Responsible Fundraising

Lately, a new trend has surfaced in computer design. Green Computing has taken the spotlight as the next big thing in business and consumer computing.

“Green” or “Eco” computing can describe a few different things. The main ideas behind eco/green-computing are making the actual computer out of environmentally friendly materials, designing the computer so that energy use is minimal, and using a green energy source.

Computer companies’ role in this is obviously going to be in the first two area, building a computer out of earth friendly materials (friendly during the build and at end of the computer’s life), and designing the computer so that it uses minimal electricity. Several companies have jumped into the fray by offering a wide range of computers that try to meet one or both of these criteria. Everex (cloudbook, gPC), Asus (eee PC), and OLPC (XO) have all released low power laptops and/or desktops. Dell recently debuted a concept computer that uses 70 percent less power and is built with a bamboo case. It will begin production later this year.

From our weekly email:

This week’s green tip: Waiting in line in your car? Shut off your engine if you are in a drive-through. Running your engine while standing still gives you a effective mpg of 0, and exposes you to more toxic exhaust gases then if you were moving.

Let’s break this down. Fuel Efficiency, or your mpg, is computed by measuring how many miles you have traveled on one gallon of gas. If you are standing still while burning that gas, you are getting zero miles to the gallon. If you are stopped for more than 30 seconds, you use more gas idling than turning the car off and back on.¹ Besides costing you money and creating unneccesary pollutants, it can also be hazardous to your health.

CTA found that exposure to most auto pollutants, including volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and carbon monoxide (CO), is much higher inside vehicles than at the road side. VOCs and CO are linked to serious health problems–like respiratory infections and cancer–are known to shorten life. The highest exposure occurs when sitting in traffic congestion on highways or in a line-up of idling vehicles at a school or drive-through. From: http://www.hcdoes.org/airquality/Anti-Idling/idle.htm

Granted, reducing your exposure to exhaust gases by turning of your engine is much more effective if you are the only person in line. Even so, your car is still contributing to that cloud hanging around the McDonald’s drive through and it can only help you (and the environment) if you switch off the car.

From our weekly email:

This week’s green tip: Save water when you shower. One person can use almost 11,000 gallons a year if they take a 15 minute shower every day. New shower heads that beat the federally regulated 2.5 gallons per minute are available and deliver enough pressure. Visit our blog at www.phoneraiser.wordpress.com to see the shower heads and find out other tips on reducing water use.

I found the shower heads referenced above by thumbing through my newly arrived copy of Readymade magazine. They reviewed 3 shower heads that beat the EPA Efficiency Standards. They also reviewed a fourth shower head that matches the standard while filtering out chlorine and other chemicals from the water. It also uses magnets and other fancy methods to “increas(e) hydration by 115% over tap water, moisturizing your hair and skin without the residue of lotions”.¹ The reviewers at Readymade didn’t notice any difference in the moisture of their skin and hair during the review period, but they did find out that the other water sipping shower heads were plenty strong and well designed. You can read the review in the free digital April/May edition (pg. 22).

If you don’t want to buy a new shower head, but still want to save water while participating in the daily cleaning ritual, you can always take a shorter shower. To find out how much water you will save you can visit the federal governments water usage calculator. While there you can estimate just your shower water usage or go whole hog and calculate how much water you use in a full day.

Additionally, you can save water by simply reducing the water flow from your hot or cold water faucets to regulate temperature instead of increasing the flow. For example, if you need hotter water, decrease the cold water in the mix instead of increasing the hot.

If you are a gardener, you probably already know that worm “castings” or vermicompost is a “nutrient-rich, natural fertilizer and soil conditioner”¹. What is it exactly? Well, as the title of this post hints at, it is basically worm poop. That’s right. It’s refuse from our wiggly little friends. The best thing about vermicompost is that it is completely natural and uses organic material such as kitchen waste (coffee grounds, moldy bread, leftovers, etc.) or even, in the case of commercial operations, brewery jetsam.

At the forefront of commercially available worm casting products is a company called Terracycle. It was started by a young guy by the name of Tom Szaky. While attending Princeton, he noticed his friend running a vermicomposting bin to create fertilizer for plants. He and his friends decided to recreate this on a large scale. After initial funding issues, they finally were able to get their company up and running. As a testament to their business savvy and great products, they are still around. And since they are committed to being a sustainable organization, they package all their fertilizers in used soda bottles.

If you want to learn more about vermicomposting or would like to build your own setup, visit this wikipedia article. You can learn more about terracycle and find places to purchase their goods by visiting their site, www.terracycle.net.

Earth Day 2008 is fast approaching. Some events that are happening locally are:

Dallas EarthFest, Friday, April 18th: “The premier Earth Day Celebration for Dallas’ Downtown Community”

Oak Cliff Earth Day Festival, Sunday, April 20th: “Promoting awareness of the environment and our place in it, and environmental conservation in our government, neighborhood, and ourselves.”

Earth Day at the Amon Carter Museum, Sunday, April 13th: “Be creative with recycled materials, listen to lively stories, and see how American artists have used their art to advocate for the earth.”

Tandy Hills Prairie Fest, Saturday, April 26: “An outdoor festival to celebrate our connection to the natural world through Music, Art, Dance, Environmental Stewardship & Wildflower Tours.”

To find Earth Day events in your area, you can visit the Earth Day networks search tool.

How are we celebrating? By giving away $1000 to the organization that has sent in the most phones between January 22nd and April 18th. To find out more, visit our Earth Day competition page here.