CT Green Scene

Editorial Credibility in an Online World

by Elizabeth G. Howard

I was recruited by MomCentral.com to take part in their blog tours, when the subject was appropriate for my blogs. I have two blogs -- Letters from a Small State, which reflects on my life in Connecticut, and Honk if You Compost, my eco-humor blog.

I am on a mission with these tours: to write great reviews and thoughtful pieces for whatever I sign on to. I take the job seriously, even if the pay isn't much.

Recently I committed to review Clorox's Green Works Natural Biodegradable Cleaning Wipes. I am seriously curious about this brand-- I particularly wanted see if Clorox could sell me on this disposable product.

They didn't ... the wipes, although compostable weren't amazingly useful enough to make them worth adding to the cleaning products that are tried and truly low-impact.

Everyone's Truth is Out There
Curiously, my negative eco-humor-review was not too overly adored by the MomCentral crew-- I was asked if I didn't want to tone it down just a little bit? This has indicated to me what I have been suspecting about this far-reaching and influential website (and others like it): online reviews can often be more about promoting products than they are about giving serious consideration to the product and its impact on the audience. In the case of MomCentral, I fear this may be the case.

It is certainly true that with online writing, the lines between advertising and editorial are gone. As is illustrated by contextual advertising (ie. Adsense), where once there was a firm division between the ad and the ed, we now decide precisely what we advertise based on the page content.

The result? The more niche reporting becomes, the more difficult it becomes to evaluate the credibility, objectivity and even the usefulness of information we find online. Everyone has an opinion--and that opinion is backed by an agenda that becomes more and more hidden.

I have one recommendation, and that is awareness. For more information about how to evaluate what you read on the web, have a look here.

Legislator proposes fee for bags

Published by the Fairfield Minuteman, January 29, 2009

State Representative Kim Fawcett, who represents Fairfield and part of Westport, is working to create new legislation which would impose a restriction on the use of plastic and paper bags at the retail checkout counter throughout the state in order to promote the use of reusable bags.

Fawcett's working concept, which has already been introduced in the environment committee of the state legislature, is to impose a fee of 5 cents for each plastic and paper bag used at retail checkout counters, creating a stream of revenue which could possibly be targeted to the state Department of Environmental Protection.

If such legislation is put into effect, Connecticut would be the first state in the nation to legislate a restriction on plastic and paper bags, said Fawcett.

Moving The Green Way

by Eileen Weber

I hate moving. No, wait. I loathe moving. I haven’t done it often and there is good reason for that. De-cluttering my life to pack up for a new place is as joyless as getting audited by the IRS. Perhaps if I had fewer possessions, I could put the contents of my life in one box gleefully heading off into the sunset on a Vespa singing a melisma rendition of “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough." But Vespa or no Vespa, the day everything I own fits into one box is the day I become a voluptuous blonde. But I digress…

For many who lead a green life to begin with, moving can pose its problems. How can you move in an environmentally friendly way? The average move consists of approximately 20 small boxes, 20 medium boxes, and 5 large boxes. That doesn’t include kitchen items or your wardrobe. And what happens to all those boxes? Whether you like it or not, they can sometimes end up in a landfill instead of the recycling center.

New Bottle Bill Considered: Increase Deposit to 10¢

Posted by the Connecticut Post, January 26, 2009

HARTFORD -- The nickel deposit on cans and bottles would increase to 10 cents under legislation that would expand the recycling law to include water and sports drinks.

But industry officials warned that such a cost hike would result in a huge wave of illegal containers purchased in neighboring states and result in higher consumer prices.

Legislative leaders predicted Monday that some kind of widening of the law will finally occur this year because one of the chief opponents, former Speaker of the House James A. Amann, has left the General Assembly.

"I do believe that the House does have a kinder view of this bill now," said. Rep. Richard Roy, D-Milford, co-chairman of the Environment Committee. "As much as I love the previous speaker --he's my mentor out of Milford -- he was one of the people who did not like this bill, overall." Proposals to include water bottles, sports, drinks and iced teas in recent years have passed the Senate, but died awaiting action on the House calendar.

Home Green Home

by Eileen Weber

It’s cool to be green. I admit that’s probably stating the obvious. But for people who want to be green with their own homes, it sometimes gets a little tricky to find the right products.

That’s where The Center for Green Building comes in. Located on Fairfield Avenue in Bridgeport, the storefront sells everything from cotton insulation to no-VOC (volatile organic compound) paint to all natural, toxin-free floor varnishes and cleaning supplies.

