California Gov. Brown’s Conference on Extreme Climate Risks Says Agriculture, Including Wine Will Be Affected
At today’s Conference on Extreme Climate Risks and California’s Future put on by Gov. Jerry Brown featuring speakers: Former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sir Richard Branson, Nancy Sutley and many more, it was widely acknowledged that with the combination of environmental factors of climate change and rising sea levels, California’s agricultural industry will be negatively impacted, including its multi-billion dollar wine industry. Follow the Green Blog Network for full report and analysis.
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Filed under Green Blog Network, Greening Hollywood, Paige Donner
Sustainable, Edible Holiday House
“Not one piece of our structure will end up in landfill,” says Smallworks president, Jake Fry. The gingerbread dwelling is fully sustainable and environmentally responsible with net zero impact on anything aside from your belly. “Every peppermint swirl, candy corn, and multi-coloured jujube will be stuffed into someone’s gob, probably at the end of a huge holiday dinner.”
Who hasn’t decorated their dining table or sideboard during the festive period and wanted to fit in an extra miniature Christmas tree, shiny bauble, or even one more entire gingerbread house? Smallworks has launched this increased density action for better and more efficient space use for your holiday table. Designed to fit on a standard-sized, appropriately-zoned holiday decorating space, the Gingerbread Laneway House works as a stand-alone structure or an additional dwelling to the rear of your traditional Gingerbread House.
Founded 6 years ago, Smallworks is Vancouver’s first and most established laneway house builder. They specialise in building small, beautiful homes and exceed the green building practices of Vancouver’s Green Home program. Inspired by Smallworks’ West House laneway house developed for the LiveCity site at the 2010 Olympics, this is their first foray into baked goods. The Gingerbread Laneway House was constructed by Kreation Artisan Cakes, experienced builders in fine gingerbread architecture.Metro Vancouver residents can visit their Facebook page at www.facebook.com/smallworks.homes between now and December 15 for a chance to win The Gingerbread Laneway House.
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Wine And Climate Change In The International Herald Tribune
Dear Readers, Wine Lovers and Environmentalists: Please have a look at my recent article which originally appeared in the International Herald Tribune. It is also online at NYTimes.com with full LINK HERE.
by Paige Donner
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Renewable Energy Goes Round…And Round
In Paris, in the shadow of the Eiffel Tower, on the banks of the Seine, there is a Carrousel that is now powered by renewable energy.
Renewable Energy Carrousel, Paris - Photo by Paige Donner copyright 2011
All photos by Paige Donner copyright 2011
This City of Light is filled with carrousels. You can find them across the street from the Eiffel Tower, on the other side of the river at the foot of Trocadero, in the vast courtyard of the Hotel de Ville and many more locations throughout the city. But this one, just underneath the Eiffel Tower, is the city’s flagship Renewable Energy Carrousel. Its LED lights are the same color as the flickering lights that have the Tour Eiffel twinkling on the hour every evening.
On a recent sunny, Autumn day filled with the scent of fallen leaves, the carrousel was itself twinkling in the afternoon sunlight. And FYI – during the Christmas Holiday week, many of the carrousels are free for children to ride on.
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Dying To Be Beautiful
Peter Lamas shed light on the dangers of harsh chemicals hidden in common beauty products on October 22nd and 23rd, 2011 in Vancouver, B.C. At The West Coast Women’s Show
As one of the leading international make-up artists and beauty experts in the world, Mr. Lamas began his career at Vidal Sassoon in NYC 30 years ago and quickly became a go-to for such classic beauties such as Jacqueline Onassis Kennedy, Elizabeth Taylor, Grace Kelly, Audrey Hepburn and Gloria Vanderbilt. Today the Peter Lamas brand is known worldwide for its line of 100% percent vegan, natural products with a cult following which boasts a number of beauty editors and celebrities.
Celebrity beauty advisor and innovator in the natural beauty industry, Peter Lamas spoke at the largest and most successful women’s event in British Columbia, the West Coast Women’s Show. The show, which took place in Vancouver, is one of the only events in B.C. where women can build relationships with literally thousands of other women and business professionals in one venue.
Lamas discussed his popular book, “Dying to be Beautiful,” which aims to educate women on the dangers of hidden chemicals used in the beauty industry. Every day we all use an array of hair, skin, body and beauty products without ever asking ourselves whether they are safe or not. We incorrectly assume the Food and Drug Administration have tight regulations on these products. Unfortunately, there is little attention given to the fact that there are many potentially harmful ingredients that are widespread throughout the beauty industry. We go about our daily routine, applying products and ingredients directly to our skin, unknowing that they contain potent systemic toxins that are easily absorbed and can remain in our body for a very long time.
