green living

Recent Films with Green Themes: Energy, fuel, climate, food, farming, health, etc.

This is a listing of green-themed films that came out in the last few years. I have not seen all of these films, so I can’t say that all of them are worth seeing, but many of them have won awards or been critically acclaimed. Click on the links below (or go to IMDB.com) to see previews/trailers, reviews, and descriptions of each film. Scroll to the bottom of the post to see a list of some green film festivals; those sites provide videos and information on even more films.

Films on energy, fuel, and/or climate change:

Films on food and/or farming:

Films on other topics (e.g., health/toxins/pollution, water, localization, dolphins, etc.):

If there are other relevant films that you’ve heard of or seen and would recommend to others, please add those in the Comments section below.

* Films that are marked with an asterisk are films that have a more positive or funny bent than many of the others. There are only so many bleak films about reality that people can watch in a row without getting depressed or angry and feeling helpless to make a difference. I find that it’s best to take in some positive stories, solutions, and humor now and then, to keep myself sane and motivated…

Green Film Festivals

These are a few of the annual film fests that I’m aware of. Please let everyone know about others by contributing a Comment! Many of the festivals’ websites feature video clips or entire films (short and full-length films), and they list many additional, new, independent films, beyond what I’ve listed above.

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August 1, 2011
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Location, Location, Location: How to choose a sustainable place to live / build a home

The sustainability of one’s home depends as much (if not more) on its location as on how the house is built. If you’re looking to buy land or to buy (or rent) a house, consider sustainability criteria when comparing the locations of different properties.

The following are some of the key “location efficiency” issues to consider. (Some of them only apply to buying land that you plan to build on.) Try to choose a spot that meets at least some of these criteria:

Seek a property that…

  • …is located close to your (and your family’s) jobs and schools; close to shops, parks, civic buildings, and other services and amenities your family regularly uses; and close to public transit stops—ideally within walking distance (i.e., less than 1/4 mile, or 1/2-mile max.). Living in close proximity to such things will save you gas, money, and driving time; reduce your stress level and your odds of getting in a car accident; and also reduce traffic and air pollution!
  • ...has been built on before. It’s best to choose a property that has an existing house or other structures that can be renovated and reused. (If a structure is unsafe or beyond repair and must be demolished, have it deconstructed carefully so that you can recycle, reuse, donate, or sell its salvageable materials; and then rebuild on its original foundation or footprint.)
  • …is an infill site (i.e., surrounded by other developed parcels) that is already (or can easily be) hooked up to existing infrastructure for roads, water, wastewater, and utility lines (to reduce the costs, resource waste, and sprawl associated with extending or building new infrastructure)—unless you’re planning to live entirely off-grid (with on-site power, water, and wastewater treatment). If you are planning to live off-grid, be sure that the property has a good source of clean water on site, as well as adequate solar access and/or wind or biomass resources for generating your own electricity.

And avoid buying or building on a property that…

  • …is within a floodplain zone; on a known earthquake fault; or on coastal land that’s susceptible to erosion or located in a tsunami zone;
  • …is a Greenfield site (i.e., land that has never been developed / cleared / built on before);
  • …contains sensitive habitat, endangered species, wetlands, or prime agricultural land (unless you preserve the key areas for continued agricultural use or conservation, whichever is applicable); or
  • …consists of steep slopes (often defined as slopes with a grade of 15% or more), which would need to be substantially graded to enable development of the site. The grading and development of steep slopes can cause soil erosion and increased stormwater runoff, which in turn can cause water pollution, flooding, and potentially mudslides.

Living in an environmentally sensible and sustainable location has numerous benefits. You can reap significant financial savings (e.g., by reducing the amount of driving you have to do; or by avoiding or minimizing the need to build new infrastructure or to do extensive site grading). Location efficiency can also yield broad, collective benefits for society and our shared environment, such as:

  • reducing sprawl-related automobile dependence, traffic, and air pollution;
  • protecting public health, environmental health, and the climate;
  • conserving natural resources, habitat, and open space; and
  • contributing to the creation of livable, walkable, healthy, and vibrant neighborhoods that enhance your community’s quality of life and local economic opportunities.
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June 3, 2011
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Daily Links and Good News Featured on The Green Spotlight’s Facebook Page

Please take a look at The Green Spotlight’s Facebook Page to see our daily green blurbs and links. You can view the page even if you don’t have a Facebook account. But if you do have an account, click on the “Like” button (if you’re not already connected to page); then you will be able to see The Green Spotlight’s posts in your Facebook news feed.

