GREENCulture blog We put the “green” in greenyness!

The penguins, my friends, are on the march, armed with not only samurai-like skills and deceptively innocuous costumes, but also, a malicious agenda aimed towards complete annihilation. As global warming continues to thin out the icecaps, these warrior-like soldiers will gather into brigades to overtake and invade our lands. With natural selection on their side, these furtive creatures will adapt masterfully to our rocky landscapes and ‘democratic’ way of living.

With global warming contributing to the melting of the icecaps, the area in which these lethal creatures have resided thus far, (deceivingly, far from us), is quickly diminishing. Emissions such as carbon dioxide and various other greenhouse gases encourage not only the warming trend of our planet’s climate, but also the rise in sea level (contributed 15% by the melting Antarctic ice caps), and the warming of the sea water. With several pieces of the Antarctic breaking off already, these devious creatures will no longer have a means to exist; the very land in which they inhabit will splinter.

At the risk of becoming extinct, these perfidious creatures will thus seek any means necessary to survive – including invading our lands and toppling our social framework. Their vindictive nature, masked by a strangely attractive yet charismatic veneer, will no doubt, easily defeat and dispose of our species. Thus, my proposal:

In face of this conceivable peril, one must act calmly and proceed accordingly. As such, we must consider the manners in which we are contributing to our own destruction. To prevent the manipulative penguin pack from even reaching our grounds, we must first attempt to slow down the process of global warming (and thus the fracturing of their arctic foundation) by:

1) Reducing our waste electricity;
2) Turning down our hot water heater;
3) Using more efficient light bulbs (fluorescent) and appliances (preferably with the EnergyStar label) and
4) Signing up for renewable energy.

With these four easy steps, the possibility of a vicious attack by one of the most intelligent and stealthy creatures on this planet (one that would indisputably ensure the destruction of the human race), will diminish. By focusing on means of reducing the effects of global warming, we in effect save ourselves from, what could be, the most vicious terrorist attack ever known.

Hand it to the Spanish to always be one step ahead of us in making unique and gorgeous architecture. Treehugger.com reports that Madrid’s Barajas Airport has just received an awesome new roof over one of its terminals and it’s made completely out of bamboo plywood. Aside from the fact that the roof of Terminal 4 is a beautiful work of art, design company Rogers Stirk Harbour & Partners took into consideration the environmental benefits of using bamboo as their medium. Being that bamboo is an eco-friendly and sustainable source of wood, the bamboo used in this case also takes full advantage of daylight! How, do you ask? Well, the article reports that the roof itself is “punctuated,” allowing for a controlled amount of natural light in and eliminating the need for any fluorescent fixtures. The result is that of energy saving alternatives and public art at airport terminals.

These sheer botanical lipsticks range from glam to just a hint of pretty, with five colors designed by celebrities like Evangeline Lilly and Lindsay Lohan. But the best part is what the product is made of. Orchids, meadowfoam seed oil, jojoba and shea butter provide moisture and feel silky, with no petroleum or mineral oils involved; the tube is made entirely out of corn, a renewable resource that helps cut down on greenhouse gases. Even better, the adorable packaging is embedded with flower seeds, so you can plant the case in your garden. Both your lips and your flower pot will be able to show off gorgeous color. And if you didn’t feel good enough already, Cargo is donating two dollars from the sale of every shade of lip color to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, so you give back to Mother Nature and someone’s real mother.

I had to read this story twice before I actually believed it. It seems often-evil right wing media mogul Rupert Murdoch is going to begin a campaign to “green” his worldwide operations and work to make them carbon neutral by 2010. Wha-huh? Read it again if you have to and let it sink in for a second. Murdoch has either come to his senses about global warming recently, or he’s playing a really big prank on someone. I’ll be on the lookout for this in a future episode of Punk’d. Is that show still on the air?

I thought I knew just how much trouble the environment was in when it comes to global warming, energy efficiency and water shortages. Boy, was I wrong! Livescience.com offered a quick 10-question quiz called “What’s Your Environmental Footprint?” that really put me in my place. So, go ahead, take the quiz and be sure to post your results!

The National Theatre in London takes “going green” to a whole new level, as you’ll see in this here TreeHugger article. A couple of grass-obsessed British artists managed to grow grass on the outside of a pretty large building. The birds there must be some kinda confused right now.

When you’re planning your next vacation or weekend getaway, consider staying at a sustainable or green hotel instead of an over the top penthouse. This article from ENN.com talks about how eco-tourism is gaining popularity and a strong foothold in the travel industry. Free parking for hybrid vehicles, sheep wool insulation, and solar and wind powered energy are just a few of the amenities that some of these green hotels offer. And no, you don’t necessarily have to stay in a treehouse in order to receive the eco-friendly rate.

In this article from the San Jose Mercury News, Apple Chief Executive Steve Jobs released a statement saying that the company was making “efforts to phase out toxic [chemicals] and encourage recycling” while keeping consumers and investors updated on their e-cycling progress and policies. An honorable step in recycling electronic waste, Apple also allows you to recycle your old iPod, even offering free shipping if you’d like to mail it in to the company. Even though Apple will only take its computers back for a fee unless you intend to purchase another one, Apple is getting off to a fruitful start in considering the environment.

Somewhere in the universe lives a young boy - a little prince - on a lonely little asteroid called B612. On this asteroid are three volcanoes, two active and one dormant, one rose, and baobab trees that the little prince has to keep uprooting or else they would destroy his asteroid. Imagine if we lived on an asteroid, how would we treat it? The author of this blog asks us to imagine that if each person were to live on their own asteroid (about 6 acres or 2.5 hectares of dry land), what would we do to sustain our and the asteroid’s overall survival? How would we cultivate the land, irrigate water throughout the asteroid and utilize fossil fuels? With the issue of global warming taking center stage as of late, we as humans are depleting our resources daily and soon enough, our planet may not survive. How can this small scale model help us (or not help us) solve this large and growing problem?

This entry on TreeHugger.com talks about an ASU student who thinks putting turbines above busy freeways to “capture” the wind energy generated by vehicles may be a doable thing. Just how much energy these turbines would create and if their cost and maintenance would be worth it is the question. I like the idea though. The (poorly) Photoshopped image used in the story is a bit sad, however. What do you think??