Nike has partnered with Steve Nash of the Phoenix Suns to unveil the new “Trash Talk” shoe, which is made out of garbage. Everything, from the laces to the cardboard box that the shoes come in are made of recycled materials.
“I think it’s exciting,” Nash said. “I think it also sets a precedent for the future, not only for Nike but for other companies to explore conserving, reusing and recycling.”
I hope so too.
A lifetime ago (actually, only a mere three months ago but it seems like forever), I was vacationing on the island of Kauai. I slathered on SPF 70 (yup, 70) everyday to avoid getting tanned and more freckle-y. However, towards the end of my vacation, I started noticing these weird bumps on my legs, which I believe was due to sunscreen poisoning. That got me thinking about how toxic sunscreens must be, and how everytime I went into the ocean, I was leaching all sorts of bad chemicals.
Well, it turns out that I’m not far off the mark. According to this article, the chemicals found in sunscreens are killing coral reefs, as they awaken dormant viruses. These viruses cause corals to bleach and die.
Researchers believe that 10% of all coral reefs are threatened due to sunscreen-induced bleaching.
People, here’s how you can help. It’s important to take care of your health and wear your sunscreen, but there are good alternatives in the marketplace which are eco-friendly. Here’s a post I found by another blogger which lists some of these. Share your favorite eco-friendly sunscreens by leaving a comment!
A few weeks ago, I wrote a post about the Honda FCX, which is apparently a fantastic car, which runs entirely on hydrogen power. It is the car of the future, here today - or soon anyway. There’s just one tiny problem - it’s really hard to get hydrogen. So hard in fact, that Honda will start selling the car only in Torrance, Santa Monica and Irvine. And you can’t go too far.
But things may be a-changin’. Soon, (that may be overstating it a bit) you’ll be able to generate clean, clear refreshing hydrogen in the comfort of your own home! How? Through the wonders of Honda’s Home Energy Station, which is a pretty cool concept.
The Home Energy Station, which generates hydrogen from natural gas, also provides heat and electricity for the home through fuel cell cogeneration. According to Honda, “CO2 emissions for a household using the Home Energy Station are 30% lower than those for an average household using a gasoline-engine car and commercial electricity.” That’s not too bad, although no word how much this system would cost.
It seems like this might be a really interesting way to bootstrap a hydrogen car ecosystem. You’d need fewer hydrogen stations, and that makes it more realistic to own one of these cool cars. Bring it on Honda!
Geez, there is no shortage of bad news when it comes to the environment.
I read a few days ago the king penguin may be wiped out soon due to global warming. This particular species of penguin live on islands near Antarctica, and there are about 2M of them left today.
Scientists believe that a 0.45 degrees F increase will result in a 9% decline in an adult king penguin’s chance of survival.
It is estimated that the mean global temperature will rise around 0.33 degrees F every 10 years for the next 2 decades.
Sad.