Through extensive research and a passion to create healthier beauty products, Mr. Lamas founded the Peter Lamas brand with the overriding mission to deliver high-performance beauty products containing only healthy and natural ingredients, free of harmful chemicals. Peter Lamas offers hair-care, skin-care, body-care and anti-aging products formulated with exotic botanicals, certified organic and natural ingredients. Lamas will also discuss the importance of using vegan and natural ingredients in products and reveal how they aid in enhancing one’s beauty – naturally.
Revenge of The Electric Vehicle
Friends!
I’m pleased to announce that our new doc, Revenge of the Electric Car, begins its national theatrical rollout next week starting October 21 in LA and NY and then in 20+ cities over the next month (see list below).
If you’re in Los Angeles, please join us for our opening week launch at Landmark’s NuArt and our Opening Weekend Airstream Lounge Party!
Opening Week Screenings
11272 Santa Monica Blvd, West LA, CA 90025
Fri–Sat-Sun: 12:30 PM, 2:50, 5:10, 7:30, 9:50 (Oct. 21-23)
Mon-Thurs: 5:10 PM, 7:30, 9:50 (Oct. 24-27)
Tickets available now via this site:
https://tickets.landmarktheatres.com/ticketing.aspx?theatreid=209
Opening Weekend Airstream Lounge Party
Sat-Sun: 2PM – 10PM
To support our opening weekend in LA on October 22-23, we’re bringing in the electric cars from the movie and setting up shop in a vintage Airstream around the corner from the NuArt Theater. You’ll find us next to Sideshow Books at 11323 Idaho Avenue. The Airstream Lounge is our all weekend drop-in cast and crew party for friends, media makers, and well-wishers. Come on by anytime from 2:30PM to 9:30PM to say hello to Gadget, Scarlett and other stars from our team, check out the EVs (Tesla, Leaf, Volt and Porsche), and hang out with us between screenings
Co-Host a Screening at a Theater
If your group would like to co-host one of our public screenings at the NuArt (or anywhere else during run of theater), we’ll try to set it up with you. Choose a show-time from the list above (if LA), then send us an email and let us know about how many people you’d like to host. We’ll try to arrange to have a Q&A with someone from the film there with you at your show. So far we have screenings with Causecast, Bioneers, GADA, LA Burning Man, the Black Rock Yearbook, Plugin America and Global Green.
Thanks to everyone for spreading the word and making our opening week a success!
Best,
CHRIS PAINE
Director
Paris For Peace And Yoga
Modeled after the NYC Day of Yoga, free and open to willing participants, Paris organizers of the event admitted they’d had 6,500 people sign up on the website to attend this morning’s hour-long practice in the 7th Arrondissement, en plein air. They had organized for and expected 2000 participants.
The practice was led in both English and French and an elegant Cellist played on stage, accompanying the entire session with live sitar-like music. Practitioners were from all ages, mature to the young, and attendees included mothers with infants, families with children, young couples, men, women and even a few of our furry friends.
Sponsors of the event which included BeYoga, Go Sport, SportForUs.com, Soy Joy, Lole, VaiVai and the Mairie de Paris, passed out complimentary yoga mats, t-shirts, energy bars, coconut water and tea and re-usable tote bags.
On this gorgeous October Sunday morning of Paris Fashion Week, a yoga respite en plein air was a welcomed and stimulating detox! Namaste!!
All photos by Paige Donner c. 2011
Filed under Greening Hollywood, Greening Paris, Paige Donner
Yao Ming and Sir Richard Branson Say NO To Shark Fin Soup
Yao Ming committed to stop eating shark fin soup in 2006 after learning of the cruel and wasteful practice of “‘finning”’ and the threat of extinction facing many shark populations as a result of demand for their fins. He has been an Ambassador for WildAid’s shark campaign ever since.
Yao says, “I urge China to lead by banning shark fin soup, and I urge business leaders to end the consumption of shark fin soup at business events. Unless we act now, we will lose many shark populations, impacting our oceans worldwide.”
Sir Richard Branson is backing the shark conservation campaign after swimming with whale sharks during their annual migration through the Gulf of Mexico. Branson says, “I simply cannot imagine a world without sharks – we cannot let this happen. These important predators have swum in the world’s oceans for some 400 million years, yet we could wipe them out in a single generation. We have to act now to step up protection worldwide.”