Run by Erin Buckley and Jonathan Tuminski, the couple started the organization out of their carpentry business. After they had their son, Buckley said, “I started doing research on all the toxins in the materials my husband was using.” The ingredients were pretty scary. That was the catalyst for promoting all natural, organic products.

But it wasn’t that easy to start off. “There wasn’t anything in Connecticut,” said Buckley. “Most of the stuff available was out West.” She also said, now that the store has been established, they have a number of contractors who come from New York, the Hartford area and Rhode Island. “We’re one of the only places in the area. There’s nothing out there.”

Welcome Collinsville Green Drinks!

Understand CT & US Policy February 5th @ Fairfield University

The world's best scientists tell us we have only a limited amount of time to reduce greenhouse gas emissions before very serious climate change becomes inevitable. CT has an ambitious goal for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The USA  still does not.  A distinguished panel of local, state and federal policy officials and experts will discuss current local, state and national policy options and listen to student  and citizens express their views on setting priorities  for  CT and the United States.  Please participate, learn more about the challenges we face and what we can do. Panelists will include:

State Senator John McKinney, (R-28) an influential leader in the CT legislature and a key figure in passage of CT's climate policy;
     
Robert Wall, Director, Energy Marketing Initiatives at the Connecticut Clean Energy Fund and

David Leonard Downie, Director of  the Program on the Environment at Fairfield University. Dr. Downie's research focuses on national and international environmental policy, including climate change.  His most recent works include: Climate Change: A Reference Handbook (2009); Global Environmental Politics (2006); The Global Environment: Institutions, Law and Policy (2004); and Northern Lights against POPs: Combating Toxic Threats in the Arctic (2003). Prior to joining Fairfield University in 2008, Dr. Downie taught courses in environmental politics at Columbia University from 1994-2008 . While at Columbia he also served as Director of Environmental Policy Studies at the School of International and Public Affairs, Associate Director of the Graduate Program in Climate and Society, and Director of the Global Roundtable on Climate Change, among other activities.
     
Open to the public: Thursday, February 5, 6-8pm, Oak Room, Barone Campus Center, Fairfield University.

Click here for more environmental events hosted by Fairfield University.

Move Over Raggedy Anne

by Tracey Finch

I recently needed to find a doll for my niece.  After searching my local toy store and looking online I came across the Amber and Abbee) dolls from happygreenbee company, founded by entrepreneur Roxanne Quimby's, of Burt's Bees. The floppy organic cotton dolls are dressed in striped clothes that match their young girls' line and can be purchased locally at Nature's Goods in Unionville and at several Whole Foods stores.

happygreenbee has a simple philosophy: clothing that is comfortable, colorful, playful and ecologically responsible. "We created Happy Green Bee so that a child can be a child, first and foremost," Quimby explains. "By using organic cotton, a comfortable and practical fabric, and simple bee-striped patterns, children feel as comfortable as they look while their parents take a small step in making a big difference in the environment their children live in."

Why choose organic cotton?

Fact: 90 million acres of worldwide agricultural lands are devoted to the production of cotton, consuming 25% of all pesticides used on our planet.  Organic cotton is not treated with pesticides and herbicides. 

For more information on the fiber footprint of cotton vs. organic cotton see: www.sustainablecotton.org/footprint_calculator/buyers/

Q&A with Roxanne Quimby

1.) What are your favorite green products? I like eco-friendly lavender scented dishwashing liquid.  Makes dishwashing chores so enjoyable!! 

2.) How has starting happygreenbee changed your life? A lot more traveling!! 

3.) What's your advice for women wanting to start their own eco-friendly business? Well, be prepared for lots of work and keep persisting!!

Tip Toe

by Krista Richards Mann

We talk about our carbon footprint and we try to reduce our impact by turning off the lights when we leave the room and by taking the train instead of filling the highways with more SUVs.  But, perhaps the biggest thing we can do is to be happy with what we already have.

I was poor before it was chic. I can’t blame it on Madoff but on my own poor judgement in marriage and in an emotionally and financially expensive divorce. I simplified my life by necessity, not by any means of altruism.  But it suited me, and my children.  Suddenly less was expected of us, and we expected less of ourselves.  My wounded spirit and empty pocketbook encouraged us to stay in more, to make due with what we had and to accumulate less.  There have been times that things have been scary, late rent and automotive troubles.  But for the most part, we’ve stopped wanting more and are grateful for an evening spent reading aloud or to bake a cake and consume it warm from the oven.

