Stop driving. Well, not completely, of course. But consider car-pooling if you and a friend have the same destination and close schedules. Ensure when you go, say, grocery shopping, you pick up everything you need for the week, and stop at all the shops in one trip. And when the weather’s right and your destination is not too far — get out your bicycle!

Get the lead out. Of your foot, I mean. Jack-rabbit starts and panic stops are notorious fuel-eating habits. When driving around town keep a steady speed when you can, and make any required changes in speed as smooth as possible. On the open road consider driving a bit below the speed limit if you’re not in a rush — that extra time you spend driving can save fuel and money.

Cut back on idling. I was taught young that starting your engine has a cost in added fuel consumption — that it’s better to let it idle for some length of time rather than shut it off and then restart. And it’s still true. But tests have shown that with a modern car engine  the break-even point is something under 30 seconds. Letting your engine idle longer than that will cost you.  Stuck at a level crossing, or even one of those interminable traffic lights? Shut it off!

Think aerodynamics. Anything that reduces your car’s drag — the quantity of air that it displaces while moving — will save fuel and money. On the open road, close your windows — open windows add a lot of drag, so much so that at highway speeds the cost of running your air conditioner with the windows closed is less than  if you turned off the air and opened the windows for cooling — really. (At lower speeds it makes less difference.) And take off any ski-, bike- and luggage-racks when you don’t need them.

Cut down on weight. Check to see if your trunk is storing articles other than the spare tire, jack and emergency repair kit. No gardening equipment or winter sports gear. It may even help if you avoid filling up the fuel tank until it’s close to empty — that will reduce the average weight of fuel and over time will save you money — just don’t run out.

Downsize. Next time you’re ready to replace your car, make fuel efficiency one of your major criteria. In general smaller equals more efficient — so if you need a SUV-size vehicle only a few times a year, why not buy small and rent when you have to? And consider going hybrid or all-electric.

Under microFIT, owners of small (10 KW or less)  renewable-source electrical generators will be paid for the electricity they produce and deliver to the province’s electricity grid.

While many other electric utility companies offer similar plans, microFIT is the first we’ve heard of where the utility writes a contract guaranteeing a price over a 20-year term (40 years for waterpower projects), with the price being designed to cover the costs of the project and provide a reasonable rate of return on the homeowner’s investment over the term of the contract. Other utilities offer “net metering” plans, which may or may not adequately recover the costs of the generator project.

The microFIT program covers generators powered solar photovoltaic (PV), wind, water and bio-energy.

Read more at the Ontario Power Authority web site.

Bees and their beekeepers atop the Waldorf Astoria in NYC (photo: AP)

A quarter of a million bees are being cultivated on top of the swanky Waldorf-Astoria hotel in New York City as a away of making the city more sustainable.

Bee populations have been on the decline. The bees are needed to pollinate flowering trees within a 3-mile radius of the hotel.

These hives are part of New York City’s green initiative, PlaNYC, which is hoping to plant 1,000,000 trees in the next 10 years.

Except for Central Park, there is not much green space in New York City. Building on a rooftop is an efficient use of space where the bees can habituate undisturbed. The hotel staff maintain the hives.

Hotel guests are offered guided tours of the hives. And hotel collects and sells the honey. Honey created locally is considered to be beneficial to allergy sufferers, as it’s made using local pollens.

“As a special correspondent reporting on environmental and humanitarian issues around the world, I work on compelling stories that meld advocacy, amazing adventure television and new media to engage people across the globe in positive change.” Cousteau travels to the Arctic Circle to explore climate change. He explores the island of Sumatra in Indonesia to showcase “30 Hills,” which is subject to wanton deforestation.

As the co-founder and president EarthEcho International, Phillipe Cousteau engages and empowers young people  to take action for a brighter future. He uses education, balanced advocacy and a commitment to action.

Cousteau is a co-author of  Going Blue: A Teen Guide to Saving Our Oceans, Lakes, Rivers and Wetlands. This award-winning book contains facts and statistics about world’s waterways and oceans. It discusses the world’s water crisis and includes resources, examples and strategies for becoming agents of change. The book has 5 stages of service learning:

STAGE 1: Find Out → Investigate
STAGE 2: Dive In → Prepare
STAGE 3: Get Going → Act
STAGE 4: Think Back → Reflect
STAGE 5: Tell It → Demonstrate

AdvisorOne announced on May 24th 2012 that “AdvisorShares’ 14th actively managed exchange traded fund – and the first of its ETFs to focus on sustainable investment, the Global Echo ETF (GIVE)  – opened for trading on Thursday at the New York Stock Exchange. Launched in partnership with environmental advocate and social entrepreneur Philippe Cousteau Jr., the AdvisorShares Global Echo ETF is a multi-manager fund that seeks to “do well by doing good” by pairing a public investment company product with a private charitable foundation. [click to read the article]

Reduce waste in your household by composting. If you have a little space on your property, you can start a compost pile, build a simple composter, or buy a composter. Situate the compost pile a short distance from the house if possible.

The added bonus is that composters produce humus, which is a rich black substance that enriches soil. It is not edible by humans, but plants grow strong when humus is added to the soil.

Composting is not difficult, but you get the best results and the least number of problems (such as odor and pests) when your compost has optimal drainage, insulation, air flow, and mix.

