Running on Sun Juice

For the Over-Scheduled Friend: Solio Charger

Actually, wait. For YOU AND EVERYONE YOU KNOW: Solio Charger

This sleek little gadget IS the future. I love love love it. Basically, it soaks up solar energy, stores it, and then charges your iPod or cell phone anytime you want. Plus, it's pretty.

There are a couple different makes and colors available. Here's a black one:
Solio Charger, $80.00
http://store.solio.com/s.nl/it.A/id.790/.f

Generosity is Awesome

For the Baby: Zoo Cubes

How cool are these? They're stuffed animals, except cubes. I love cubes. The plushy creatures are handmade with reclaimed wool by a guy in Canada. You can get matching hand puppets and normal animals and art work too, but puppets are freaky.

Zoo cubes, $30.00

http://www.cateandlevi.com/

Keep Giving

And now, the next installment of...

For the Bro: Organic V-Neck

I mean, obviously. This one is by American Apparel and it's made of organic cotton. Suit your bro's personality with an exciting color such as Cinder, Galaxy, or Pomegranate.

American Apparel, Organic Fine Jersey Short Sleeve V-Neck, $19.00 http://www.americanapparel.com/2456org.html?cid=107

Tis the Season

Introducing...


Fa la la, it's time to be generous. Time to watch little Susie's eyes light up when she sees that Bratz doll, and to hear her sister Marlene crying in the bathroom because she couldn't fit into the size small jeans from Abercrombie. In other words, time to bring joy to the world and make it a better place for us all.

And when you're out looking for present, why not do the planet a good turn as well? Hmm. There are dangers. Don't be the guy who gives everyone a steel water bottle for Christmas. Can you spell r-i-g-h-t-e-o-u-s c-h-e-a-p-s-k-a-t-e?? Actually, those things are mad overpriced. But trust me, they won't be appreciated.

So we've decided to help y'all out a bit. By choosing a green gift for everyone on your list. Let's get started...

For the Republican: Biodegradeable Shotgun Shells


They'll be having so much fun shooting doves and other fuzzy/winged creatures that they won't even NOTICE they're saving the planet. These shells feature non-toxic steel shot and are 100% free of plastic wadding. You can google shotguns if you're confused. Except if you're a Republican and you support gun rights and you don't even know how a shotgun works, that's just sort of pathetic.

GreenLite Shotshells, $15/box
http://polywad.com/greenlite.html

Ten Hours to Green

Okay, if you're in New Haven like me, it's more like 9:21:16 hours to green. But it was a spin off of ten seconds to green, so I went with it.
Either way -- we're getting just under 9.5 hours of sunlight these days. In otherwords, 9.5 hours in which you don't REALLY need to have any artificial lights on.
Think about it. If you used only natural light for ONE day, wouldn't you feel like a ridiculously good person? And if you're going to do that, why not do it on one of the shortest days of the year? So genius.


Just for context: My room is lit by four 100-watt bulbs. If I turn that off for 9 hours, I'm saving 3.6 kilowatt-hours of energy. If I shut off all the lights on the second floor of my house, I'm saving about 25 kilowatt-hours of energy. If I shut off...you get the idea. It adds up, people. Now QUICK DO IT BEFORE THE SOLSTICE NOW NOW NOW

I Heart Cali Airports

Everyone knows that California is a) broke and b) mad eco-friendly. Case in point - the airports.
I was in San Francisco International Airport this weekend. For the first time in my life, I experienced the intense rage of being unable to find a garbage can...while surrounded by recycling bins. Weirdest, most guilt-inducing thing ever. But awesome.
The bathrooms have those fancy, high-tech hand-dryers that work in 12 seconds or less. I actually love them.
You can get to and from the airport by the BART, aka the coolest public transportation system ever. And then you can hop on a shuttlebus fueled by biodiesel.

They're cutting down on greenhouse gas emissions in a number of ways. Examples include minimizing APU jet fuel use (for starting the plane engines) and switching to a more eco-friendly type of refrigerant gas for air conditioning.

And wow, I just spent 20 minutes reading their sustainability report. I officially have no life.