My old house was larger than any I have rented since.  I drive by it daily; an imposing fence now surrounds it.  And as I search in my rearview mirror to see if the cherry trees are blooming or if they have relocated the peonies, which had become crowded, I never wish to go back.   We don’t need more space.  We don’t need more things, and the seven lamps I now own are easier to remember to click off as a room is deserted. 

I don’t miss a bigger foundation or a bigger footprint.  A little house costs less to heat, it consumes less energy.  When I was living in Cambridge in a tiny house owned by the University, in the spring older couples would come by and knock on the door, their offspring - potential freshmen lingering behind – humiliated that their parents were about to do this.  I would open the door as if surprised, and they introduced themselves.  They had lived there in grad school.   They named their pets after the little lane and they told their children stories of when they had no money and shared a tiny, but charming house.  It was, they always said, the best days of their lives.  I invited them in and they marveled at how little had changed, and how much smaller the kitchen felt – or had they just grown?  I worried then, as they left, that those too would be the best days of my own life. 

What if it was never any better than this?  I wondered.  I liked it there.  I had fallen in love with the little house when I first saw it.  But could that be the best time of my life?

It wasn’t.  I am happier now.  But I wasn’t happier with a big house, or more obligations. 

If you have a big house, that’s great.  It’s lovely to have pretty things!  I am in no way superior to someone who is more affluent, of course!  There are plenty of darling things I would be tempted to acquire if I could right now, a pretty little house with a sunny garden would be first!  But, learn from me, there’s no reason to have to experience for yourself what a constant checking account balance of almost zero feels like.  You’ve likely been there.  Remember when you were in school and you had to dig in the bottom of you closet for enough quarters to pay for a pizza?  It was fun, wasn’t it?  You didn’t want a new car – though you wouldn’t have refused one.  You wanted that night to have some pizza, drink some beer and to laugh with your friends.  They weren’t the best days of your life, I hope.  But they were pretty damned good.

Bigger isn’t better.  Make a smaller footprint and enjoy each other just a little bit more.

Deconstruction, What’s Your Function?

by Eileen Weber

So you want to renovate your kitchen. Get some nice cabinets, some shiny new appliances. Sounds great. But what can you do with all that stuff you just took out?

That’s where folks like Joe DeRisi, founder of Urbanminers in Hamden, come in. With an educational background in resource management and environmental studies, he’s committed to being green—particularly when it comes to construction.

He calls what he does “deconstruction”. He will take out your old cabinets and reuse them for another construction project. Or, if he can’t use them on another project, he can sell them out of his storefront.

“We need to save it. It’s all usable,” said DeRisi of his deconstruction projects. “My goal is to turn over stuff as quickly as possible. There’s way more stuff out there.”

“We’re a wasteful society, throwing out perfectly good things,” said Debra Lombard, the Expeditor and Sustainability Coordinator for Common Visions also in Hamden. Lombard, who often works with DeRisi on her projects, said while she’s in favor of the recycling aspect of deconstruction sometimes there’s a limitation to it.

A Rockin' Environmental Summit--Bedford NY

by Heather Burns-DeMelo

It's so inspiring to see a group of people connect to each other through a common vision, and work together to make it a reality. That's exactly what the Bedford Energy Advisory Panel did, and CT GreenScene is proud to be a partner.

So what can you expect on Saturday, January 31st at Fox Lane School in Bedford? The best line up of food, lectures and workshops I've seen in a LONG time. From vermiculture to school gardens to sex in the garden...bugs that is...green transportation and water, as well as over 100 exhibitors.

And in case that's not enough to get you to register early for discounted tickets, 45 local foodies--from farmers to gardeners to chefs--have come together to bring attendees a scrumptous, local, organic meal.

If You Build It Green, They Will Come…

by Eileen Weber

Did you know 18% of overall indoor water use and 37% of just the hot water use comes from household showers? Did you know that while the US is home to only 4.5% of the global population, it is responsible for over 15% of the world’s consumption of wood? Did you know that unhealthy air is found in 30% of new and renovated buildings?

These were just some fun facts from GreenBuilding.com, an organization based in Boulder, CO. They are the kind of statistics that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. Green Building Council, and others focused on the benefits of green building want the average homeowner to know.

Building the new and renovating the old has taken a turn in the last several years. Homeowners, architects, and contractors alike are seeing the greater benefit of being more eco-conscious with their homes.

Barry Katz, an architect and builder in Westport, has been extremely vocal about the benefits of green building. He has written articles, given lectures, and even submitted entries to this web site about the endless possibilities of a “clean, green” future with the Obama administration.

