Posts by: tom

Kids and their power to move us

Take five minutes to watch Severn Suzuki talk to the Rio Summit in 1992: You may be wondering who this amazing orator and activist is, and where she is now. She is the daughter of Canadian environmental guru, writer and leader David Suzuki. Fifteen years later, she is now an environmental leader in her own right. Green leaders have known… read more →

Conservation tip: prioritize organic over local for a caprese salad

A yummy caprese salad. Local: good. Organic: Better. Local and Organic: Best We've all been there. You missed the weekend farmer's market and are standing at the supermarket salivating for a caprese salad trying to decide between locally-grown non-organic tomatoes and the organic tomatoes shipped from some far-off place. Which one do you grab? Well, new research from the University… read more →

What is the value of the voluntary carbon market?

Pop Trivia: What $30 billion sophisticated financial market does the US not have a share of? Answer: You guessed it, the carbon market! What is in that $30 billion number? Well, the recent World Bank report (pdf) gives you a nice overview, but at a high level the $30 billion is divided into $5.4 billion in project-based revenues (CO2 offsets)… read more →

What improv can teach the green community

Improv builds on itself with one simple phrase. What does the green community do? A friend was talking to me the other day about his improv comedy lessons. According to Ashish, an eye-opening moment in learning to deal with the "unpredictable" on stage is the unwritten rule to always use the phrase "Yes, and..." to begin your turn. Saying "Yes,… read more →

Lazy Environmentalist: Zagat for going green

A handy little bookshelf guide for green buying Sustainability is such a vast field that its easy to get lost. This is especially true for consumers who are looking to vote green with their dollars. How many times have you bought something, only to hear later about a cool, sustainable version of the same product? Enter Josh Dorfman, founder of… read more →

Save water to save energy

Water systems use a whopping 19% of the electricity in California. Dry landscaping could save you 357 lbs a year, or about the same as 8 CFL's Looking for a new idea to fight climate change? Maybe you're just starting to act on climate change, and have plenty of previous TerraPass conservation tips on your to-do list. Maybe you've gone… read more →

Honda to abandon hybrids for diesel?

Is this the sales profile of a fuel hogging SUV, or a hybrid? Answer -- the hybrid version of the Honda Accord. Source: GreenCarCongress The latest sales data for the Accord Hybrid bring another disappointing, down month (17% for the month, 48% for the year) for the hybrid version of America's most popular car. For comparison, the Prius hit the… read more →

Why Critical Mass fits in solutions-based times

Seattle cyclists close down elevated Highway 99 near downtown on Friday's critical Mass. Is this a useful mass visioneering exercise? TerraPass isn't, strictly speaking, an activist organization. Generally, the days of trying to help the environment by chaining yourself to bulldozers (or driving them off cliffs) are being replaced by a set of organizations and companies finding workable solutions to… read more →

Is the voluntary market enough?

Time for applause? Or it is just noise? You may have been surprised yesterday when the U.S. Department of Energy's Energy Information Administration announced that US carbon emissions decreased 1.3% last year, the biggest drop since 2001. One of the major causes was a remarkable 7.4% drop in heating degree days due to a warm winter that brought electricity generation… read more →

Biodiesel, NOx and the value of environmental “prices”

VW's clean TDI technology could let biodiesel users avoid any increase in NOx emissions. This weekend I was checking out my friend Dave's new VW Jetta, emblazoned with biodiesel stickers, as he told me how switching to biodiesel had lowered his carbon emissions 80%. (Biodiesel is based on biogenic carbon -- the carbon emitted when you drive was absorbed by… read more →
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