One more thing I love about SFO International...it's so stereotypically Cali. Seriously, you walk into JFK and immediately this 200-pound drill sergeant is like EVERYBODY TAKE YA SHOES OFF, KEYS IN THE BIN, NOTHIN IN YA POCKETS, GET IN LINE, DO IT NOW!!

By contrast, security is much more fun in San Francisco. I'm walking through the metal detector...a security guard with a 3-foot ponytail notices my clothes, and the following conversation ensues:

Ponytail guy: So like...you're wearing Notre Dame sweatpants...and a Duke shirt...woooooorrrrddddddd.

GG: [in my brain: is this some kind of interrogation? does he think i'm a terrorist?] Yeah, I don't even know anyone who goes to those schools actually.

Ponytail guy: Niiiiiiiiiiicccccccccceeeeeeeeeee.

Loves it.

More Options...

So the classic A-Frame greenhouse isn't the sexiest thing in the world.
It's quite awkward looking, actually.


Then again, there are some people who just adore triangles. Whatever it takes, man. Basically, you have a V-shaped tunnel covered with plastic. Not too complicated. These greenhouses tend to be tall and steep, which is useful in New England winters.

Pros:

• cheap and easy to build
• snow slides off
• heats up quickly - good surface area/air volume ratio
• catches lots of light and heat in the winter
• allows you to grow tall plants
• good circulation - easy to ventilate

Cons:

• funny looking if it's not perfect
• plastic covering is ugly
• not much floor space
• hot air rises away from plants

Options

It's time to start designing our greenhouse. Before we draw up a blueprint, we need to choose a basic shape. As goddess and guru, we want to do something a little bit off the beaten track. That said, we don't want our baby caving in or blowing away or anything. When we first looked into DIY greenhouses, we stumbled upon some guy's alarmingly celebratory blog post: "Everything's going great!! Lots of wind last night, and the greenhouse only moved nine inches!!"
Wait. Your greenhouse moved nine inches overnight, and it doesn't, oh, I dunno, bother you a little bit?
Yeah, no thanks.
So. We need to find a balance between creative and functional. That's why we want to at least base our design off of a tried-and-true greenhouse. Here's one option to start us off.

GOTHIC ARCH

Pros:

• cheap materials (plastic covering, tubing or lumber)
• easy snow removal (slides right off)
• doesn't waste a lot of space
• very sturdy
• easy to extend - just add more arches

Cons:

• shape is attractive, but plastic covering is UGLY
• expensive to heat - plastic doesn't insulate as well as glass
• curved wood is hard to cut

Are you a fan? I am. I naturally gravitate towards High Gothic cathedrals. Romanesque is too stumpy, Baroque has too many cherubs floating around in frilly outfits, Byzantine feels ostentatious.
Gothic cathedrals are solemn and dark. They echo. While other styles strike me as showy and materialistic, High Gothic seems like a real tribute to God. Even though I'm Jewish, I find that the soaring arches inspire awe and humility. I feel like I'm allowed to feel religious. Which is ironic, because 1) synogogues don't really do it for me and 2) the people who built these cathedrals believed Jews had horns and tails and would probably have loved to burn me at the stake. Cute. Oh and FLYING BUTTRESSES. Such a cool word. Buttress buttress buttress. Okay, I'm done. For your info, on the left is the Cathedral of Our Lady of Strasbourg, and on the right is the Cathedral of Our Lady of Chartres.

It's a Secret

Shhhh don't tell, but

we've found our new location!

It's off-campus, which means we can make the greenhouse bigger, better and utterly more badass than anything we could have envisioned at Hopkins. No bureaucracy, no maintenance vehicles, no alumni. Oh yes. Stay tuned.

Slight Edit

Hello goats. Today, we bring you a small but important change in the nature of our club. As of now, we are the

Greenhouse Off-campus Agriculture Team

more exciting updates to come.

get pumped.

xoxo gg

...and here is a picture of gondolas:

Laptop Surgery

I love poking around inside my laptop. It makes me feel super hardcore/techy/hackerish, which is great because none of those adjectives really apply.
Anyways, my poor Dell Inspiron M1530's had it rough lately. Overheating, randomly shutting down, making dull roaring noises, stuff like that. From a goddessandguru standpoint, that translates into needless power drainage -- an unspeakable crime, obvi. (Note: the word "obvi" is used here to show, in an amusing way, how totally unqualified the author is to be writing a post like this.)
One cause of overheating in a laptop is the accumulation of dust, especially on the fan. Even though I know next to nothing about computers, I attempted a dissection in the name of science/goddessandguru/the greater good. Here we go...

