Sunday, November 23, 2008

NIKE eco friendly clothing!

"JUST DO IT: Nike Wins With Green Athletic Gear"
By: Margret
on November 7th, 2008

Summary of blog: This blog is about Nike creating eco friendly clothing!

To begin this article states that there was an eco friendly pair of Air Jordan XX3's created! I don't think that I'd ever wear these shoes but the idea is very cool! Nike has created "track jackets, shorts, and pants that are made from 100% recycled polyester yet still feature the Nike Dri-FIT technology with wick away action to draw sweat off the athlete." The shoes in the line are made cork and recycled material (which is literally ground up old Nike shoes). The tees shirts are made of100% organic cotton. This article could affect me in the future. I love to shop so maybe I will have to start looking in the green friendly section. The only problem is I'm not exactly sure where that is located in the mall...haha. But truly one day maybe it will be very easy to buy clothes like this at any or even every clothing store. Anyways this article is not incredibly reliable, I'm not exactly sure who the author is but some of the principals in the article are pretty informational.

http://www.lazyenvironmentalist.com/

Sunday, November 16, 2008

obamas energy plan

A closer look at Obama’s energy plan


By: Mark Clayton (Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor)
November 12, 2008

Summary of blog: This article is about Obama's energy plan

It discusses how American taxpayers will each get a $500 rebate check which will be funded as a result of the taxation on big oil companies. His 30-point energy plan will call for changes dealing with carbon emissions, fuel efficient vehicles, and renewable power. "“Obama’s energy plan is much more than a campaign laundry list,” says Bracken Hendricks, a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress, a think tank chaired by John Podesta, who heads the Obama administration’s transition effort. “It really is a centerpiece of Obama’s economic development strategy for the nation, for energy security, and rebuilding our cities and infrastructure" The information comes from rather good sources in this article BUT it is from a fairly bias viewpoint. It doesn't list any possible harms or negative issues. It also all sounds very pleasing but wether it will come true or not is questionable. The information in this article affects my family and i very much. Since Obama is going to be the leader of our nation details such as this are important! Some of the things in this article that really excite is the idea of having hybrid cars that get about 150 miles to the gallon. Another thing i'm excited for is Obamas plan to have 10 percent of the nation’s electricity to come from renewable energy sources like wind, solar, geothermal, and biomass by 2012.

http://features.csmonitor.com/environment/2008/11/12/a-closer-look-at-obama%E2%80%99s-energy-plan/

Sunday, November 9, 2008

The green RV

"The Green RV"
By: Linda Baker
on November 7, 2008

Summary of blog: This article is about a few people who have changed their lifestyle to help save and promote Eco-friendly lifestyles. The main way that these people do so is by living in an RV powered by biodiesel, a fuel made from vegetable oil, rather than a home.

I think this article brings up a lot of good points. "When people talk about conservation, they get so bogged down with recycling and living lightly they forget what they are trying to save said Brian Brawdy, a 47-year-old former police investigator turned wilderness expert." This quote by Brian Brawdy hit me very hard and made me realize this is soo true. People are always trying to buy food that is "healthier" or save on things but do they even know why they are doing this? I think some people are so caught up in the fact that they are "saving" that they forget the purpose as to why they are sdoing so! There are other interesting things in this article too. One family has left there 1600 square foot home to live in a small RV. Doing this prevents them from buying things they do not need, because there is no room to store uneeded goods. The family also limits their use of hot water. The hot water capacity in the RV is 6 gallons, so they must be recourseful! They decorates with all non-toxic paints and even used bamboo for the flooring to protect our recourses. Most inportantly the family is using a fuel that is made from vetetable oil to run their vehicle. I think this is a very inspiring article and i beleive the promotion of these types of lifestyles could inspire other families aswell. Maybe one day this type of fuel will be easily and affordably avaliable to all families. This article is fairly reliable. It has many sources listed and direct quotes from people. It also has photos of the actual family who has made this lifestyle switch and lots of solid facts.


http://travel.nytimes.com/2008/11/07/travel/escapes/07RV.html

Sunday, November 2, 2008

Challenging car culture

"With Free Bikes, Challenging Car Culture on Campus"

By: Katie Zezima
Date: October 19, 2008

Summary: This article provides information about riding a bike on college campuses (rather than driving a car).


This article was really fun to read. It discusses how a colleges are really trying to push bike riding to be the primary transportation on campus. "When Kylie Galliani started at the University of New England in August, she was given a key to her dorm, a class schedule and something more unusual: a $480 bicycle." Universities in England and Wisconsin are giving free bikes to any freshmen who agrees to leave their car at home. How cool! Other colleges are setting up rental programs for their campuses or working with bike stores to help keep prices low. The goal is to eliminate parking shortages and help unclog the city roads around the school. I feel like this is an awsome idea because it will help eliminate collede kids from doing other things in addition to what was mentioned like limit drinking and driving and giving off co2 emision. It will also help teenagers from gaining the typical "freshman 15". Young adults will also get to keep the inner child in them who can pop wheelies and coast down big hills! This could impact many familes by saving them lots of gas money along with insurance and car payments. On the negitive side, other schools are shutting this program down because to many bikes are being stolen or vandelized. =[ This source is fairly reliable. A woman from the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education, comments on the explosion of bikes in this topic. Their are also a few quortes from college students and there opinions and Michael Daley, head of the university’s environmental council and a professor of economics (in England). Lots of the stats in this article are opinions though.