By Clint Williams

Let’s be honest: For most folks, conservation implies sacrifice. Maybe even a little discomfort. Turn down the thermostat to save energy, your feet are cold.

There is no sacrifice involved driving the 2009 Honda Civic Hybrid. Not after you write the check, anyway. In fact, Honda this year is adding some nice touches. The most important addition is electronic stability control, now standard. Options now include leather-trimmed interior, heated seats, navigation system, XM satellite radio and Bluetooth® HandsFreeLink®.

The Civic Hybrid is powered by a 1.3-liter four-cylinder engine and a 15 kilowatt electric motor, producing a combined 110-horsepower. That horsepower is harnessed by a smooth continuously variable transmission. Acceleration is best described as adequate, but this isn’t a sports car. (more…)

It waits, patiently, in a corner of the pantry. It knows that it goes out on Tuesdays, doing its good work with a load of diet Coke cans, glass bottles, newspapers and plastics #1 and #2. Salad bar containers make guest appearances, and once in a while a Tide bottle livens things up with its vivid orange and blue, but that’s about as exciting as it gets for the recycling bin.

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. It’s the mantra of environmentally concerned people everywhere. Maybe you’ve gotten the third part of the equation conquered: If it’s glass, plastic, metal or paper, it goes in the bin. It saves space in the garbage and it saves resources for the planet. But what about the rest? Are you reducing your carbon footprint? Can you reuse more things than you do?

You can, easily, and here’s the best part: It will also save you money. Frugality gets its own cult-like devotion these days. In economically questionable times, anything that keeps a little more cash in our pocket is welcome. And while we’d all like to go out and buy hybrid vehicles and solar water heaters, it may be more practical right now to concentrate on small things that add up to make a difference. The key is, don’t think you have to overhaul your life. Look around your house, be conscious of your routines, and find small changes that work for you.

“I think the important thing to remember, when trying to go green to save green, is that you shouldn’t try to change too many habits too soon,” said author Leah Ingram, who writes The Lean Green Family, a blog that tells how she (pictured left), her husband and their two pre-teen daughters have adopted a green lifestyle and saved money at the same time.

“Take it slowly, doing one thing at a time, kind of like when you might go on a diet or start a new exercise program,” Ingram said. “Take baby steps. Soon enough it will all seem like second nature.”

How small can a baby step be? Here’s how small: Milk in your cereal. When you’ve finished your cereal, do you drink the milk from the bottom of the bowl, or do you throw it down the drain? If you’re the latter, cut the amount of milk on your cereal tomorrow by about half. Make it a goal to have the cereal and milk end at exactly the same time. Just a fourth of a cup of milk saved daily adds up to close to six gallons of milk in a year. That’s six gallons’ worth of containers that don’t have to be out in the world, and a nifty $20-$30 in your pocket.

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Aahhhh. Another beautiful fall day. Another leaf blower. BBZZZZZZZZ!!!!

Solution? Rake.

Suggested New Thought Bubble: Wait a minute, what am I doing with this silly, ineffectual, dirty-emissions gadget? I’m an American, I should be conserving gasoline*, not squandering it. We’re at war in the Middle East! What was I thinking? My parents would have known better during WWII.

(* or electricity for plug-in leaf blower owners.)

Copyright © 2008 | Distributed by Noofangle Media

Turns out that the sour candy you’ve been dishing out to the kids because it’s got fewer calories, and well, they love it, has some serious consequences for their teeth.

Not only do the gummy versions (and to a lesser degree the chewy, crystallized, hard and foamy varieties) get stuck in their teeth, some of the really sour, tangy stuff is acidic enough to eat away at tooth enamel, according to the report out this week by the California Dental Hygienists’ Association.

“This Halloween, we are advising adults to think twice about buying sour candies for trick-or-treaters,” said Erika Feltham, a Registered Dental Hygienist and CDHA member who has studied this issue for more than a decade.

“With repeated exposure and frequency” sour candy can lead to  “increased cavities, tooth sensitivity, staining, soft-tissue sensitivities and loss of shine,” she said.

In these days of melting 401Ks and Arctic ice caps,  the loss of tooth shine doesn’t quite top the list of our immediate concerns. But it does suggest that come Halloween, we should just Let Them Eat Chocolate!

We have long enjoyed Endangered Species Chocolate, an Indianapolis company that gives back 10 percent of its net profits to conservation and habitat preservation projects and manages to produce a delectable chocolate. Endangered Species is offering bite-size Halloween-wrapped chocolates again this year for trick-or-treaters; you can order either milk or dark chocolate (72% cocoa). The product is “ethically traded”, vegan, kosher and gluten free, according to the company.

Copyright © 2008 | Distributed by Noofangle Media

Being a little less eco-nasty is not good enough. Your company needs to do something good.

Every day, I talk to business people about the importance of being thoughtful about people, communities and the environment. In other words, it is not a single idea: It is a thousand little ideas that design or redesign how we do business.

When we say, “let’s reduce air pollution by a few percent”, that’s just a start in the right direction. It’s being a little less bad. When you suggest, instead, “let’s also invest in air scrubber technology to restore the environment,” you are putting something in the plus column. That’s a balanced eco-portfolio.

