Turn Off the Lights Tonight for Earth Hour 2009

Tonight, March 28th at 8:30pm, you’ll have the opportunity to ‘Vote Earth’ with the flick of a switch. Earth Hour 2009 is a global call to action for every individual, every business and every community to pledge their support for the earth by turning off the lights for one hour. 2,848 cities, towns and municipalities in 84 countries have already committed to Vote Earth – will you be joining us?

It’s all part of an effort to raise awareness about the need for action on global warming. This year, by becoming a part of Earth Hour, you’ll be participating in the world’s first global election between global warming and the earth. The results will be presented at the Global Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen. The goal is one billion votes for Earth, to send the message to world leaders that we, citizens of planet Earth, demand action against global warming.

Spread the word to your friends, family and everyone you run into today to make sure they know about Earth Hour.  In addition to telling people in person, here are a few more ways you can help:

TWITTER

Say as much as you can about VOTE EARTH in 140 characters. In the countdown to Earth Hour, you can let others know about what you’re up to every step of the way. Make sure you include ‘#VOTEEARTH’ in all tweets so others can follow your messages.

WRITE A BLOG

Start a conversation about VOTE EARTH. The results of the election will be presented at the Global Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen 2009, so we need you to help get the world talking! Tag your blog so others can join in, with tags like ‘VOTE EARTH’, ‘Earth Hour’, ‘Copenhagen’, and ‘global warming’.

EMAIL A FRIEND

Let your friends know about VOTE EARTH. If you tell your friends, they’ll tell their friends, then they’ll tell their friends, and you’ll be responsible for getting a lot of votes for Earth. You can also set up email reminders for Earth Hour, and let your friends know about registering at earthhour.org/voteearth.

SIGN UP

Review: The Wonder Wash & Spin Dryer by Laundry Alternative

If you’re off-grid, living on the road or just trying to go green in as many ways as possible, you’ve probably grappled with the best ways to do your laundry without slaving over it for hours on end. Getting clothes and household linens thoroughly clean and dry while using as little water and energy as possible is challenging, to say the least – but two products from Laundry Alternative can help make your life a little easier and your laundry routine a whole lot greener.

The Wonder Wash is a compact, portable hand-powered washing machine that doesn’t even have to be hooked up to a sink. Here’s what the company had to say about it:

• Washes a 5-lb. load super clean in just a couple of minutes.
• Has a patented pressure system that forces detergent into the fabric at high speed for a fast, efficient, economic and very easy wash
• Is ideal for campers, single persons and even for the housewife with small frequent loads like hand washables and diapers.
• Is ideal for delicates such as woolens, silks, knitted dresses and cashmere garments.
• Uses far less water than even hand washing.

The Wonder Wash is essentially a plastic bin with a pressure lid, a stand, a handle and a drain spout. You put warm or hot water in the drum, add soap and then put in your laundry. Once the lid is properly in place, the air inside the drum absorbs the heat of the water and expands, creating pressure inside the drum. That pressure forces the detergent through the fabric, reportedly 100 times faster than you could do it by hand or in a conventional washing machine.

The Laundry Alternative website said that it can fit 7-8 dress shirts, 10 t-shirts, 30 pairs of socks or 2-3 pairs of blue jeans. I decided to test this claim and stuffed it with 3 pairs of my husband’s cargo pants, figuring they were the bulkiest items I had on hand and possibly the toughest to clean. They fit in pretty easily, and turning the handle was not exactly a Herculean task. I set the Wonder Wash up next to my kitchen sink and turned the handle for just three minutes. Then I drained it with the attached drain spout, filled it up with more water and spun the handle a few more times to rinse and drained it again. I must admit I was pretty surprised when the pants, which had been pretty nasty from yardwork, came out clean.

Of course, they were also sopping wet. The Wonder Wash doesn’t wring water from fabrics like a conventional washing machine does, so you’re either in for a whole lot of hand-wringing – or you can use the Spin Dryer, made by the same company.

From the Laundry Alternative website:

• Works in only 2-3 minutes
• 12.2 lb capacity for wet laundry, 5.5 lb capacity for dry laundry
• 3200 rpm spin speed
• Portable, only weighs 22 lbs
• Compact, only 13.7″ x 13.7″ x 24″ (lwh)
• Much gentler on clothes than a conventional tumble dryer
• Removes mineral deposits and detergents, rather than baking them on
• Can be used as a standalone dryer, or with a tumble dryer
• If used with a conventional tumble dryer, cuts drying time by 30 minutes or more, significantly reducing energy costs and prolonging the life of your dryer and clothing
• Connects to any 110V outlet, no installation required.