Before you begin, protect your laptop from damaging static electricity by grounding yourself. Basically, touch a piece of metal.

Now. I found a screwdriver and got to work.

Oh dang, laptop innards. Time to zoom in a bit.

As I suspected, the fan was kind of dirty and nasty. The pictures are awful, I know.

A q-tip wasn't the ideal tool for this procedure...I think you're supposed to use compressed air or something...but for the laygoddess, it sufficed.

Ah, much shinier. Pictures of dust:

My laptop has been much cooler and quieter since the operation, and it's been running smoothly. Which is surprising, seeing as I assumed it would either blow up in my face or start processing everything in Cyrillic after I had my way with it. Score.

Oh, HAY-ELL No

Okay, I didn't post on Friday the 13th, but I still have conclusive evidence that the end is near...

These rings were made by an Australian silversmith named Polly van der Glas. She works with sterling silver and human teeth.

SAY WHAT?

Teeth. TEETH. Okay, cool, I get it, reusing resources. Teeth. Organic material. Teeth. Recyling. TEETH.

Oh, and hair too, actually.

According to the website: "Human hair is either locally donated or sourced from India and China. Teeth are particularly difficult to come by, so any donations are gratefully accepted."

Hard to come by. Shiver. I think there are laws about these things in the US. The puppets are delightful, too:Well, props for creativity. Enjoy being green while I stare lovingly at my molars.

Dishwashing Drama

Believe it or not, a study from the University of Bonn shows that running a dishwasher actually uses less water than washing dishes by hand.

Here are some numbers. Data reflects an entire load of dishes, about 12 place settings. If kWh confuse you, read up here.

Obviously, dishwashers vary in their efficiency, as do people washing dishes. It's also interesting to note that Electrolux, a European dishwasher manufacturing company, sponsored/supported the study. Hmm.

Either way, Electrolux was also kind enough to provide energy-saving dishwasher tips. Here are a few:

• Wait until you have a full load to run the dishwasher
• Skip the pre-rinse. Your dishwasher will be just fine if you simply scrape the food off.
• Don't OD on detergent. It will degrade the water quality, posing a risk to animals and plants.
• Clean the filter. The dishwasher will run better.
• Buy a new one!!! Thanks, Electrolux. Great plan.

Wash away :]

10 Seconds to Green #4

This one's easy...just rip things out of your laptop.

External devices that you aren't using -- headphones, webcam, flashdrives, charged-up iPod
Anything spinning around inside -- CDs, DVDs (even if they're not actively in use)

They sap energy!! Even random USB cables that aren't connected to anything draw power from your battery. So yank 'em. Ten seconds.


And P.S. I love these...

Reuse a Worthless Object: Altoids Tin

The Altoids tin is one of the most ingenious containers out there. So versatile, so minty, so almost rectangular. 'Tis a thing of beauty.

People do ridiculously cool things with altoid tins. They make iPod chargers, watercolor kits, even -- wait for it -- portable BBQ grills:


I'm not that cool.
Still, I love me some Altoid tins, and I never throw them away. I have one full of bobby pins, another one as my ruler for math problems, and another one in which I hide my gum. Seriously, its great. People paw through my backpack looking for gum, but they never look in the mints box. Plus, I can stash the gum wrappers in the box, so I'm never tempted to toss them on the floor UNLIKESOMEPEOPLECOUGHCOUGHCOUGH. Joke!!
Oh, and I have one with altoids in it too.

Altoids survival kits are popular...people put in duct tape, thread, chicken bouillon cubes. You could adapt that to fit your needs. Throw in a mirror, dental floss, and eyeshadow. Or a flashdrive, a mini periodic table, and a pencil sharpener. Or squirrel jerky, fishing tackle, and chewing tobacco. Whatever.

Other cool things to do with/in your tin...