But there are some homeowners who may balk at the initial cost of building green. To that, Katz says, “It doesn’t cost more, it costs less.” He said that before you build, you’re paying your mortgage, electricity and water bills. Before construction, those bills are higher. After construction, the initial costs essentially end up paying for themselves. “From the moment you move in to your [newly built] house,” he said, “your overall operating costs will be lower.”

Our first green president?

 

by Barry Katz

In five days we will inaugurate our first African American president. It's momentous. It's historic. And it's about time.

Back in the early days of the primary campaign some black leaders raised the question, is Obama black enough. My only question is this - is he green enough.

I think he just may be. I sure hope so. I have watched with pleasure and relief at the science/climate/energy/environment team he has put in place and each appointment raised my level of optimism. Could Barack Obama really be our first green president?

We are faced with an historic opportunity. At no other time would it have been possible to get Congress to approve the kind of spending that could really jump-start the new clean green economy we so desperately need. Only a financial melt-down of current proportions can shake that kind of money from the tree.

It will take bold action and a lot of very smart decisions to make this work, and I'm waiting with bated breath to see if Obama and his team can pull it off. Back in December I wrote a post for my blog, The Future is Green entitled "What we need now" in which I suggested that this administration should be judged primarily on the extent to which the next four to eight years is devoted to energy and climate policy. In my mind, nothing else matters. Nothing else matters because everything else hinges on this.

I'll be watching.

Fairfield County GreenDrinks in EARTHTALK!

From the Editors of E/The Environmental Magazine

Photo: Bruce Feldman

Dear EarthTalk: A friend of mine in Connecticut raves about the “Green Drinks” events she attends there every month to meet up with other eco-interested locals. How can I find out if there are any such gatherings in my area?                  -- Janet McIntosh, Dubuque, Iowa

Every month green-minded people in 460-plus cities around the world meet up at informal social gatherings called Green Drinks. Started in 1989 in London by Edwin Datschefski and friends, the concept has spread like wildfire, with some 350 different Green Drinks chapters worldwide today. The events are designed to be low-key, unstructured and welcoming of all viewpoints on environmental topics. Many participants have found jobs, made friends, developed new ideas, done deals and had moments of serendipity and inspiration at various Green Drinks events.

In the U.S. alone, different Green Drinks events are held in 223 cities every month. The New York City chapter is the biggest in the world, with an invite list topping 10,000 people and typical attendance in the hundreds. Green Drinks events are also popular in the United Kingdom, Canada, Germany, Poland, Sweden, the Netherlands, Japan, New Zealand, Chile, Puerto Rico and Australia. Melbourne, Australia currently holds the record for the world’s biggest Green Drinks event, with more than 1,700 participants showing up on the first night of the city’s February 2007 Sustainable Living Festival.

“People from different fields come together with a mutual interest in environmental issues and cross-pollinate and drink in a very low-key social atmosphere,” says Margaret Lydecker, who started New York City’s Green Drinks chapter in 2002 and currently serves as the U.S. point-person for the events. Lydecker—who has personally helped start upwards of 100 different chapters, including one in Kabul, Afghanistan—says the events have been a big catalyst for connectivity, community, collaboration and change in the environmental sector in New York and beyond.

In the U.S. and Canada, most mid-sized and large cities already have thriving Green Drinks chapters. You can likely find one somewhere near you, wherever you live, by searching under the “Find City” link on the GreenDrinks.org website, and clicking through until you get a schedule of upcoming events in your particular city. If there isn’t yet a Green Drinks chapter in your region, by all means start a new one.

Heather Burns-DeMelo, who had started a local/green happenings website for Connecticut called CTgreenscene.com, was inspired by Lydecker in 2007 to start a Green Drinks chapter where she lives in Connecticut’s Fairfield County so that green-minded people in the area could connect in person. “The web is great,” she says, “but face-to-face is key to growing the movement.”

According to Burns-DeMelo, setting up the chapter was easy—she just emailed Green Drinks founder Datschefski from the greendrinks.org website with a request to start a new chapter—but getting people to come to the initial events was more challenging. She and friends set up sign-up tables at local community events, found a restaurant willing to host, sent a press release to local papers, hung fliers and posted notices on her website and others. The hard work paid off: 65 people showed up at the first event on a gloomy Wednesday night, and the chapter has been growing by leaps and bounds ever since.

CONTACT: Green Drinks, www.greendrinks.org.

