Bombs awayyyyyy! Watch out for that tree.

Just saw on my friend's Facebook page an image of a 'seedbomb'. Was so impressed with it that I had to share!  Who would have guessed the day when weapons of mass destruction become weapons of mass plantation :)

The tree bombs have funnel shaped tin bottoms filled with fertilizer, and will plant themselves when they hit the ground. As the trees take root, the tin disintegrates. The idea is to plant these trees in deforested and otherwise hard to reach areas. As many as 1 billion trees could be planted in a year—that is a bunch of C02 eaters on the ground. Successful tests have been performed by one of these planes in several remote places, including Scotland and China. This method is a direct and more permanent solution to the problem than some of the other projects on this list, it is one idea that is not that hard to implement on a large scale.

Want to get your hands on a seedbomb? Check out greenaid's website for home garden seedbombs to grown your own edibles such as arugula. For $39.99 you get a gift pack of little round seedbombs; it even comes with a slingshot!  I definitely will need to try this out this summer. Watch out neighbours.

Carpooling and the likes of Lyft. A Sustainable future, and open people!

One of the automatic benefits of living in a start-up saturated city such as San Francisco is that you get to try new things all the time; some of which go on to be big things. There is an app or start up for pretty much everything. 

Take Lyft (www.lyft.me) for example. Lyft is an on-demand ridesharing app for a cheaper, safer ride. It came about in response to the horrible city cab service and limited availabilities; Lyft provided an opportunity for locals with a car to give people rides in return for a suggested donation. All drivers are fully insured and background checked. There is also a driver and rider rating system integrated into the app to ensure some standards are in place. 

My favourite thing about Lyft is that it is extremely easy to request a Lyft from the mobile app. A map view showing the whereabouts of the driver and the estimated time of arrival is much appreciated. I only had to link my credit card details at registration and don't have to worry about carrying cash or card with me with taking Lyft.  

There are other alternative companies such as Lyft available in San Francisco, such as Uber and Side Car. I haven't yet tried their services but they offer the same service. 

There is also the likes of Zipcar and Car2Go, a car sharing self-service where users pay for all inclusive use of car rentals by the hour. The cars are usually located through the city at different predetermined parking lots. 

SO, how is taking a lift better than driving your own car and/or taking a cab?

1) Save money and time

A vehicle provides freedom but at the cost of quite a few pennies. One friend of mine calculated that she spends nearly $12,000 a year on her car - a sedan. Not on "blinging" up the car but for parking, insurance, tickets, check-ups, fuel, and replacements. 

2) Less green house gas emissions 

Having fewer cars on the road means reduced Greenhouse Gas (GHG) and improved air quality. The average passenger vehicle emits about 423 grams of CO2 per mile and 5.1 metric tons per year. Which is fueling global warming. 


3) Less traffic 

Everyone hates getting stuck in traffic. If you carpool you can go on the HOV lane and also contribute to less traffic. It's more fun to commute with others too! Does your work facilitate carpooling? 


Do you currently carpool or take ride sharing options like Lyft? Or do you own a car and cannot fathom living life without it?  

We are now living in an era where consumers are open to collaborative consumption. Now you can derive more value from a good, and socially benefit the environment and your community at the same time. Yay! Are we moving forward or backwards? Either way, I predict that this generation will be less materialistic. Okay, maybe not 'predict' but more 'wishful' that humans are advancing in this way. 

And the greatest part is that these services are SO very easy to join and use on a regular basis. I used to desire a sleek gas guzzler to call my own, but after looking at the costs and benefits - its much healthier for the planet to choose the alternative of ride sharing and carpooling. In fact, at the moment, my roommates and I (five of us) all share one vehicle and it's working out very well so far! 



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Sources: 

www.lyft.me
United States Environmental Protection Agency

Just Brown Bag It! Or Should You?

San Francisco was one of the world's first cities to pass a ban on the use of non compostable plastic bags. It became fully reinforced by the end of 2012. 

Shoppers are now provided with recyclable brown paper bags at most grocery stores. This includes popular grocery markets such as Whole Foods, Safeway, and Trader Joe's.  The price is from 5 to 10 cents for a plastic or recyclable brown paper bag. 

If shoppers bring their own bags, some retailers like Whole Food's would provide a 5 cent discount on your total receipt for each bag you bring *. 

Not only is it a feel-good factor that you are no longer tossing plastic bags into wasteland, but you're also helping prevent marine animal deaths! 

So is this the right way to move forward and replicate in cities across the nation? 

Some stats: 

(Anti paper bags)

• Each year, Americans use about 10 billion paper bags, which results in the cutting down of 14 million trees
• Four times the amount of energy is used to manufacture paper vs. plastic bags
• 98 percent more energy is used to recycle paper vs. plastic bags
• 70 percent more air pollutants than plastic bags
• 50 percent more water pollutants than plastic bags
• Only 10-15 percent of paper bags are brought back to plants to be recycled

(Anti plastic bags)

• It is estimated that worldwide plastic bag consumption falls between 500 billion and 1 trillion bags annually. That breaks down to almost 1 million every minute.

• Plastic bags take 500-1000 years to degrade, in the meantime they sit in landfills
• The U.S. goes through 100 billion single-use plastic bags. This costs retailers about $4 billion a year. 
• Every square mile of the ocean has about 46,000 pieces of floating plastic in it. 
• Plastic bags remain toxic even after they break down 

At first I was excited about everyone in San Francisco supporting the paper bag movement. However, after doing research on the costs and benefits, I realize that paper bags are not a sustainable solution either. Although paper bags are way more biodegradable and less dangerous to the ocean; it costs more energy to produce and recycle than plastic bags. 

I predict that future is most likely in biodegradable plastic bags. However, a lot of gas emissions are created still when going about this method. 

Tote bags made from fabric is another option. Beware shoppers! Keep your tote bags clean, as this article claims that E. Coli has been on the rise since the increase usage of tote bags for groceries. Supposedly, harmful bacteria created from raw and open foods stick to tote bags. 

What do you think? Which do you prefer? Which do you think is more practical and earth friendly? 

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Sources

1) Earth911.com

2) Huffingtonpost 

3) Science.howstuffworks.com

4) Reuseit.com