Eco-Curious

Solar Impulse: Solar-Powered Airplane Makes Safe Landing in Phoenix

By Erin Sherbert Tue., May 7 2013 at 8:00 AM
Categories: Eco-Curious

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Solar Impulse via Flickr
All that practice over the Golden Gate really paid off. The solar-powered airplane that departed from the Bay Area on Friday for its cross-country trip landed safely in Arizona where the plane and pilots are reportedly enjoying fame.

So far the fuel-less flight has been a success; the plane flew continuously for 19 hours, powered with sunlight by day and lithium-ion batteries by night. The plane is capable of 26 hours of non-stop flight.

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Eco-Curious

Environmentalists Campaign Crissy Field, Yosemite to Ban Bottled-Water

By Erin Sherbert Mon., Mar. 25 2013 at 3:43 PM
Categories: Eco-Curious, Environment

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Water should be free
Bottled-water might not be as sexy as, say, public nudity in San Francisco, which actually isn't sexy, but environmentalists have launched an equally passionate campaign to ban bottled-water across national parks.

Their next stop: San Francisco, where city officials have been barred from bottled-water since 2007.

On March 27, members of "Think Outside the Bottle" Coalition will stop at Crissy Field to present park officials with postcards (also not environmentally friendly) with signatures from thousands of people who very much like water and like parks, but don't like bottled water in parks.

Specifically, the growing movement is asking the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, which owns Crissy Field, and Yosemite National Park to prohibit the sale of bottled-water anywhere at parks, and instead encourage people to use tap water and not be afraid.

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Eco-Curious

Weird Mannequins Protest Levi's in S.F.

By Coburn Palmer Thu., Dec. 6 2012 at 12:39 PM
Categories: Eco-Curious, Environment, Only in SF, WTF?

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Greenpeace
So you think you've seen it all in San Francisco -- unapologetic naked people, a nice-looking dude in a towel walking down Market Street, and a bird that refuses to quit smoking? Well now you can add walking mannequins to that uncanny list.

No, Levi's mannequins aren't bitter about having to don those skintight hipster jeans or the skyrocketing prices of fashionable clothes. Like any good plastic mannequins, they're worried about the environmental mess Levi's makes when creating its stylish products.

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greenpeace, levi, mannequin, san francisco, toxic chemicals, union square
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Business

Smokers, Take Heed: You Can Now Recycle Your Cigarette Butts

By Coburn Palmer Fri., Nov. 23 2012 at 12:30 PM
Categories: Business, Eco-Curious, Environment
Forget about second-hand smoke; one company wants your second-hand cigarette butts.

A new company has developed a method to get cigarette butts off San Francisco beaches and out of landfills by "upcycling" them into pellets, which will then be used to make plastic shipping pallets and other industrial products.

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cigarette, Keep America Beautiful, Ocean Conservancy, recycle, Reynolds, RippleLife, Santa Fe Natural Tobacco Company, TerraCycle, tobacco
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Local News

San Francisco Is Really Good at Hating Junk Mail

By Jeff Sandstoe Wed., Jul. 25 2012 at 4:45 PM
Categories: Eco-Curious, Local News
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Where is the delete button?
Have you stopped to notice lately just how good  we have it here in San Francisco? It's not just because we have a working version of universal health care, or that we are unstoppable when it comes to human rights. What is it that truly makes us one of the most progressive cities in the world?

Less junk mail, of course.

San Francisco was ranked No. 11 on a new list of the nation's top 20 "Most Mail Efficient Metro Areas." The results were based on the number of people who have proudly opted out of having junk mail sent to their homes. 

So how did we manage to get so turned off by useless coupons and crappy advertisements? Perhaps it's just that we're young and used to automatically shuffling unwanted mail into cyberspace.
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junk mail, Most Mail Efficient Metro Areas, San Francisco junk mail
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Community

Floating Cities Could Be on the Horizon

By Laura Rena Murray Wed., May 30 2012 at 12:43 PM
Categories: Community , Development and Real Estate, Eco-Curious, Environment, Real Estate, SF Oddities

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This weekend, seasteading enthusiasts will be flocking to the city for their annual conference at the Le Meridien Hotel to plan future floating cities. 

