GREENCulture blog We put the “green” in greenyness!

For at least the past 3500 years,  mankind has known how to build a sundial, which is a device that uses shadows cast by the sun to keep time.  Sundials are incredibly easy to make, require no power or maintenance, and can add an interesting, artistic feel to any outdoor environment.  I will go through the simple steps that it takes to make your very own sundial for your outdoor area.

Note: The type of sundial I am explaining how to make is called a Horizontal Sundial.

Materials needed:

• A flat, circular piece of wood or stone.
• A protractor
• A calculator
• A square piece of wood and a saw
• A map, atlas, or Google maps (to determine your latitude)

1. First, get a flat, circular piece of wood.  Mark the very center of the circle with an “x”.  The very center of the circle represents you, and the circle itself roughly represents the path the sun takes around you during every 24 hour period.
2. Divide this circle in half by marking a straight line going from one end of the circle, through the middle, to the other end.  This mark represents noon, or mid-day on one side of the “x” at the end of the circle, and midnight on the other side of the x at the other end of the circle.
3. Lay your circle flat on the ground.  Now get a compass.  If you are in the Northern Hemisphere, your mid-day line should be pointing due North and your midnight line should be pointing due South.  In the Southern Hemisphere, these directions are reversed.
4. Use a map or atlas to look up your latitude.  I will use my current latitude, which is 33 degrees, as an example.  The next step is the hard part, and it is only hard because it requires a little bit of math.  Don’t worry though, if you have a calculator I can explain to you exactly how to do it.  You could even use Google as a calculator if you want.
5. Now, we already know where 12:00 pm is, because it is the mid-day line.  We are now going to use math to figure out where the line for 1:00 pm and 11:00 are supposed to go.  It will be easy, I promise!The formula for finding out where the other hour marks are supposed to go is tan(A) = sin(latitude) * tan(hour angle), where A is the number of degrees from the mid-day line where you draw the next line.  I will explain this so it is clear as glass even to someone who doesn’t know any math at all.  Keep reading and I will tell you exactly how to enter this equation into Google calculator and all you have to do is plug in the right numbers. No math at all!  I promise!Now, what does “hour angle” mean?  Hour angle refers to the number of degrees the sun passes every hour.  Since there are 360 degrees in a circle and 24 hours in a day, there are approximately 15 degrees in every hour.  To get the hour angle, you just take the time that you want to draw the line for and see how many hours away from noon that time is, and multiply that number by 15.  For example, the hour angle for 1:00 pm is 15 degrees, because there is one hour between noon and 1:00 pm and the sun travels 15 degrees in the circle in one hour.  The hour angle for 3:00 pm is 45 degrees because there are three hours between 12 and 3 and, and 3*15=45.  The hour angle for 8:00 am is 60 degrees by the same logic.

   Ok, so let’s figure out where the line for 1:00 pm is supposed to go.  Just copy and paste (ctrl+c & ctrl+v) this expression into Google:

   180*tanh(sin(pi* 33 /180)*tan(pi* 15 /180))/pi

   Where you would replace 33 degrees with your latitude and 15 with the hour angle of the time you wanted to calculate.  I got 8.30263592, or approximately 8.3 degrees between the mid-day line and the line for 1:00 pm.  Take your protractor, measure out 8.3 degrees (or whatever your number is) from the noon line, and draw a line coming out of the center at that angle.  Do that again on the other side of the noon line also for 11:00 am.

   I will give one more example of this for clarity.  Say I wanted to do 4:00 pm.

   180*tanh(sin(pi* 33 /180)*tan(pi* 60 /180))/pi = 42.21 degrees.

   Therefore, 4:00 pm is 42.2 degrees from the noon line.  This would also be the same value for 8:00 am.

6. