By Shermakaye Bass

The well was dry beside the door,
And so we went with pail and can
Across the fields behind the house
To seek the brook, if still it ran; . . .        - Robert Frost’s “Going for Water”

Every year, more about the world’s worsening water crisis is revealed: Who has potable water, sanitation and fresh drinking water - and who doesn’t.

The statistics are increasingly foreboding: The United Nations,  UNICEF, the World Health Organization, the Global Water Trust, World Water Council, the Pacific Institute and other international organizations warn us that by 2025, two-thirds of the Earth’s population will live in water-strapped countries. By mid-century, they say, two out of three people around the globe will not have potable water, and by the end of this century, the number of people without access to fresh drinking water – just under a billion today – could double.

Water, water, they tell us, is not everywhere.

Water that humans can use, that is. The world’s population uses only .0067 percent of all the water on Earth, according to U.S. Geological Survey charts. The remaining 99 percent of the planet’s water is salty or brackish, or it is trapped in glaciers and ice.   [Read more →]

By Lynette Holloway

The other day, at the swank Blue Water Grill in downtown Chicago, chef Eric Kendrick held a treasure trove of

Photo by Terri O’Hara
Chef Eric Kendrick and a bumper crop of locally grown food.

vegetables in a huge amber bowl. The haul, plucked fresh from a local farmer’s market, included deep purple torpedo onions, colorful zucchini flowers, flavorful French breakfast radishes, robust heads of yellow and purple cauliflower, and hearty Queen Ann cherries.

It was a good day, judging by Kendrick’s effusive praise.

The finds were remarkable, not only because of their uniqueness and variety, but because shopping at the Green City Market in Lincoln Park is one of the many practices that helps Blue Water Grill maintain its cachet as a “green restaurant.” Serving locally grown foods, for example, helps reduce the fossil fuel pollution associated with transportation.

It’s not easy being green, but it’s well worth the effort, say Kendrick (pictured) and Charles Przybylinski, the director of operations for Blue Water Grill for 18 months. Przbylinski has overseen a large part of the restaurant’s green endeavors.

[Read more →]

By Barbara Kessler

With gas prices pressuring wallets everywhere and climate change warming the planet, people are looking to the sun for some salvation. It’s paradoxical yes, but so sensible. The sun’s energy burns brightly on Earth and is capable of powering our homes and potentially our cars, if that power can be efficiently harvested.

For the current transportation crisis, it would be a dream solution: An ever-present source of energy powering vehicles with zero emissions. In 2008, however, science has yet to figure out how to make solar cars move as quickly as we’d like them to; carry heavy loads and not peter out when the sun goes down.

Fortunately for us hopeful drivers, the top engineers in the world are now focusing on these issues — as are many motivated college students and even a handful of high school kids.

We caught up with some of those aspiring younger solar engineers recently at the Dell-Winston School Solar Car Challenge in Fort Worth, Texas, where they competed to see who could field a car that could successfully run 400 laps on the 1.5 mile track at Texas Motor Speedway.

The competition has been engaging students from all over the country in solar technology for 15 years, producing cars that amaze their creators with how well and how far they can ride on the sun’s energy. In even years, the teams run cars on the NASCAR track and in the odd-years, they run a cross country race. This year’s race saw them running faster cars, with better solar arrays and specially crafted frames from the latest available metals. The race left the students and the teachers buzzing about the possibilities. Watch the video report.

By John DeFore

It must be a bittersweet moment to be Darrell Hammond.

Every talk Al Gore gives, after all, continues to prove the Saturday Night Live veteran’s brilliance at honing in on the speech patterns of public figures; if Gore can’t tweak his style after years of mockery, then clearly Hammond caught something elemental.

But in his speech in Washington on Thursday, the former Vice President also shattered the central premise of Hammond’s take on Al Gore — that the politician is so terminally dull, so pedantic and long-winded, that the idea of him inspiring followers is a joke. To the contrary: Despite the occasional Droopy Dog cadences of his address, Gore gave one hell of a speech. [Read more →]

By Catherine Girardeau

Eleven-year-old Colin Carlson of Coventry, Conn., took his cue from the penguins. The recent winner of the sixth annual Action for Nature International Young Eco-Hero Awards in the 8-to-13 age group was nine when he visited the Galapagos Islands as a member of the National Geographic Kids Expedition Team.