Visit the Page to get a sense of the wide variety of topics that it covers, and feel free to comment on the posts.

Here’s a sampling of topics that we’ve spotlighted on the page in recent weeks:

  • new films, including The Economics of Happiness; Bag It; Flow; and Queen of the Sun
  • a new environmental news website: This Week in Earth
  • videos about the achievements of this year’s Goldman Prize winners (from the U.S., El Salvador, Germany, etc.)
  • video about the NRDC’s Growing Green Awards winners
  • AIA’s Top Ten Green Projects award-winning buildings
  • organic gardening tips for weed and pest control
  • driving tips to save gas and money
  • a new Green Jobs report, and an interactive map of clean energy companies
  • online action to oppose uranium mining in the Grand Canyon
  • a summer tour of organic food and farming in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico
  • dog and cat toys made from natural, renewable materials
  • new thin-film solar products, and a mobile solar power generator
  • the story of a North Carolina farm started by a family inspired into action by the film Food, Inc.
  • the story of two 15-year-old Girl Scouts who are calling Kellogg’s on its use of palm oil in Girl Scout cookies and other products
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May 5, 2011
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Don’t Let the Bed Bugs Bite: Bed Bug Prevention and Non-Toxic Eradication

“Bed bugs” are small nocturnal insects that feed on blood. (Cimex lectularius is the most common species of bed bug.) Some people who are bitten by them get itchy welts on their skin. However, the bugs have not been found to transit any diseases to humans.

Bed bugs are typically found on mattresses, box springs and bed frames, bedding, clothing, and in any dark cracks, seams, or crevices in beds, furniture, walls, or floors. They can travel through water pipes, wall voids, and ducts, and can spread from room to room.

Adult bed bugs are about 1/4-inch long and 1/8-inch wide; younger ones are smaller (often about 3/16 of an inch long or the size of a pinhead). They have flat, grayish-brown or reddish-brown bodies with six legs, and after feeding, they become round and red. They give off a sweet, musty odor. Their eggs are white and very small, and their excrement appears as tiny brown or black spots, which can look like small blood stains if smeared.

Here are some rules for prevention, as well as tips for getting rid of bed bugs if they do appear.

Keeping Bed Bugs Out

  • Consider getting a protective plastic cover for your mattress(es) and box spring(s) to keep bugs out/off of the bed. Tape up any tears or holes that appear in the mattress, box spring, or plastic covering.
  • Eliminate excess clutter (particularly near your beds and clothing), to reduce the number of places where the bugs can hide.
  • If you have been staying elsewhere or traveling, check your luggage and belongings for bed bugs before bringing them inside. Unpack your clothes directly into the laundry and wash everything with hot water.
  • If you are considering buying any used/second-hand items, check them carefully for bed bugs before buying them, and wash them before bringing them into your home.

Getting Rid of Bed Bugs

While some pests can pose health concerns for building occupants, so can many pesticides. Pesticides and insecticides are poisons, and as such they are often poisonous to humans (and pets) as well as to pests. Studies have linked some pesticides to cancer, birth defects, neurological disorders, and immune system disorders, as well as allergies. Therefore, pesticides should only be used as a last resort.

If the steps below are not sufficient to eliminate a bed bug problem and an insecticide must be used, ask an experienced professional to recommend the least-toxic insecticide that will be effective, and have it applied by a professional who will take safety precautions. The bed bugs’ eggs are not affected by insecticides, so the treatment will probably need to be applied several times to kill the hatchlings. Note: Bed bugs have become resistant to some pesticides, and using harsher pesticides could just end up making the bugs stronger, as they could build up resistance to those.

If you want to research insecticide options on your own, check out the EPA’s Bed Bug Product Search Tool.  As a general rule, avoid products that are labeled “Danger—Poison,” as those tend to be the most toxic to humans. Never use pesticides indoors that are intended for outdoor use. And don’t use (or allow others to apply) any product that does not specifically list bed bugs on the product label. Some sticky traps are designed for bed bugs. (Note: Baits for ants and cockroaches will not work on bed bugs.)