The ultimate goal of the seasteading movement is to establish autonomously governed communities on the water -- an ocean city-state, so to speak. The conference is hosted by the Seasteading Institute, and this year participants will discuss ways to implement sustainable energy options and recruiting real estate investors. 

"We are not the first to see freedom on the high seas," writes Randolph Hencken, the Institute's senior director, "but we are the first to temper this idealistic vision with a realistic strategy."  


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Seasteading Institute, Thiel Foundation
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Best Practices

How Your Poop Can Save the Planet

By Erin Sherbert Thu., Apr. 12 2012 at 4:12 PM
Categories: Best Practices, Business, Eco-Curious, Environment
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Saving the planet one bowel movement at a time
We've given you much to consider in the days about human feces and how it's managed in San Francisco. But here's something else you might posit: Would you wipe your mouth on a paper napkin that's been recycled from used toilet paper?

C'mon, aren't you an environmentalist?

Well, now you'll know for sure just how far you are willing to go to save the planet. Applied Clean Tech, an Israeli environmental company, is taking soiled, poopy toilet paper from the water treatment plants, cleaning it, sterilizing it, and pressing it into a clean piece of paper ready for you to write your next love letter. The company uses matter that is at least 60 percent cellulose to maintain enough elasticity to convert the matter into a new solid compound.

According to Gizmodo, the result looks much like particle board, and could support up to 10 percent of the world's paper needs while reducing the amount of sludge waste reaching landfills by 75 percent.

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Applied Clean Tech, human feces, San Francisco toilet paper bill, saving the planet with poop
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Best Practices

Humans Take Over S.F. Parking Spaces

By Erin Sherbert Fri., Sep. 16 2011 at 3:05 PM
Categories: Best Practices, Eco-Curious
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Business as usual
​What better way to get San Franciscans' attention than to take away their parking spaces -- lots of them.

In San Francisco and across the nation people are celebrating PARK(ing) Day today, which means they've done their best to convert perfectly good metered parking spaces into parks, offices, or whatever use comes to mind.

Well there's one way to get people out of their cars.

The annual event is meant to get people to consider just how much urban space is dedicated to cars.

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automobiles, metered spots, PARK(ing) Day, Rebar, urban design, wasted space
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Eco-Curious

Sorry, Harold Camping, the World Will End, but Not Anytime Soon

By Erin Sherbert Thu., Aug. 25 2011 at 5:03 PM
Categories: Eco-Curious
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cosmosastro.com
What Harold Camping doesn't know
​There are times when science and religion can agree, like the fact that the planet will come to a fiery end. For instance, both NASA scientists and Harold Camping -- the Oakland Rapture predictor -- agree on this. But what they seem to differ on is the exact timing of the end of the world.

While Camping assures us that the Rapture will happen Oct. 21, 2011, NASA scientists argue otherwise, saying the planet still has some 500 million years of life to live -- not that even 1,000 more years would make a difference to us.

But if you are curious about how and when the world will crumbled to pieces, NASA planetologist Chris McKay will be a the Roxie Theater in San Francisco this weekend to explain the details.

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Harold Camping, NASA, NASA planetologist Chris McKay, Rapture, science and religion, the end of the world, The Roxie
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Eco-Curious

Stanford Wants to Install an Earthquake Sensor on Your Computer

By Lauren Smiley Fri., Jul. 8 2011 at 2:50 PM
Categories: Eco-Curious, Science and Tech
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My sensor saw it coming.
​The bad news: The Big One is coming. The good news: At least you can measure it. 

Geophysicists are looking for "citizen seismologists" in the Bay Area to install a tiny earthquake sensor in their home, classroom, or office this weekend as part of building the densest network of seismic sensors ever to learn about earthquake activity. The network is part of the Quake Catcher Network, based at Stanford University, which has already installed a web of sensors in earthquake-prone Chile and New Zealand, according to news reports.

The project will last three years, though the organizers say anyone willing to host a sensor for at least a year can volunteer.

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home earthquake sensors, Quake Catcher Network, Stanford University
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