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The smell of autumn permeates the air. The cool, crisp weather signals fall’s annual crimson-colored foliage. For many an avid lawn keeper, the harvest season often means returning to the never-ending chore of raking and bagging leaves, then setting them at curbside for the weekly garbage haul-off. But stop right there.

Leaves are packed full of nutrients! Under normal growing conditions — with varied values, based on the source and condition of each tree — leaves are jam-packed with nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, calcium, magnesium, iron, manganese, chloride, boron, iron, sodium, copper, and zinc. To simply rake and bag them up, only to be hauled off to the garbage landfill is a total waste of nature’s vast supply of rich nutrients, perfect for replenishing the soil.

So how do you go green in the fall? Start the process by not throwing away your leaves. There are alternatives. Mowing leaves, then mulching, and composting are the most effective way to reuse and recycle leaf mixtures. In addition, leaves can be used for overall soil improvement, directly working them into garden and flowerbed soils by tilling them in.

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As mentioned last week, I’m giving a breakfast talk at 8am in LA tomorrow.

I’m speaking on behalf of Fedex Office and American Express at a business breakfast designed to give solid ideas on social innovations and how to make a difference at work.

My key subject will be “How to find Green Green innovations at work”.  Given the current economic climate, green ideas need to either be free or save money.  In fact, any new innovations need to save money or be free!

I’ll share a few ideas, taken from the pages of Saving The World At Work.  Some include:
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Here’s an excerpt from my new book, Saving The World At Work:

Every day at work, you are surrounded by waste that could be easily converted into social nutrition for your community. Have you ever counted all the broken or outdated computers, monitors, printers, phones, desks, and chairs gathering dust?

Many innovators are turning their trash into food by partnering with nonprofit groups with expertise in preparing used items for community distribution. Electro-Motive, a LaGrange, Illinois–based manufacturer of electric-diesel locomotives, took a novel approach to a recent company-wide upgrade of its computers. Instead of throwing out 700 old computer workstations, the company donated them to Chicago’s Computers for Schools, a nonprofit that refurbishes computers for local school systems. And when executives discovered that the recycling program was popular with employees, they organized a three-day recycling drive. Employee enthusiasm was so high that organizers created a follow-up event for the general public at Chicago’s United Center. Between the two events, more than 80,000 pounds of computer and office equipment were collected. (more…)

By Harriet Blake

Two evangelical groups are in the spotlight for their efforts to improve the environment. The most recent to join the eco-movement is a small group of Southern Baptists whose climate initiative is receiving a lot of press these days.

The Southern Baptist Environment and Climate Initiative (SBECI) got its start with a divinity student, Jonathan Merritt. As the story goes, one day in divinity class, Merritt had an epiphany.

“I was sitting in theology class at Southeastern Seminary [in Wake Forest, N.C.],” he says. “We were discussing how God reveals himself both through scripture and through nature. My professor made the statement that when we destroy God’s creation, which is a form of divine revelation, it is similar to tearing a page out of the Bible.

“That broke me,” says Merritt, “and began a shift in perspective for me.” The 26-year-old son of noted evangelist Dr. James Merritt, former president of the Southern Baptist Convention, decided that his faith needed to get on board with global warming. (more…)

By Clint Williams

Imagine a day of running errands - grocery shopping, dropping off the dry cleaning, hauling the kids to T-ball practice - that doesn’t include a stop for gas. Now imagine a week. A month. Three months. Six months. A year. Five years.

That’s the promise of the Chevrolet Volt, a plug-in electric car expected in dealer showrooms November 2010. Powered by a T-shaped lithium-ion battery pack, the four-passenger Volt will be able to travel 40 miles on a charge.

That’s enough range for the bulk of daily driving, GM officials say, citing a U.S. Department of Transportation survey that found 76 percent of drivers commute 40 miles or less daily.

Drive a Volt and the only reasons for stopping at a QT are Slurpees and microwave breakfast burritos. (more…)

As if we needed another scare this week, the tainted milk scandal in China continues to slip its moorings, with melamine, an industrial chemical never intended for human consumption, turning up in Lipton brand “milk tea powder” products destined for Asian markets as well as in good ol’ Nabisco Ritz cracker cheese sandwiches tested in South Korea.

International food giant Unilever announced today it was recalling certain Lipton milk teas from Hong Kong and Macau shelves because internal tests found melamine contamination. The company reported, however, that none of the affected products were destined for U.S. stores and that Unilever’s U.S. division does not import any milk ingredients from China.

Chocolate and coating suppliers in the U.S. have “confirmed that all of their products used in Unilever U.S. production” of ice cream and health drinks are unaffected by the melamine contamination in China, said company spokesman Dean Mastrojohn.

Meanwhile, South Korea officials reported finding melamine in Nabisco’s Ritz cracker cheese sandwiches and said they were banning imports of all Chinese-made food products containing powdered milk. (No calls back yet from Nabisco.)

Earlier, Cadbury also recalled 11 chocolate bars after tests found a small amount of melamine in six chocolate samples. Hong Kong authorities declared the contamination to be at a “safe level” - but Cadbury said it was still withdrawing the candy, made in Beijing.

Before that it was Mr. Brown Blend Instant Coffee and Mr. Brown French Vanilla Instant Coffee, and some other Mr. Brown’s brand coffees, on the hook for contamination, and…well, the list goes on. (more…)