But before using any pesticides/insecticides, first try these non-chemical strategies:

  • If you think you’ve found bed bugs, first make sure that’s what they are. Have a professional identify them, or using a flashlight and ideally a magnifying glass, compare the bugs to photos of bed bugs to make a positive identification. (There are many websites with close-up photos of the bugs. Just do an online search for “bed bug” images.)
  • Infested materials can be rid of bed bugs by being heated to at least 113 degree for an hour (or by being frozen at less than 0 degrees for at least 4 days). Many bed bug extermination services now use cryogenic freezing methods (e.g. the Cryonite system) to kill the bugs.
  • Wash your bedding and clothing with hot, soapy water, and dry them on the hottest dryer setting.
  • Vacuum cracks, crevices, and other hiding places in walls, floors, and furniture where adult bed bugs or eggs are found. Dispose of the vacuum contents right away in a sealed trash bag, in an outdoor garbage bin.
  • Use hot, soapy water to wipe all surfaces and crevices where the bugs might be living.
  • Seal up any cracks where the bugs are living. Seal/tape up any tears in mattresses or other areas where the bugs could hide.
  • Eliminate excess clutter (particularly near your beds and clothing), to reduce the number of places where the bugs can hide.
  • Try sprinkling food-grade diatomaceous earth in areas where the bed bugs have been seen, to prevent them from hiding in those places again. (Food-grade diatomaceous earth can be found at many feed stores, garden centers, or hardware stores.)
  • If a mattress or box spring is infested with bed bugs, it will probably need to be disposed of (unless the entire thing can be put into a large freezer), as the bugs can live inside the mattress where they can’t be reached. Mattresses should never be treated with insecticides, unless a specialist verifies that the treatment is non-toxic to humans. Infested mattresses should never be donated, but can be recycled. When disposing of a mattress or other infested objects, deface them so that others will not be tempted to take them home.
  • Tightly wrap in plastic any infested possessions (including mattresses) before carrying them out of a room for disposal, to avoid spreading the infestation to other rooms.

Consult with a licensed, experienced pest control professional for further advice and treatment options.

For more information, go to these webpages:

EPA’s Bed Bug Information

Beyond Pesticides: Bed Bug Info (factsheet, articles, etc.)

New Natural Bed Bug Busters (Mother Earth News article) – Includes a non-toxic product recommendation

Nontoxic Bed Bug Control is Possible (San Francisco Chronicle article) – Includes a non-toxic product recommendation

Center for Disease Control’s Bed Bug FAQs

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April 27, 2011
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Green Homes: Recommended Websites for Project Profiles and Case Studies

One of the best ways to learn about green homes is to explore examples of real-world projects—by touring green homes or reading about them online. Completed projects can give you ideas for your own home. And we all benefit from hearing about not only the most successful aspects of model projects, but also about the lessons learned the hard way by homeowners or builders who have already “blazed the trail.”

The following websites feature free collections of case studies (or profile articles with in-depth information) on green homes around the country. Some of these sites showcase home renovations and remodels, as well as new homes.

  • High Performance Buildings Database case studies (U.S. Department of Energy / BuildingGreen): Go to “Search Options,” then select “Building Type,” and choose “Single-Family Residential,” or search by location. Most of the case studies in this database are on commercial and institutional buildings.

In addition to the LEED for Homes, Passive House, and GreenPoint Rated certifications that are mentioned above, homes can also be certified under the rigorous Living Building Challenge program. The first home to achieve the Living Building Challenge certification is the Eco-Sense home in Victoria, British Columbia. The International Living Building Institute has posted this comprehensive case study on the Eco-Sense home.

Related Post: A previous post also lists websites that feature case studies on commercial/institutional green buildings.

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February 7, 2011
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Green Gift Giving: Ideas and Tips

Before the holidays (and other gift-giving occasions), I sit down and have a brainstorm session to try to come up with thoughtful, meaningful gifts that are well suited to each person on my list. Then, I run those ideas through my budget filter, as well as another set of filters that I consider to be just as important: In an effort to be an environmentally and socially conscious consumer, I strive to choose gifts that meet one or more of the following criteria—many of which also happen to be economical:

  1. Non-Stuff: As Art Buchwald said, “The best things in life aren’t things.” Consider alternatives to material things, such as:
     

    • Activities: Doing something special for/with someone or a group of friends or family (e.g., making a fancy dinner or going out to eat);
    • Giving a gift certificate for a restaurant, a service (e.g. spa/massage), an educational opportunity (such as an online solar training course), or music/movie downloads (e.g., iTunes gift code by email); a ticket to a special event (e.g., a concert); or a voucher for a personal favor (e.g., babysitting or a household repair task); or
    • Making a donation (or getting a membership) to a nonprofit organization on someone’s behalf.