• bake a cookie (over flame)
• plant a garden (no melons)
• grow a bacteria colony in agar (judge me)
• use those Magnetic Poetry word kits that were popular in the '90s
• ventriloquy: do a squeaky voice while opening and shutting the tin so it looks like it's talking
• protect your iPod and other gadgets

Anyways, I'm sure you are all far more creative than I am. And far less paranoid about people stealing your gum. Have fun and save those tins.

Confession

The last post was cringily righteous. I kind of wanted to punch the screen after I typed it. So let's talk about hypocrisy!

Except it's not hypocrisy, because the whole point is that you don't have to be special or rabid or perfect to save the planet. Precisely.

Anyhow, I've wasted tons and tons of resources over the years.

One example that comes to mind tonight is the collection of Kleenex ghosts I amassed in second second.

While other little kids were busy having friends or learning to add, I was using box after box of tissues to make these:

I'm serious. I probably made about 200 ghosts in total. I kept them in huge manila folders under my bed. And the best part is that it wasn't a Halloween thing...I did it all year. Every single one had a name, personality, and backstory ("This is Thomas. He sells shoes, but he has a secret lover who is already married and he feeds the poor orphans when they beg at his doorstep." Etcetera.). I kid you not, I was that cool. I killed that many trees. And IT WAS SO WORTH IT.

Pet Peeve/Rant/Idea: Fitness Equipment

You know what makes me mad? Fitness equipment. Is your life so luxurious that you have nothing worthwhile to be expending your energy on? Why don't you go play a sport?? Or build a house? Or walk around and learn something about your hometown?
Speaking of which, British regulars marched along Forest Road during the invasion of New Haven in 1777. There are probably dead Redcoats IN MY YARD. Yes.
But back to fitness equipment. I had a treadmill phase for about two weeks...I thought it was totally great. Awesome, I thought. I get to burn calories while watching TV in an air-conditioned room! Then, slowly, I started to think about all those flashing buttons and stupid sitcoms and cooling fans. I realized I was sapping huge amounts of electricity just so that I could look cute in a dress.
Not cool. I felt kind of queasy. I went back to my traditional forms of physical activity, running my dogs and jumping up and down screaming.
I'm renouncing fitness machines until they can be used as power sources.


It's been done before. Pedal-powered generators turn the mechanical energy of cycling into electrical energy, which can power devices or be stored in battery packs. I think GOAT should wire up the hopkins fitness room. I want my greenhouse powered by bicycles.

Birthday Present

Today's my birthday!! I can almost hear you squealing with excitement. Want to give me something? Here are some ideas:

1. Wind up MP3 player

My iPod is junk. It's a hand-me-down from my little sister (I turned down an iTouch in a regrettable moment of eco-righteousness). The font sometimes shows up in Swedish. This one is pretty snazzy. It gives you roughly 40 minutes of listening time for every 1 minute of cranking. And don't laugh; this guy invented the wind-up radio (sort of).

2. Donate your dead phones

Donate your old cell phones to Cell Phones for Soldiers. They sell the cell phones to a company that recycles them in exchange for phone cards. The phone cards are them distributed to American soldiers stationed all over the world.

3. From ebay: Antique ($700) Civil War US Navy Bicorn Naval Cocked Hat

I would wear that. To school, on a daily basis. Seriously, though, this is pretty much the definition of manly. Like, James Bond standing on a galloping camel hacking down his enemies with a machete with one arm tied behind with back would have nothing on this baby. Mine.

Getting Technical

Today, I decided to measure exactly how much water I consume every time I take a shower. The process was quite simple, really.

I found a huge measuring cup.
I turned on the water, held the measuring cup under the showerhead, and had my sister Lulu time 10 seconds exactly. After 10 seconds, I staggered off with my brimming glass cup and measured how much water it held: 7.2 cups (1.8 quarts, if you're into that sort of thing).

I used this online calculator to convert to gallons. I found that my shower uses .45 gallons in 10 seconds.
To find gallons per minute (GPM), I multiplied by 6; that gives 2.7 gallons per minute.

Next, I timed my average shower: 9 minutes. 2.7 x 9 = 24.3 gallons per shower.


