Category Archives: Environment

Another Awesome Eco-friendly Surfboard

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Phot Courtesy of Spirare Surfboards
Because I love to surf, it looks like I’ll have to purchase one of these wonderfully green surfboards this year. I know many have written about companies that are making sustainable boards because the feel good image of the surfer hasn’t matched the reality of what’s being done to our beaches. This has also been one of my concerns.
So I’m happy that Kevin Cunningham created his own company that makes surfboards out of the debris that pollutes the oceans. Brilliant! I am certain more will follow his example. An article in TreeHugger explains:

…fragments of man-made debris such as plastic and glass are recycled and reused in the skin of the surfboard. Plastic bags woven into a strengthening cloth, plastic bottles cut up and reassembled into fins, and many other possibilities to be explored.

This is a great example of an entrepreneur/environmentalist who doesn’t simply think outside of the box. He thinks and acts as if there is no box. He should be commended. Great product. For more information, click here.

SWEEEET! Ben & Jerry’s to Convert Ice Cream Waste into Energy

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Image courtesy of Paques
For green advocates like me, this is exciting news. Unilever is doing big things for its Ben & Jerry’s factory in the Netherlands. It has begun the construction of a bio-digester. When its complete later this year, waste products will be turned into energy. In fact, it is believed that the process will provide 40 percent of the factory’s energy requirements. Amazing!

I am immensely happy for all of the countries taking giant, environmental steps in the right direction. China cretainly deserves major kudos. They’re outpacing everyone. I just wish more corporations in the United States could do this on a grand scale. We shouldn’t have to wait until the next decade to start engaging the green technologies that could be saving the planet right now.

Bravo to Ben & Jerry’s for being both visionary and responsible. To learn more about this project, click here.

A 5000 Year-old, Extinct Animal Walking the Earth…Again?

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According to reports, scientists will try to bring back the woolly mammoth in 4-6 years. Previous attempts have failed, but researchers are now miles ahead of where they were because of the yearly advances in science. Apparently, tissue from a frozen mammoth will be used. As the story goes, nuclei of the frozen mammoth cells will be used to impregnate an African elephant, and then after the 600 day gestation period, a new born woolly mammoth would appear. The success rate is roughly 30%, so its not a done deal.

As exciting as it is, I’m very conflicted. One the one hand, I love science. I appreciate the accomplishments of Benjamin Banneker, Galileo Galilei, Sir Issac Newton, and many others, and I credit the work of late Harvard paleontologist Stephen Jay Gould for “igniting” my enthusiasm. Clearly, the possibility of seeing a woolly mammoth, a majestic icon of the last Ice Age, would be amazing.

On the other hand, I can see the concerns of Jeff Goldblum’s Jurassic Park character, who was against resurrecting animals from a bygone era. Besides, would you put it in a zoo on display? Would you breed more, and if so, how many more? So many important questions that have yet to be worked out.

This is a story I’ll be watching with great interest.