2nd Green Revolution

The weekly email from Travel and Leisure (T&L) often contains tidbits that make for interesting stories here on 2nd Green Revolution. Last year their stories about the most bike friendly cities in the world, as well as a discount being offered in Santa Barbara, California for those taking the train led to posts on this site. Many of the specials they promote and lists they compile have a “green” tint without being overtly eco-conscious.

This week’s email contained a link to their story about the “Most Scenic Train Rides” (click through to the rest of this post to see Top 10)  in the world. The story’s lead-in mentioned Seat 61, a website with information about train and ferry travel throughout the world. As interest in trains and railways as a mode of transportation has increased, visitors to the site have increased eight times according to T&L. Founder Mark Smith offers some calculations (seen in the table below) on his site comparing the carbon emissions of air and train travel. Read the rest of this entry »

Here is a quick announcement regarding the United States Green Building Council (USGBC). In an email to members earlier today, the USGBC introduced a new Web site called GreenHomeGuide.com. Designed to help companies in home construction and remodeling, the site is also available to the public. The new site contains

• A searchable services directory helps green-minded consumers connect with local green building professionals
• Editorial content, written by green building pros like you, helps homeowners find answers to green home questions that are relevant to their location and project

Read the rest of this entry »

Roughly half the electricity produced in this country comes from coal (EIA). In order to reduce consumption and residential lower our energy bills, it is imperative to scour one’s home for so-called energy vampires – items that draw electricity from the outlet even when they are seemingly not in use. Also referred to as the “phantom load”, these may be as simple as phone chargers remaining plugged in, or even as innocuous as a toaster oven that draws power to run one of three or four clocks in the kitchen or electric toothbrushes that remain plugged in despite being fully charged. Read the rest of this entry »

Yesterday KUNC, National Public Radio’s Northern Colorado affiliate reported that the clean energy economy had created 17,000 green jobs. According to GreenBiz.com

Venture capital is flowing into Colorado for green startups that see promise in the smart grid, energy storage and other clean tech technologies. “In 2008, we had $458 million of venture capital investments in Colorado. It’s just astounding,” Colorado Climate Change Coordinator Alice Madden said, noting that such investments have helped create 1,700 clean tech businesses in Colorado that provide 17,000 jobs.

The Colorado Governor’s Energy Office recently commissioned a green jobs report along with the Green Jobs Working Group (GJWG) and the American Solar Energy Society. The findings calculated that Read the rest of this entry »

As the first part of a multi-stage revamping of the 2nd Green Revolution website, we are proud to announce that we have a new logo. The design was done by The Creative Armada, a graphic design and web design firm located in the Washington, DC area. We wanted to unveil the logo as the first of several exciting new developments related to our site.

The two leaves sprouting from the “r” symbolize the “2″ in our name and represent the growth and spread of sustainability through green and clean technologies, business practices, and behavior.

- Justin and Eric

On or around the first of every month, 2nd Green Revolution updates the green events calendar for the coming month. Last November we began including a post highlighting some of the intriguing events for that month. Many of the events on the calendar for March take place in India and China. Half of the events featured below are in California. In addition, at the end of the month is the biomimicry design workshop, hosted by the Biomimicry Institute, which was highlighted in a recent post.

Here is a sampling of conferences that caught our eye. Read the rest of this entry »

Earlier this month on Public Radio International’s daily program The World, reporter Murray Carpenter highlighted “some of the new technologies that help consumers trace the global journey of their purchases and calculate their environmental cost.” If companies are going to argue their products are truly green, there needs to be independent verification. Greenwashing (making specious claims about the environmental impact of a product) and lifecycle analysis (a full accounting the energy consumed and materials involved over the entire lifetime of a product) are two topics gaining increased exposure in the upcoming regenerative economy. Read the rest of this entry »

As a follow up to our most recent Five Friday Facts about the IPCC’s (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) Summary for Policy Makers (PDF), National Public Radio’s Science Friday program had a wonderful discussion of science and how it is portrayed in the media. The panel, which included a Pulitzer Prize winner, a professor of journalism, and a climatologist among others, focused on the reporting of science in the media, especially given the decline in readership and funding for reporters covering science. Read the rest of this entry »

As a follow up to the vermicompost (worm composting) post the other day, today’s post delves into outdoor composting. While similar in their goals, vermicompost and outdoor compost bins have radically different requirements. As suggested by the name, outdoor compost bins require access to the outdoors so that naturally occurring microorganisms can populate the compost pile. In contrast to vermicompost, the microbiotic organisms enter the pile from the atmosphere. Some inoculant – a small amount of soil containing bacteria and other decomposers – is added during the process. Read the rest of this entry »

For a slightly different take on the Five Friday Facts comes the “virtually certain” impacts of climate change. This data comes from the IPCC’s (Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change) Summary for Policy Makers (PDF).

The definition of virtually certain used by the IPCC is a greater than 99% probability of occurrence. According to statistical analysis, the likelihood of these occurrences are statistically significant. However, they are all based on projections that reflect science’s current knowledge and as a result cannot account for all factors related to climate variability.

- Eric Wilson