In the United States – Hawaii, Washington, Oregon, Guam and the Marshall Islands have banned sales of shark fin. The Californian Senate passed a ban on Sept 6th, which is awaiting Governor Jerry Brown’s signature. In Canada, a number of cities are considering a ban including Toronto, and a nationwide ban was recently proposed. Shark fishing bans have been passed in Palau and the Bahamas, and one is pending in Fiji.
Every year, fins from up to 73 million sharks are used for shark fin soup. In a cruel and wasteful practice called “‘finning,”’ sharks are often caught, hauled on deck, with their fins sliced off while they are still alive. The rest of the shark is usually thrown back into the sea, dead or dying, with approximately 95% of the shark wasted. The ongoing and increasing demand for shark fin soup is pushing many species to the brink of extinction, further threatening marine ecosystems the world over. Yao and Branson today launched the campaign with WildAid and met with representatives of government, media, NGO’s and business to engage their support to prevent the extinction of shark species.
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Un-Analytics: How Google Went Solar
Nothing useful, anyway.
That all changed when a new technology came along that allowed web owners to monitor their sites as much as they wanted. Any time they wanted.
Web sites suddenly became a business proposition, not just an enthusiasm for a few hobbyists.
Flash forward from the introduction of Google Analytics up to 2007, when Google got into the solar business and opened a 1.65 megawatt photovoltaic power array. The largest commercial system in the world at the time.
Just like web sites before Analytics, Google would soon learn how little it actually knew about its solar array.
After its panels were up for 15 months, Google cleaned them and documented its efforts in a report called “Getting the most energy out of Google’s solar panels.”
On several sections of its array, solar energy output doubled after the cleaning. Eight months later, energy output went up 37 percent after another cleaning. But here comes the money graph:
It would be difficult to detect manufacturer defects or accidental damage by data analysis alone, unless the damage impacts >~20% of the solar panels in that building.
Example: There have been few occasions when some of the solar panels … were damaged by delivery trucks accidentally hitting the support beams that hold up the solar panels.
Since these accidents did not damage a sizable portion of the solar panels, the damage went undetected for a while.
Undetected, solar panels go bad in all sorts of ways. Panels degrade anywhere from .5% to 9.5% a year, depending on the manufacturer, says Sandia Laboratories in a study for the Department of Energy.
How will you know what your panels will do? Warranty Week Magazinesays you won’t. Not really:
” And yes, it really is guesswork.”
Dirt plays even more havoc. If not dirt, a bird dropping, or a baseball, or a golfball, or a rock, or a squirrel chewing a wire, or a Texas oak thick with pollen, or heat on the roof, or poor soldering. Or a shadow — all worse than you think, says the National Renewable Energy Laboratories:
“The reduction in power from shading half of one cell is equivalent to removing a cell active area 36 times the shadow’s actual size.”
“One bird, one truck of dirt, one flowering tree can destroy your solar production, and you would not know for a long time,” Yarbrough said. “Welcome to the Christmas Tree Effect: Hurt the panel a little, hurt production a lot. It is amazing how many people put up solar for great reasons, but really do not watch their systems. As a result, a lot of people lose a lot of money because many, many systems are not producing the power its owners were promised. And few know.”
Maybe because knowing it is not that useful.
“If your solar array produces a megawatt of power, that means it is composed of 3000 to 5000 panels,” said Ray Burgess, CEO of Solar Power Technologies. “If some panels go bad, you need panel level monitoring to o find the bad panels. But most systems monitor power at the system level, but as Google found out, that is that useful for detecting catastrophic failure, but not much else.”
Thus the need for small wireless monitors throughout the array.
“Now that we have cost effective monitors from a company in Austin, that is going to change the world, just like Google Analytics.”
Leading the solar monitor business is Burgess and Solar Power Technologies of Austin, Texas. The company is introducing monitors and other devices to give solar array owners unprecedented control over their panels. If you have 3500 panels and a few start breaking, you better have something better than “guesswork” to optimize your array.
“As we travel the country talking to panel owners about their systems, we are constantly amazed at how many systems that are producing power far below their capacity, and some not producing power at all. Monitors on the panels can change that and let you know what is really happening with your system. And where it is happening. Saving system owners thousands of dollars a month.”
Just like Google Analytics.
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