GOT AN ENVIRONMENTAL QUESTION? Send it to: EarthTalk, c/o E/The Environmental Magazine, P.O. Box 5098, Westport, CT 06881; submit it at: www.emagazine.com/earthtalk/thisweek/, or e-mail: earthtalk@emagazine.com. Read past columns at: www.emagazine.com/earthtalk/archives.php.

THE NEXT FAIRFIELD COUNTY GREENDRINKS EVENT IS TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 3rd from 6 to 9 pm at EARTHPLACE IN WESTPORT! Click here for more information.

Have You Heard of Hydroponics?

by Eileen Weber

I’m a sucker for a great looking tomato. Juicy red. Plump, yet taut to the touch. It just screams: “Eat me!”

Certainly, nothing beats fresh produce. But, some of what’s available in the supermarkets leaves a little bit to be desired. The tomatoes, in particular, are hard, barely ripened escapees from far away places.

But some of those little red beauties come from greenhouses that are relatively local and use an innovative method of growth. Tomatoes, lettuces, herbs and sometimes cucumbers are grown using hydroponics.

Hydroponics, from the Greek words meaning “water” and “labor”, is a method of growing plants, mainly fruits and vegetables, without soil. The plants are placed in trays or inserted into tubing over a container of water with a submergible pump. The pump circulates the water making traditional gardening methods unnecessary. Sometimes, a different medium such as clay pellets, sand, or peat is used to support the plant. But the water filtration is the key to growth.

“Hydroponics is a clean, above-ground, pesticide-free way of growing such a variety of plants,” said Christpoher Todd Blossom, founder of Hartford Fresh, Inc., at Hartford Farms. “It’s year-round cultivation. You can space plants as they grow and it’s 25 times as productive [as traditional gardening].”

This Weekend in CT - The 23rd Annual Connecticut Bridal Expo Goes Green

The Green Bride Guide, GreenScenes and Jenks Productions are teaming up this weekend to create a green wedding section of the Annual Bridal Expo - January 17-18, 2009 at the CT Expo Center in Hartford, Connecticut!

The show, which brings together over 250 vendors and 12,000+ attendees, will have a green section located next to the VIP area of the show (Click here to see the floor plan). I will be there on Saturday signing books, and five signed copies will be raffled off as part of the event.  

Admission is only $10 and if you're a green business, vendors will have an wonderful opportunity to market eco-friendly alternatives to the masses! If you know anyone who might be interested in participating in the green section, email us today!

More and more weddings are going green every day...hope to see you there!!

~ Kate

Taking a Bite Out of the Environment

by Eileen Weber

On Sunday at the Edgerton Center for the Performing Arts at Sacred Heart Univerity. Mark Bittman, cookbook author and weekly columnist for the Dining section of The New York Times, spoke for a little over an hour about his new book, Food Matters: A Guide to Conscious Eating with More Than 75 Recipes, and the state of food in America.

Bittman, echoing some of the recent sentiments of Michael Pollan, Knight Professor of Journalism at UC Berkeley, discussed the way we manufacture food in this country affects our health and our environment. As noted in an earlier article on this web site, Pollan told NPR that the food system was responsible for about a third of the greenhouse gas emissions. During the lecture, Bittman repeated that same statement adding the fact that livestock production tops even transportation in how it affects the environment.

The Winner’s Cup Is Green

by Eileen Weber

For the month of January, three towns in Fairfield County are having a little friendly competition to see which one is the most energy conscious. According to an article dated January 2nd in The Hour, Westport, Wilton, and Weston have taken up the “Green Cup Challenge” initiated by the Wilton Energy Commission and sponsored by Connecticut Light and Power (CL&P). The point of the competition, which will end on January 31st, is to raise awareness of exactly how environmentally conscious their communities are.

The Wilton Energy Commission hosted an open meeting looking to kick start this initiative and a Wilton high school student came to the rescue. Shwetha Rahguraman along with fellow student Kathryn Saphire “took the bull by the horns” and got the ball rolling.

An 11-question survey was formed and sent out to homes and businesses. A few of the questions from the survey, which is also available online, were “Do you own vehicles that get over 30mpg?” and “Do more than a quarter of the lights in your household use compact fluorescent bulbs?”

Points are awarded to how these questions are answered. CL&P will judge the final responses and award a “green” cup to the winning town. As of today, there are 228 participants signed up to take part in the competition.

Mitchell Reichgut, a member of the energy commission, said it’s not about winning the cup. “All of us who are involved in it,” Reichgut was quoted in The Hour as saying, “really feel like it’s a really important project and an important issue.”