“I was snorkeling near a beach that was supposed to be teeming with Galapagos penguins, and there were only two or three,” Colin said in an interview with GreenRightNow. When Colin asked why, the answer he got – repeated El Nino ocean warming cycles associated with global climate change – prompted him to launch
“The Cool Coventry Club” to educate people about global warming and energy conservation, starting in his hometown.

San Francisco, California-based non-profit Action for Nature’s president, Beryl Kay, said her organization started the International Young Eco-Hero Awards after publishing a book about children’s successful environmental efforts around the world. “We thought it would be worthwhile to keep in touch with children who are doing exciting environmental things,” Kay said. [Read more →]

By Paula Minahan

The idea of living in a truly sustainable green environment is a homeowner’s dream: Lower energy bills, healthier materials,

Photo: Barley & Pfeiffer Architects
 
Overhangs provide protection from the sun.

the satisfaction of “doing the right thing.” But with our slumping U.S. economy, many worry about holding onto their home — let alone building a new one. To most, a new green home will never be more than a dream.

Green retrofitting, or adapting an older building to greener standards opens the door. The U.S. Green Building Council has identified 11 ways to retrofit your home. Some are as simple as programming your thermostat at 78 F or higher in summer, and 62 F or lower in winter. More elaborate, and perhaps expensive, are switching to green power and exploring solar technology solutions.

So where to begin? Green Right Now went to LEED-accredited architect and building scientist Peter Pfeiffer for advice. Along with partner Alan Barley, Pfeiffer founded Barley & Pfeiffer Architects on a commitment to environmentally responsive green building more than two decades ago.

We sat down with Pfeiffer in his Austin office to tap his experience and posed the questions: ‘How can I make my existing home greener? What’s the smart approach?’ His recommendations follow. [Read more →]

By Paula Minahan

Swimming pools are a big draw in summer, but when it comes to energy consumption, they can be a big drain. Award-winning green architect Peter Pfeiffer shared his own experience on how to reduce “pain at the pump”:

Here’s a great story about building my own home. We installed solar panels on the roof through a city program that pays 70% of the system’s cost. It was a $25,000 system and we ended up paying about $6,500; the city paid the rest. The system saves us about $35-$50 a month; that’s it. If you run the numbers, and let’s be generous, it saves us around $500 a year. [Read more →]

By Paula Minahan

Peter Pfeiffer doesn’t mince words. His passion for green building takes an almost proselytizing tone at times. And it’s no wonder. The straight-shooting architect has spent the past 30 years at the forefront of the

Photo: Barley & Pfeiffer Architects
 
Peter Pfeiffer’s green house in Austin

green building movement. The award-winning work of his Austin-based firm, Barley & Pfeiffer Architects, has been showcased on TV, National Public Radio and in a host of magazines and newspapers. In 2006, Residential Architect named Pfeiffer one of the 10 most influential residential architects of the past decade.

We spoke with Pfeiffer in his corner office, set in a 1930s two-story house that’s home to the firm. During our conversation, Pfeiffer pointed out tried-and-true design principles incorporated throughout the old house.

Green Right Now: Tell us your philosophy about ‘going green.’

Pfeiffer: Use your common sense and go back to the idea of climatic-specific design decisions. The way you do your roof, shade your windows, use light colors. Building a tight home with spray foam insulation. The basics. Deal with things that make you physically uncomfortable; those will be the most efficient from an energy conservation perspective.

I often wonder, ‘How are people so tuned out to what’s important to the environment?’ I think the answer is this: You and I grew up without air conditioning. Our kids are the first generation where probably 99% are growing up in homes and buildings with central air. I think that disenfranchises you from being tuned into the environment. Your environmental control is just a matter of which direction you push the button on the thermostat. [Read more →]