July 2010 Archives

Water is perhaps mankind's most precious commodity. Not only do we drink it to stay alive, we use it in the washing of dishes, in bathing, and in watering our plants and gardens. We even use it to feed the animals that rely on us. Since water appears to be all around us, it is easy to overuse and under appreciate. During summer months, depending on where you live, you may experience water restrictions placed by local utility companies. For dry areas such as the southwestern United States, conserving water is vital and these periods of limitation really make that clear.

In Denver, where I live, there are billboards urging citizens to use only what we need. During drought years, there are times where my community was only allowed to water yards on certain days of the week and for limited periods of time.

For those of us who enjoy gardening, not being allowed to water our plants as much as needed can be a bit frustrating. Fortunately, there are ways to cultivate an attractive garden without having to worry so much about watering. These gardens are called Xeriscapes. Wikipedia states that Xeriscaping "refers to landscaping and gardening in ways that reduce or eliminate the need for supplemental water from irrigation."

In an article on Xeriscaping by David Beaulieu at landscaping.about.com, xeriscaping is said to have originated with the Denver Colorado Water Department in 1981. Much of Colorado is considered to be an arid desert and while the Rocky Mountains and continental divide provide meltwater a plenty, historically water has been shared with dry water-hungry Western states and locations such as Las Vegas.

"A compound of the Greek xeros, dry, and "-scape," as in landscape, "xeriscape" landscaping essentially refers to a creating a landscape design that has been carefully tailored to withstand drought conditions," Beaulieu writes. Xeriscaping can take many forms. For some, it simply means grouping plants with similar watering requirements in one area. Whatever form it takes, the purpose of xeriscaping isa lways the same; to reduce excessive water use by matching indigenous and imported plants with weather and soil conditions.

There's nothing quite like a lush green lawn but maintaining one can be problematic during long hot summer days. For this reason, many xeriscapes eliminate lawns all together favoring rocks, mulch and other materials such as recycled rubber or plastic. An added benefit is less mowing! Some property owners and gardeners simply switch to types of grass that require less water while others relegate the lawn area as an accent to the landscape rather than the dominating element.

So what kind of plants should go into your xeriscape? That largely depends on where you live. For people in the southwestern U.S., cacti may be the dominate plant. In areas that are not as desperate for water, xeriscapes may consist of shrubs, mulch, and reduced lawns.

According to eartheasy.com, there are 7 principles to xeriscaping. They include:

1. water conservation
2. soil improvement
3. limited turf areas
4. appropriate plants
5. mulch
6. irrigation
7. maintenance

When all of these elements work together, a xeriscape can not only look beautiful, but reduce over-watering. Go to http://eartheasy.com/grow_xeriscape.htm for more information.

So what are the advantages to xeriscaping? Besides the obvious being that it reduces over watering, it creates a less stressful gardening experience do to the fact that xeriscapes require less time in maintenance, especially if there is no lawn involved. As stated above, no lawn means no mowing means less time... means less gas... means less pollution... less asthma... less smell etc. etc. In addition, Xeriscape plants, according to Wikipedia, "in appropriate planting design, and soil grading and mulching, take full advantage of rainfall retention. When water restrictions are implemented, by municipality or water costs, xeriscaped plants will tend to survive and thrive, while more ornamental plants may be unable to adapt."

For more information about how to set up a xeriscape and what kind of plants to use, check out your local gardening center or check out the links below:

• Beginners Guide to Xeriscapes: http://www.doityourself.com/stry/xeriscapes
• Xeriscapes Unlimited: http://www.xeriscapes.com
• Xeriscaping Design: http://www.landscape-america.com/landscapes/xeriscaping/design.html

While gathering groceries the other day at Safeway I stumbled upon a new line of Ziploc Sandwich Bags designed to be a little greener. These bags tout several environmental benefits but cost more than traditional Ziplocs. While I like the idea of recreating and improving one of the most wasteful and environmentally harmful products out there (plastic sacks) the "improved" Ziplocs felt a little like greenwashing to me.