It did, in fact, get the pants even drier than they would normally be coming out of a conventional washing machine, and it only took three minutes. You can then either throw the load into your regular dryer for vastly reduced overall drying time or hang them up to dry (which is obviously the greenest solution).

These products are small enough to fit in your VW bus, tiny ass apartment or wherever you call home. While the size means you can’t do huge loads – forget fitting a comforter into either one – it does make them super portable. I find the size of the Wonder Wash to be just fine for the amount of laundry my husband and I produce (which isn’t much). The Wonder Wash would also be great for parents who’d like to keep their baby’s clothes – or dirty cloth diapers – separate from their own laundry, particularly since it’s so gentle on the clothes.

You can even use the Wonder Wash in your backyard and dump the grey water into your garden afterward (assuming you’re using phosphate-free laundry detergent or none at all, of course).

All in all, these are great products that make it much easier to have an eco-friendly laundry routine that doesn’t require a return to the methods of the 1800’s. Oh yeah, and the prices are super reasonable, too – $42.95 for the Wonder Wash and $134.95 for the Spin Dryer. You’ll make the money back in months with all the water and energy you’ll save.

Link [Wonder Wash] + [Spin Dryer]

Iceless ‘Ice Skating’ Rink in Japan Saves Water & Energy

Ice skating is one of the most beloved winter activities, and it has a certain romance to it. Bundling up in scarves and hats, holding hands with someone while you circle the rink, sipping hot cocoa to warm up in between – who can resist it? But, indoor ice skating rinks in particular use an awful lot of water when making ice, and it takes a lot of electricity to keep it frozen. One ‘ice skating’ rink in Japan solved that problem by replacing ice with resin panels.

From Green Packs, via EcoFriend:

Toyama prefecture is located in northern Japan. It gets cold there in the winter, but not really cold enough to freeze a lake or a pond. Not to worry, Japan has an answer to those who still want to go skating. There’s a skating made out of resin, plastic. It’s 300-square-meters square and billed as environmentally friendly.

The rink uses some 80 pieces of plastic glued together and skaters can frolic about as if they were on ice. Speed is slower because of greater friction and I don’t suppose your hands get cold when you fall down. Ah, and no worrying about going through the ice and into the drink either.

Interesting idea, though it does take away most of the atmosphere of ice skating. But, plastic? Is that really the best approach? If they had used recycled plastic, it would be far more eco-friendly.

Of course, the more eco-friendly option is to ice skate on naturally frozen bodies of water that have been deemed safe by local authorities. Outdoor ice skating rinks in areas where the cold weather keeps the water frozen are generally okay, too.

Link [Green Packs] + [Eco Friend]

Donate $100 of Somebody Else’s Money to Green & Humanitarian Causes

It would be great if we could all afford to regularly give money to organizations that promote green causes. Unfortunately, many of us just aren’t able to donate much due to our own budgetary limitations. Luckily for us, sometimes those people who have plenty of cash to spare are willing to pony up for the rest of us in exchange for some non-monetary effort of our own. That’s what the Hinkle Charitable Foundation (HCF) is willing to donate $100 to the Solar Electric Light Fund for every person who reads three primers on energy usage and makes a commitment to change.

From TheHCF.org:

To encourage each reader to become an agent against global warming, we are again issuing a challenge. For each person who reads these three primers and commits to pursue them, we will make a $100 donation in his or her name to the Solar Electric Light Fund (SELF). SELF is a truly worthy non-profit organization that simultaneously fights global poverty and climate change. SELF’s primary mission is to install local solar electric power generators in rural third-world areas. In many instances, SELF’s installations are directed to education, health and irrigation facilities and can include joint ventures, where local participants invest in a portion of the project. Providing solar electric power to remote, off-grid people frees them from the unpalatable alternatives of either using kerosene-generated power (which is both bodily and environmental dangerous) or living with no electricity, no lights, no irrigation possibilities, and no connection to the outside world.

As with last year’s challenge, to accept the challenge below, you only need to send us an email. Tell us you will commit yourself (on the honor system) to move forward toward more climate-friendly living and that you’ll try to complete the steps below. The $100 contributions to SELF will be limited to the first 1,000 responders.

The three primers are on compact fluorescent lights, tankless water heaters and reducing idling. It’s one of very few changes you’ll ever get to have that much money donated on your behalf without having to spend a dime of your own, so take it now!

Link [TheHCF.org] via [The Action Blog]