DIY Green House Plans

The House Designers (THD) and ENERGY STAR® have partnered to offer consumers an exclusive collection of Green House Plans, which have all been awarded the "Designed to Earn the ENERGY STAR®" credentials to promote green home building.
 
All ENERGY STAR® house plans include energy-efficient details and specifications for features such as tight construction and duct systems (specific to locality), properly-installed insulation, high performance windows, efficient heating and cooling equipment, and ENERGY STAR® qualified lighting and appliances to reduce energy costs by 20 to 30 percent.
 
THD, based in Monroe, Connecticut is a leading on-line resource of the leading residential architects and designers in the U.S. THD has the best selling, most popular house plans in America all under one roof owned and operated directly by the designers with clients who have built their homes in every state in the U.S. and in 56 countries around the globe. 
 
Source: The House Designers and PACE

Are the Green Bags Really Green?

by Eileen Weber

A few weeks ago, I wrote an article about reusable bags. Whether it’s at your supermarket chain or an organic market, a growing number of shoppers are toting around these spiffy little bags.

Allie, a reader who commented on the article and has her own “green” web site, had this to say: “I remember about a year or two ago when every grocery store caught up with Stop & Shop and started crowding their front aisles with reusable, polyethylene bags. I was driving home from work on Route 8 and saw one of the tell-tale green bags on the side of the road. I thought, ‘Well, it was only a matter of time before they started clogging the storm drains like their plastic predecessors.’”

She continued by posing a few queries: What is the environmental impact of producing all these new bags? And how safe is polyethylene, for us and the environment? What about the communities where these are being produced?

Excellent questions. What is the impact of disposed reusable bags? And, are they as great as we think they are?

Mind Your Own Agri-Business

by Eileen Weber 

The confirmation hearing for Tom Vilsack, Barrack Obama’s pick for Secretary of Agriculture, will take place on January 14th. To some, that comes as good news. Political pundits have noted Vilsack’s background as a former governor of Iowa as well as his shared viewpoints with Obama. They both support the use of biofuel, reducing our dependency on foreign oil, and climate change.

“As governor of one of our most abundant farm states, [Vilsack] led with vision promoting biotech to strengthen our farmers in fostering an agricultural economy of the future,” said Obama of Vilsack’s appointment on December 17th, “that not only grows the food we eat, but the energy that we use.”

But others, like Michael Pollan, Knight Professor of Journalism at UC Berkeley, are a little apprehensive about the challenges facing Vilsack in his new role. In an interview with National Public Radio (NPR) on December 18th, Pollan said that the former governor’s appointment may just turn out to be “agribusiness as usual”.

Wants vs. Needs: What's the Diff?

by Heather Burns-DeMelo

About once a year I have to work hard to fight off a hankrin' (yes, I lived in Ohio for 10 years) to make a  large purchase. One year it was a new house in the country, last year it was a new Mac and this year, a spankin new Prius.

Much to my dismay, I'm incredibly crafty when it comes to excuses as to why I NEED something, but like Sheryl Crow once said, "the trick is wanting what you have, not having what you want."

Now that I'm discovering the difference between necessity and desire and facing my somewhat tenuous financial circumstances, I must confess that my recent penchant for a hybrid is not being solely fueled by a desire to cut my personal carbon emissions. In fact, as the Editors of E Magazine point out, buying a new fuel-efficient car isn't always the greenest choice.

Easy CFL Recycling

By Elizabeth G. Howard

OK, as good and decent greens, we try our hardest to hate the BIG BOX STORES that swallow up our open spaces and cause massive globalization and needless consumerism.

However, occasionally they do something useful that I encourage. In June of 2008, Home Depot, the nation's second largest retailer (behind guess who) launched a nationwide CFL recycling program at their stores.

Unlike other ridiculously complicated and antiquated Connecticut recycling programs, there are no restrictions on the return of CFLs to Home Depot, except that they must not be broken.

The program has been in effect for over 6 months, but it isn't likely to see a huge impact until 2009, since CFLs (which last a long time!) were not widely available or in use before 2008.

True Colors?

I am sure there are heaps of people who might argue that anything a BIG BOX STORE does to seem environmental is "greenwashing," however I feel that we can draw the line with a free recycling program. After all, customers do not need to buy anything from the store in order to leave their bulbs at customer service.

I am following up on what happens to the recycled CFLs after they leave the store and I'll let you know. Meanwhile, tell me what you think? Home Depot's recycling program another corporate evil, or useful community service?