My goal is to cut down shower time to a maximum of 5 minutes, reducing my GPS (gallons per shower) to 13.5. Grr...I love hot showers. Oh well. I'll keep you posted.

Number Crunch

Let's not spend a lot of time discussing 350, the number many are calling the most important in the world. Chances are you heard enough about 350 today (yesterday, I guess), no matter where you are or what you believe in. 350 parts per million -- allegedly the safe upper limit of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. You can find pictures of people spelling out 350 in lots of fun ways with a quick blackle search.

It's easy to get caught up in global excitement about 350, but there are some other numbers that we shouldn't lose sight of either. They may not be "the most important in the world," but they are numbers that affect your day-to-day life. And more importantly, they are numbers you can change.

pounds of French fries a typical American consumes in a year: 30

daily tons of construction waste added to South Bronx landfills: 1,900

songbirds killed by one use of pesticide on one acre of crops: 25


pounds of paper a typical American uses in a year: 730


hours in a day a typical American child spends indoors or in a vehicle: 22

percent of all pesticides declared hazardous by the US gov. that have been legally banned: 3

sources:
Wargo, Green Intelligence.
Yes! Summer 2009.
Welz, Recycled Office Products Co.
Westtown School, "Health, Food Safety and Environmental Stewardship Series."
National Wildlife Federation

How Not to be Eco Friendly

Reusing stuff is great. Hand-crafting stuff is great.

Hand-crafting reusable toilet paper is NOT GREAT. This is the sort of thing that makes Joe Sixpack believe that all eco-friendly people are looney, tree-hugging communists. Don't go there.

Are you grossed out yet? It gets worse. Check out the accompanying description:

"Everyone can use them :-) In case you just 'happened' on this listing are [sic] aren't reusing tp, here are the benefits:

leaves behind no lint

saves money

reduces waste output

low flow toilets always flush when not loaded with paper

you can wet your wipe for an always clean behind

can double as panty liners for light incontinence or to keep your mama pad an hour or two longer

Some other uses:

travel size tissues

camera lens and eyeglasses cleaners

make-up remover

reusable cotton ball

add essential oil and throw in dryer for nice smelling clothes"

Wait a second. You want us to wipe with Mr. Indigo Square, throw him in the laundry, and then use him as a makeup remover? Are you out of your freaking mind?!?!

I'm a little skeptical on how eco these are -- given that you probably need to launder the heck out of them with hard-core chemicals -- but more over, this is a TERRIBLE image for the green movement. "Hi, I'm Jen. I'm saving the planet by wiping with rainbow rags that I share with my friends."

No. Just no. But if you still want to buy a set, you can jolly well be my guest: click here.

Wrapid Fire (heh)

That was the stupidest pun ever. And it serves no purpose in this post other than to annoy you.

My birthday is in October, so to me this month represents the beginning of a gift-giving attack that lasts from now 'til New Year's. GET IT? ATTACK? OH MY GOD, I CONNECTED THIS POST TO RAPID FIRE AND NOW MY PUN MAKES SENSE. Yay.

But back to presents. You know what sucks? Wasting rolls and rolls of paper wrapping presents. You know what sucks more? Getting an unwrapped present. It totally kills the anticipation. It's like being told about your surprise birthday party.

So what's an eco-friendly person to do? The solution was revealed to me right about this time last year. For my birthday, some awesome person (I think it might have been Dutch?) wrapped my present in newspaper. It looked totally cool. Observe:

How awesome is that? And you could send all kinds of subliminal messages with the headlines. But let's not go into that right now.

Sneaking Suspicion

So Alexa, Lainee, the Guru and I noticed something funny about the dessert at lunch today.

We tasted it and perceived the unmistakeable tang of pumpkin, but it looked just like cornbread.

"What's this?" One of us asked.

"I don't know, but it smells funny," I responded.

"Here, let me see," Claire demanded. She took a whiff and her eyes lit up. "It's vanilla cake mix!"

"Can we do this without sniffing the dessert?" Alexa wondered.

"Look, it has white and orange streaks!" Lainee noticed, holding up a cross-section.

It was all too much. "WHAT IS GOING ON??!"

Claire, always the thinker, was the first to solve the mystery. "Say, wasn't there pumpkin bisque for lunch yesterday?"

