GREENCulture blog We put the “green” in greenyness!

Ever wanted to have your very own Hobbit home? Sure you have. We all have at some point (especially after watching Lord of the Rings). A family man in Wales wanted just that and built his own low impact, environmentally-friendly Hobbit-style home with the help of some family and friends. A couple thousand man hours and approximately £3000 later, the on-going family home project is coming to fruition. Built with nothing more than spare wood, lime plaster, straw bales, solar panels, and a few eco-friendly necessities and utilities, living a sustainable lifestyle can actually be quite affordable. Of course, the matter of having access to land for a project like this is a difficult proposition. The point of it, however, like all worthwhile endeavors is the possibility of achieving a sustainable way of living in some fashion.

According to a recent survey, going green may prove to be more difficult for the average consumer as the expense of convenience and comfort is far too great. A third of Americans in the new study shows that they would give up their iPods if they knew it harmed the environment. Although the poll showed 60%  of Americans are looking for greener products, if modern conveniences were no longer convenient or comfortable, roughly 30% of people would not go out of their way for the greener alternative. “Conveniences have become necessities,” says Suzanne Shelton, whose firm conducted the survey. It’s awfully common sense to attribute comfort and convenience as barriers to any alternative lifestyle. It requires a kind of passion to undertake and change the way we live our lives, which is not a simple and easy endeavor. If the average consumer can find green products as easily as they do any other product, whether in a store or online, then perhaps we can bridge the gap and see the trend to go green widen.

By celebrating Earth Day in a simple way, you might find that the effort can lead to something you can see yourself doing every day, or at least consistently, if you haven’t already. As a starter, here are seven simple things you can do to contribute to the cause:

1. Plant some flowers, or a tree. Get some flower seeds, or a small tree if you prefer, and plant something in your yard. You’d put a great big smile on Earth’s face.

2. Recycle something. Instead of tossing that finished can of soda or bottled water in just any trash bin, take an extra step and find a recycle bin.

3. Let’s face it, there is litter everywhere. If you see an unsightly display of litter on the streets within your reaches, lend a helping hand. You will be amazed how good it feels.

4. Think you want to do more? Interested in furthering the good cause in your home? Look into composting. For the gardening enthusiast, composting is a wonderful way to use your kitchen scraps as nutrient-rich soil for your garden.

5. Want to do a little shopping today? On your short trips to the local supermarket that you normally drive to can be traveled the same on a bike or by foot. Keeping your car off the road for a bit of exercise is a win/win situation. Or, better yet, a greener alternative is to shop online.

6. And greener still as you shop online is to shop green. Our wood, metal, and glass based furniture and lighting products are made with sustainable features such as recycled and recyclable sources. Whether you’re looking for a floor lamp, dining table, coffee table, or wool rugs, GreenCulture carries a diverse selction of eco-friendly home furnishings.

7. Lastly, spread the word. Socially share your green experience with others on your blog or your twitter.

Happy Earth Day!

Green Crawler, founded by Ryan Lewis with co-founder Jacob Morris, both self-professed evolving “greenies,” will be the next big thing to hit eco-friendly merchants and products on the web. Expected to launch April 13th, 2009, the site will be a valuable resource that connects green companies with like-minded consumers searching for green alternatives to the products they already use.

The idea is quite simple. Unlike sites and services such as PriceGrabber.com and Google Products, Green Crawler is a green-only product database that catalogs a host of products supplied by online merchants in an easy to navigate and search, centralized location. Through their database, online shoppers can browse, buy, and compare specific green products of their choice without having to rummage through a more generalized product database. No longer will it require a consumer to search more in order to find what they are looking for. Green Crawler’s service is geared towards shoppers looking specifically for a niche product.

In striving to become the largest search engine for green products, Green Crawler allows any merchant that carries green alternatives to submit products free of charge, via Google Base formatted data feeds in XML and CSV/TSV files. From beauty and personal care products to household, furniture, and apparel, Green Crawler currently features over a thousand products already listed on their database. And the process of adding your products to the database is as simple as sending your formatted data feeds to info@greencrawler.com.

Green Crawler is a great new business opportunity for merchants to market green niche products and for consumers to find the product they want through a simple to use search engine.

In case you’ve been living under a rock, the first batch of iPhone bills were sent out last week with most arriving in inch-thick USPS packages -not envelopes - with one girl who famously video blogged her anger over a 300 page, $300 phone bill. Even AT&T, who offers their services to iPhone users, admits that it was their bad. After the apologies come the solutions, to which AT&T offered their users the default option of receiving a summary bill, which is a bill that’s normally about 1-2 pages that explains how much they owe, state taxes and how many minutes they used. For full details the customer can either go online or request the FULL bill for an extra $2. As a non-iPhone user and light green citizen, I admit I’ve had my fair share of $300 phone bills (damn text messaging package!), but Verizon automatically opts me in for the paperless billing system. Contrary to popular belief, it’s actually nice to save trees. For you iPhone users out there, consider doing the right thing and go paperless because treeless is just not as sexy.

Even though the California Coastal Act of 1976 ensures access for ALL people to the state’s beautiful coastline, owners of ocean-front homes, especially in Malibu, have taken to posting bogus ‘No Parking’ signs, building illegal fences, and removing ‘Beach Access’ signs. All of this, of course, is to keep us commoners off of the beaches that happen to sit outside their multi-million dollar homes. This story is not new, of course, but the lack of funding for the agency that’s responsible for policing California’s most important natural resource was news to me. Read the full story here and plan your next beach party in Malibu…just because you can.

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?

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.

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??

That’s more of a paraphrase than a quote, but I couldn’t resist the obviousness of that title. ‘Terminate’ is a bit strong, he actually said we (state of California) will sue you (EPA) if action isn’t taken to crack down on greenhouse gas emissions from cars (which California has A LOT of). The Governator requested a federal Clean Air Act waiver in 2005 to allow California to regulate auto emissions more aggressively, on which the EPA has stalled. The EPA said recently they are waiting for a Supreme Court ruling on a closely watched clean air case before moving forward. I smell a Hollywood summer blockbuster where a rogue governor from a western state marches (or hops on a private jet) down to Washington and storms the Capitol with guns blazing (or attorneys litigating) to fight for his citizens’ rights to breathe clean (or at least cleaner) air. Read full story here.