  2. Homemade, handmade, or homegrown stuff: e.g., baked goods, jam, art, crafts. Or, if you have been growing herbs or have saved flower or vegetable seeds from your garden, I think that fresh or dried herbs (like rosemary, thyme, or lavender) and seeds (like cilantro/coriander, which can also be ground for use as a spice)—or flower bulbs or seedlings—can make really nice gifts.


  3. Locally-made or Fair Trade goods: You can help support your local economy/community by buying locally-made goods from small independent businesses in your town, or you could support a sustainable enterprise in a third-world country by purchasing Fair Trade goods. Whatever you do, try to avoid buying cheaply made (low quality, low durability) stuff that was manufactured with toxic materials in an overseas sweatshop; unfortunately, that description applies to a lot of the stuff sold in Big Box chain stores these days.


  4. Products with green attributes or purposes: e.g., a solar charger for cell phones and gadgets; gardening supplies or non-GMO seeds (e.g., Baker Creek Heirlooms or Botanical Interests); organic cotton clothing; organic food; soaps or bath products made with entirely safe and biodegradable ingredients, etc. (Beware of “greenwashing,” of course. Look for third-party assessments/eco-labels that verify manufacturers’ environmental claims.) Find stores in your area that specialize in green products. Or shop online to minimize your driving; many green companies have online stores, e.g.:
     


  5. Re-gifted items or lightly-used finds: When I receive an item for which I don’t have any use, I don’t have qualms about re-gifting it (or donating it) to someone who would enjoy having it more than I would. In fact, I get great satisfaction out of redirecting things to the right recipients. You can also sometimes find a perfect and perfectly lovely gift for someone at a vintage/antique shop, yard sale, flea market, thrift store, or Craigslist. Some “pre-owned” items are treasures just waiting to be found.


  6. Eminently useful things: There are certain things that almost anyone can put to use, such as consumables (favorite specialty foods or spices), cozy socks, a mini-LED light for a keychain, or a good book about a topic of interest to the recipient.


  7. Small stuff: Try to choose items that don’t use a lot of resources, don’t require a lot of packaging/shipping material, and won’t take up much space in someone’s home.  Sometimes the best gifts can fit into a stocking.

And if you still just can’t think of anything good to get for a certain person and you decide to get that person a gift certificate for a store, get one from a store that offers electronic/email gift notices (or else paper certificates) rather than disposable PVC plastic gift cards.

Lastly, minimize your use of store-bought/new wrapping paper. Some people like to use the cartoon section of their newspaper as wrapping paper. I keep a stash of reusable gift bags and ribbons that have come to me over the years. If the contents of a gift don’t need to be covered up, putting a nice ribbon or bow around it (sans wrapping paper) is an elegantly simple way to adorn it.

 

NOTE: See our newer post, Green Gifts (2.0), posted November 2011, for more tips and suggestions.


For additional info on green gifts, products, and consumerism/over-consumption, take a look at these sites:

Please share your own green gift ideas and suggestions in the Comments section below.

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November 20, 2010
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The Green Spotlight’s Daily Links and Highlights

We post briefer and more frequent green blurbs on our Facebook page than we do on this site. Please visit The Green Spotlight’s Facebook Page. You can view the page even you don’t have a Facebook account. But if you do have an account, click on the “Like” button (if you’re not already a “Friend” of the page). Then you can get a daily dose of The Green Spotlight in your Facebook news feed, and you can share your comments and recommendations with a large audience.

Take a look at the Page to get a sense of the wide variety of topics that have been touched on or linked to. Here’s a sampling of past topics:

  • Biomimicry in product design
  • Solar window shutters
  • Ecovative’s alternative to petroleum-based plastics
  • Biofuel made from whiskey-distilling by-products
  • Dog poop converted into electrical energy
  • Landfill gas turned into fuel for garbage trucks
  • Organic farming programs in India, Mexico, Detroit, etc.
  • Gardening tips
  • Non-toxic cleaners and household products
  • Green-certified restaurants
  • Net-zero-energy and “passive” homes around the world
  • The Yes Men satirize Chevron
  • Daryl Hannah
  • Rachel Carson
  • The greening of corporate supply chains
  • Solar panel recycling
  • Electric cars, motorcycles, trucks, scooters, ATVs, and other vehicles (Green Lite Motors, Barefoot Motors, Mission Motors, Brammo, ZAP, Bright Automotive, etc.)
  • World Green Building Council
  • Living Building Challenge
  • Bioneers
  • Farm Aid
  • Teens Turning Green
  • League of Conservation Voters
  • Trees for the Future: Haiti
  • 350.org
  • California Brightspot
  • Green Economy Roadmap
  • TED videos
  • New films: e.g., Big River; Dirt!
  • Interesting facts and stats
  • Quotation of the Month
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November 5, 2010
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Switch to High-Efficiency Plumbing Fixtures to Save Water, Energy, and Money

Reducing your water use has multiple benefits. In addition to helping to conserve and protect your community’s vital water supplies, saving water also helps you save money and energy.

According to the U.S. EPA, if all U.S. households installed water-efficient fixtures and appliances, the country would save more than 3 trillion gallons of water and more than $18 billion dollars per year.

Conserving water also conserves energy, because energy is used to treat, deliver, and heat water. If one out of every 100 American homes were retrofitted with water-efficient fixtures, that would save about 100 million kWh of electricity per year—avoiding 80,000 tons of greenhouse gas emissions: equivalent to removing nearly 15,000 automobiles from the road for one year. For additional information on the benefits of saving water, see this EPA webpage.

Low-flow fixtures have been on the market for a while. These days, there are also many ultra-low-flow fixtures that conserve even more water without compromising performance. The EPA’s WaterSense program labels ultra-low-flow, highly water-efficient plumbing fixtures that have been independently tested and certified to meet efficiency and performance standards. In addition to being approximately 20% more water-efficient than average products, WaterSense labeled products have been verified to perform “as well or better than their less efficient counterparts.”

To select the most water-efficient plumbing fixtures, you should look for products with certain flow thresholds. The following sections outline the thresholds to be aware of when selecting ultra-low water-use toilets, showerheads, and faucets:

HIGH-EFFICIENCY, WATER-SAVING TOILETS

Toilets are often the source of the most water use (and water wasting) within a home, accounting for nearly 30 percent of an average home’s indoor water consumption. If you have a toilet(s) that uses more than 1.6 gallons of water per flush (gpf)—as do almost all toilets installed before 1994—replace it with one of the following:

  • High-efficiency (or ultra-low-flush) toilet model that uses no more than 1.3 gpf (the current EPA WaterSense standard, as of 2010); or better yet, a…
  • Dual-flush toilet, which has a lower-flush button for liquid waste and a higher-flush button for solid waste; this type of toilet is common in Australia and Europe and is becoming increasingly popular in the U.S. (Dual-flush conversion/retrofit kits are also available to convert a regular toilet into a dual-flush.) Or even better, consider installing a…
  • Composting toilet, which uses little to no water for flushing.

In California, new legislation has mandated that all new toilets sold or installed in the state after 2014 must be high-efficiency toilets. At some point, federal standards might also be raised to this standard.

For commercial/office-building bathrooms, install ultra-low-flush (ULF) urinals in lieu of regular urinals.

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August 25, 2010
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Model Sustainable Neighborhoods: LEED ND Developments in the U.S., Canada, and China

Among LEED ND (Neighborhood Development) certified projects that have been built or are currently being built (i.e., construction is already well underway), the following have gotten the highest ratings. All of the developments listed here have achieved either a Gold or Platinum LEED rating.

UNITED STATES

California

Colorado

Connecticut

Maryland

New York

  • SALT (Syracuse Art, Life and Technology) District, Syracuse (Gold, Stage 1): Official Site

North Carolina

Oregon

Tennessee

  • Cummins Station: Gateway to Nashville (Gold, Stage 2): Official Site

Washington DC

CANADA

CHINA

  • Beijing Olympic Village (Gold, Stage 2)
  • Chongqing Tiandi Xincheng Development, Chongqing (Gold, Stage 2)
  • Wuhan Tiandi Mixed-Use Development, Wuhan (Gold, Stage 2)

For more information about LEED ND, as well as info about other certifications and resources related to green neighborhood development, see this earlier post:

Sustainable Neighborhoods and Communities: Certifications, developments, organizations, and websites

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August 5, 2010
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