There was. Moment of truth ensued.

THE CAFETERIA USED DAY-OLD PUMPKIN SOUP TO MAKE PUMPKIN CAKE.

DO YOU KNOW WHAT THAT IS? THAT'S RECYCLING.

Our cafeteria makes us look like eco wusses....P.S. next time let's try it with the hot sauce.

Dirt is the New Black

No world is as full of sheer lunacy as the fashion world. Observe bio-accessories, the ultimate new form of eco-crazy:

Yeeeup, that's a bird on her headband. A LIVING, TWEETING BIRDIE. The concept: every single piece contains a living organism (grass in a test tube, a bird, a tiny tree...). The mission is to unite nature and urban wasteland; "The wearer tends to the animal or plant, which in turn reciprocates with fresh air, light, greenery, privacy or birdsong." Birdsong. You got that? Your hat chirps at you. I think that's pretty cool, until it flies away or freezes to death. They have some pretty snazzy ideas though. The mask thing up top is called "The Nosegay," and it's supposed to mask the odors of reeking sidewalk trashcans. Nice. Check out their blog in the link above, and as usual click the pic to enlarge.

In the Greenhouse: Companion Planting

It's easy to lose sight of the fact that GOAT is first and foremost an eating project. The goal is grow as much food as possible. One method we're going to be using is companion planting: the art of cultivating plants that help each other grow. Remember learning about the Native American "three sisters," corn, squash, and beans? Yeah, like that. These days, organic farmers use companion planting techniques to improve their crops without resorting to pesticides. Here are some super-cool examples:

Carrots and Parsley: The parsley masks the scent of the carrot seed, protecting it from carrot flies (they are really gross...the larvae burrow brown tunnels through the carrot). The carrot blossoms will attract wasps and other pollinators in the spring.

Celery and Spinach: You have to pay attention to what's going on underground. Celery has shallow, fibrous roots. Spinach has a long, fast-growing taproot. The two plants won't be competing for the same soil.

...etcetera.

You know what's awesome? Etcetera used to be abbreviated "&c." Isn't that just so cool? Because the "&," which is called an ampersand, is actually a cursive-y combination of the letters "e" and "t". "Et" means "and" in a number of languages, which is why we used the symbol. I remember literally shrieking with glee when I first figured that out. Maybe that explains my friendless childhood. (joke)

A thought or two

The "cool plant" the Guru pointed out is milkweed.
All living things reproduce. We crank out screaming infants, eagles lay eggs, yeast cells send out alpha and beta signals to each other so they can fuse and divide into little baby yeasts.
Plants, which can't move, do interesting things to get their seeds out. Some make little burrs that get stuck on/carried by wild animals. Others bury their seeds inside of tempting fruits. Still others give off little bits of fluff that fly through the air.

That's what milkweed does. It makes a giant seed pod that looks like something out of a fairy tale. When the pod bursts, it releases seed-carrying fibers so silky that they were used to stuff lifevests and flying suits in World War II.

I dragged a friend up the hill to Hopkins one time to help me measure a plot of land. It was a weekend, and the grounds were quiet and peaceful. I prattled about building greenhouses and planting things, but he wasn't listening. "See that? That's milkweed. Monarch butterflies like milkweed."

We looked for butterflies but there were none.

"Look at this." He handed me a dark green leaf. "Tear it at the vein."
I did, and thick, milky sap spurted onto my fingers. I laughed and asked about the huge pods.

"They're a little early, but here--"

He grabbed one and pried open the thick shell with almost tender concentration. It strained and stretched, and then with a loud POP it spewed forth its silk and seeds.

I got really excited. We blew on the pod. Its fluff bobbed and swirled in the September breeze.

When the pod was finally empty, we decided we were done for the day. I tried to wipe the sticky sap off my fingers, but it was a long time before they were dry again.

GREENHOUSE SITE PICS

Recently, the heads of GOAT have trekked across campus to find the best sites for the greenhouse. We looked everywhere and ended up with a little over ten options. Yikes. So here are pictures of a few plus some random pictures of the environment. Like this picture of a cool plant. Just look at that.

Tennis court sites (above) ...


The library site (above) ...

Basically, we have a ton of options. Thoughts?