Ziploc Evolve bags advertise 25% less plastic which means they aren't as wasteful as traditional bags. That said, I've noticed that most competing white label sandwich bags are also thinner. It's simply a cost saving measure for the no-name bags. Despite the higher price I bought the Evolve product and have been using the bags for over a week now. I'm happy to report that this greener line of thin Ziploc bags perform just as you might expect, no leaks, no faulty zippers etc... But should you really have to pay more for a product that feels inferior and might actually cost less to produce just because it's green?

Using these bags has been a fine experience but next time I visit the store I'll be eying the competition more carefully. Whether they advertise themselves as green or not, less plastic = better in the eyes of mother nature. This story isn't quite over though as Ziploc Evolve bags advertise a few extra benefits that might justify the higher price.

• Cardboard carton containing Ziploc Evolve bags is made with 100% recycled paperboard with a minimum of 35% post consumer content. This means the box that contains the bags helps to preserve more trees and encourage recycling.
• The manufacturing process of these bags requires less energy than traditional bags (this may be due to their thinner size which requires less heat for molding the plastic?) I'm not completely sold here... green washing alert.
• Bags are manufactured using renewable wind energy which is a clean energy source. This is really the clincher for me, if these bags are made using wind power (which could be more expensive depending on where they are produced and what the utilities offer) then a higher price is justified and I would willingly pay a bit more.

Sometimes it's hard to sort through the clutter and really put your approval behind a product. In so many cases there is little or no motivation to make a product more sustainable or less environmentally harmful when the bottom line is in question. Businesses have to be profitable to be sustainable themselves and I get that.

Maybe the higher price of the new Ziploc Evolve bags is based on the wind power component or maybe this is a trial run which costs more to do (lower volume = higher price to start). Whatever the case, I'm glad to see new products that take the environment into consideration and I hope to see these bags priced on par with a normal pack of 50 Ziploc sandwich bags in the near future.

[update, on July 6th 2010 I followed up on the pricing of Ziploc Evolve bags at my local Safeway which had been updated to $2.99 on par with a 50 pack of regular Ziploc sandwich bags.]

These days nearly everyone's got a mobile phone and keeping it charged isn't half as hard as it used to be. Long life Lithium Ion batteries in combination with cigarette lighter adapters, traditional 120V wall chargers and even solar chargers make taking and placing calls easier, and greener, than ever! Still, nobody wants to be stuck with a dead phone, especially if you're camping or traveling.

To address those emergency-charge moments a company called Fame LLC is offering an innovative, and clean, way to charge your mobile devices using Kinetic energy. That is, you pull on a string and the device converts your physical energy into electric power which is sent directly into your phone.

This device is called a YoGen and is compatible with most smart phones and mobile devices. I've tested it out with a Blackberry and iPhone and it works great! While you could also potentially use the YoGen to charge your PSP or digital camera, it works best with phones because you usually don't have to pull for very long in order to place a call. By comparison, you might have to spend 30 minutes of pull-charging time to get in a short game or photo session.

The YoGen is about the size of Blackberry Curve or iPhone and comes in clear or black. It's designed to be fairly durable and really only has two points of interaction. A mini USB plugin where electricity flows out to your phone and a string with a plastic lever attached. When you pull quickly on the string an internal spring loaded gear extends to catch and pull a metal weight. The weight spins and produces electricity which is converted to properly charge through the mini USB or iPhone attachment.

While I haven't used my YoGen too often, it has come in handy a couple times when I was out surfing. It charges devices faster than most solar chargers and doesn't rely on the time of day or weather to function properly. I imagine this device is also cleaner to manufacture than most current generation photovoltaic chargers and won't create the same kind of pollution upon disposal or accidental combustion. The device feels pretty indestructible and priced at $50 it's similar to what you might pay for an equivalent wall powered adapter. You'll also be glad to know that it's not extremely loud to use, you can hear the gears spinning but overall the device is discrete.

The YoGen doesn't have any internal batteries so unlike kinetic powered shaker flashlights or crank powered laptops it will last as long as the string and gears are functional. I give the device two thumbs up and am excited about the future launch of other Fame LLC products. I've seen speculation on a foot powered laptop charger but the details are still up in the air and nothing has been confirmed. Check back for updates and news as it becomes available.