Weekly Greens – August 13th

Image by Viola Aragon

It’s that time of the week again. Time to do a simple recap of some of the green or environmentally-oriented articles I found of particular interest during the past week. As usual, this is not even close to everything I discovered or learned about this week, but it is a few of the ones I thought you might be interested in checking out.

In honor of Dr. Seuss and the 50th anniversary of Green Eggs and Ham, I’ll start off with a quote and video clip from Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax (which is due to be released by Universal Studios in 2012):

“Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot,
Nothing is going to get better. It’s not.”

1 – How to Disinfect Without Using Toxic Chemicals: This is key, especially if you have kids and/or pets in the house. As I’ve mentioned before, I cannot stand the fumes that come from most chemical cleaners. It is safer for you, your family and helps improve the indoor air quality in your home if you disinfect with natural ingredients.

2 – Natural Tech Fixes: Speaking of doing things naturally, here are a few ideas on how you can repair technical equipment the natural way. It covers things such as how rice can resurrect your water damaged cell phone and toothpaste can help get scratches out of DVDs.

3 – 75 Phone Apps + 10 Tips That Will Save You Money: Since I’m on the subject of doing things naturally (which obviously saves you money too), here is a great resource for iPhone apps designed to help you save even more money.

4 – Harness Solar Energy Through Spray-On Film: Not only can this material be sprayed on windows, but it can be sprayed on entire buildings as well to allow them to harness solar energy. It can also reportedly be built right into many external building materials so new structures will be able to tap into solar power as soon as they are built. Between that and solar power now being cheaper than nuclear power, I’d say we’re heading in the right direction.  Image by Rupert Ganzer

5 – Genetically Modified Organisms Found in the Wild: Unfortunately, this one veers away from the natural into the genetically modified. Not only are we being faced with more genetically modified foods, but now genetically modified organisms have been found growing in the wild.

6 – Design for an Electric City for the 20th Century – in 1894: Now I don’t know that I’m in agreement with where they wanted to build this particular city. However, I do have to say their plan to make use of natural resources, as well as make the city environmentally-friendly and accessible is very refreshing. 1894, huh?!

7 – Chunk of Original Earth Found: Can you imagine finding a piece of Earth from the earliest years in its formation? We’re talking mantle rock dating back over 4.5 billion years ago.

8 – The Heavens Open: When you talk about the wonders of Earth, Mother Nature itself is one of the most amazing wonders you will find. Take a look at this photo from my friend Matt aka @Statik99. Matt took this beautiful shot while out storm chasing one day.

Image by StatiK99

Here’s another amazing image, this time from the National Wildlife Federation. Take a look, you won’t believe your eyes.

I thought it would be appropriate to wrap up this week’s ‘Weekly Greens’ by sharing this post on Eco Actions: Gifts that Keep on Giving. Take a look at some of the eco actions you can take today, tomorrow and any day really. There is something for everyone. So, what is your next eco action going to be?