Providing enough drainage for compost pile is crucial for preventing problems. The ideal compost pile is damp but not wet. If water is stagnant, it can prevent helpful bacteria from growing. Sitting water encourages pests such as raccoons and mosquitoes. A cover helps mitigate excessive moisture. Drainage at the bottom of a compost bin can help. If the lid on your compost bin is kept on all the time, you’ll need to check and make sure it’s getting enough moisture.

Airflow is crucial to prevent odors. You’ll need to mix and aerate your compost pile regularly. A tumbling compost bin makes this easy.

The compost pile needs to stay warm in order to work correctly. If it gets cold in the winter, very little breakdown will happen but when the temperature warms up, the pile shrinks quickly. Compost is self-insulating in the middle. It should be situated in full sunlight out of the wind. Dark walls, compost bin can help.

Variety of ingredients is important to keeping the bacteria in a compost pile happy. In addition to adding kitchen scraps,  you will want to add leaves or grass clippings, or even shredded newspaper. By volume, that’s around 3 cup of kitchen scraps for every 1 cup of other yard scraps.

Composters can’t handle all kitchen scraps. They hate meat and oils. Never add pet waste. Some people decide to exclude eggshells and pips because they take a long time to break down.

If you want to minimize labor and maximize your chances of success, purchase a low-maintenance commercial composter from your municipality or local hardware store.

A great source for composting information: compostinstructions.com

In addition to the bag giveaway, Target has provided a limited-life web page, www.target.com/earthday that lists (and has coupons for)  some products that they consider appropriate for Earth Day — but we’re not sure about the bottled water!

You can read Target’s announcement here.

Here’s  another downside to disposable plastic bags. Do you, like me, anticipate the coming of Spring by looking for signs of green in the treetops? If so, no doubt you noticed the off-white remnants of plastic, streaming from almost every tree beside a highway.

Maharishi University of Management

According to David Fisher, head of MUM’s sustainable living department,  this will be “the most ambitious environmental building ever undertaken . . . the only one I know of to combine extensive use of daylighting, whole-tree beams, several different certifications, and planned off-the-grid features.”

The center will be built using a combination of sustainable features and certified standards such as LEED, and will be constructed according to Maharishi Vedic(SM) architecture.

With solar panels, wind turbine, geothermal installation, and passive energy features, the expectation is that this will be a net-zero energy building. And the plan for the future is to take the building off the grid completely, for electricity, heating/cooling, water, and waste.

The new center is expected to be open by April 18, 2012.

The event is being organized now by students in the Sustainability program at Maharishi University of Management and is sponsored by the City of Fairfield, Fairfield Volunteer Center, Fairfield Public Library, Maharishi University of Management, myLocal Cooperative, and  Iowa State University Extension and Outreach.

This year’s event focuses on sharing the knowledge of local experts, the excellence of local vendors and businesses, and local projects that anyone can participate in throughout the year.

The conference includes:

• community service
• education about sustainability issues
• celebrations
• building relationships with local and regional mentors
• EcoJam Fashion show
• green jobs
• local economy/volunteerism
• city-wide energy efficiency efforts

From their website: “To us, Sustainability is about inclusiveness–about the interconnected world.  We believe that when the relationships among us (people) and our environments are healthy, mutually beneficial, and strong, we will all enjoy greater happiness, and resilience in every way: ecologically, economically, psychologically, physically, culturally.”

For more information, visit the EcoFairfield blog, follow them on Twitter (@ecofairfield) and “like” the EcoFairfield page  on Facebook.

NY State Senator Tony Avella has sponsored a bill to ban hydraulic fracturing. “Fracking is the most important environmental issue this state has faced in the past 100 years,” he said.

Click to read the article in the Wall Street Journal.

What is Sustainable Living?

Our definition is “A life that is deeply satisfying, fulfilling, and appealing – and at the same time, environmentally responsible.”

To understand what sustainable living is, it helps to understand what it’s not.

First of all, it’s not about living in the woods, eating nuts and berries, and wearing tie-dyed clothes. It’s for mainstream adults – typical Americans with two cars in their garage, one of which might be a sport utility vehicle. It’s for people who ski, watch TV, hike, read, snowmobile, go to movies, rollerblade, play video games, bowl, and camp. For people with mortgages and those who drop their kids off at child care. It’s for people with credit cards and those who shop at malls. And for people who regularly drive up to fast food windows.

Second, sustainable living is not about never buying anything again. It is about making thoughtful decisions, considering the impacts of our consumer choices, and finding alternatives.

Third, sustainable living is not competitive. Individuals have different needs and values. Sustainable living is deeply personal, based on individual definitions of quality of life. For example, this quote might express your sentiments exactly – or it might not.

Fourth, sustainable living is not guilt-driven. It focuses not on what was done in the past but on what will be done in the future. It combines practical ideas – such as turning off lights – with intangibles such as lifestyle values and personal quality of life.

And finally, sustainable living is not “gloom and doom.” It does, however, put our individual actions into a global context. While it’s about taking positive steps at the individual and family level, the world we live in is an important consideration. Wackernagel and Rees, in Our Ecological Footprint, state, “It would require four Earths for everybody on the planet to live the lifestyle of North Americans.”

Read more about the OSU Sustainable Living Project at cof.orst.edu/cof/extended/sustain/