landfill taking longer to decompose because of poor access to oxygen, does that mean the litter that sits out in streets and elsewhere degrades more quickly? I know there are issues of this flying off towards sewage drains, and into oceans etc, but is this something worth somehow taking advantage of?

Another thought, I would imagine heat also can help decompose the trash more quickly... Is it worth having a designated area of a desert to let trash decompose? I know again there will be issues of what this trash will do to the local ecosystem, but given there's no "good' place to put trash, is this a worthwhile thought?

Politely Discuss

Today, the Green Car Journal gave its 2009 Green Car of the Year award to the Volkswagen Jetta TDI at the Los Angeles Auto Show. The 2009 Jetta TDI is a quiet-running, diesel-powered car. It beat out hybrids and mini-cars to take the title. The Jetta uses a technology called "clean diesel" which actually lives up its name pretty well. It has a very clean tailpipe, and an EPA estimated 41 mpg highway fuel economy.

greenteadrinker asks:

This has come up in a few threads now, and I'm just wondering.....

With all the "communistic/dictatorship" rules and regs; why do people want to move there?

I personally couldn't stand someone telling me I couldn't have a compost pile or native plants instead of a lawn with all of it's flaws, i.e. chemicals, mowing, etc. Can't line dry clothes, no solar panels
allowed and on and on.

What is the attraction? And why do people let themselves be ruled that way? (And please don't get mad if you live in one, I'm just wondering why you do)?????

Have an Answer?

As the ghost of GM's assassinated electric car haunts a fearful Detroit, another boogeyman is waiting in the wings: the world's first mass-produced plug-in hybrid electric car, being readied for its December release -- in China.

BYD, a company that first made its reputation as the world's largest maker of cell phone batteries, has announced it will release the F3DM hybrid sedan on December 15. And BYD says it plans to release a version of the car in the US and Europe in 2010 or 2011, just when GM plans to begin selling its own plug-in hybrid, the Chevy Volt.

As Mike has reported previously, the F3DM -- which can be charged using a standard electrical outlet -- can switch between a fully electric mode and a hybrid one that uses both electricity and gasoline. BYD says the car can travel as far as 60 miles (100 km) after one charge in full-electric mode, or longer when also using its small gas tank. The all-electric range of the Chevrolet Volt is only 40 miles.

Photo via belgianchocolate

Are they going to have to make a Madagascar 3 movie where a lion, zebra, giraffe and hippo work to rescue some crazy lepilemurs (and pygmy tarsiers) not from foosas, but from human destruction?

South Korea’s Daewoo Logistics has signed a 99-year lease entitling them to half of all Madagascar’s arable land. And, they will pay nothing to farm corn and palm oil there.

The goal is to boost Seoul’s food security by planting up 1.3 million hectares of land on an island already needing help with habitat preservation.

photo: Julian

Last month British newspaper The Guardian started a greenwashing column to turn the spotlight on the dubious claims of environmental benefits that some companies put forth. In the latest of these columns, Fred Pearce takes on BP, showing how that company hasn’t really gotten ‘beyond petroleum’ at all.

Check it out, as similar claims can be made about pretty much every fossil fuel company: Despite any efforts they’ve made in investing in renewable energy or cleaning up their act, the bulk of what they do is as dirty as ever. Here’s part of what Pearce says about BP:

greenteadrinker:

Considering the collateral damage to approximately 2-3 million consumers in various markets tied to the industry, should we?

ed answers:

It's time for a change. It's time to make a PROFIT. It's time to create JOBS. It's time to stop destroying JOBS. It's time to stop destroying Pensions and Health Care. It's time to stop Bribing people to take cars. It's time to face how worthless the Big-3 are.

Does it make sense, to invest $50 Billion in companies worth (less than) $8 Billion?

I believe $2 Billion dollars a day goes from the US to foreign countries for oil. It would be better to take $50 Billion and create USA jobs in Green industries, transitioning the USA from oil to renewable energy. Re-train and Re-use the jobless to Re-build the countries energy infrastructure (conceptually known as “I-765”).

Let the Big-3 re-purpose themselves, to cars people need.

What do you think?

Jewelry by MoxRogers

Etsy.com is a hotbed for creative reuse of junk. Even the quickest of peeks in the shop reveals artists making waste into treasure. Fortunately, artists are also repurposing computer parts that would otherwise be e-waste.

One such artist is Audrey Rogers (aka Mox) who is designing jewelry for a much bigger purpose that simply salvaging junk.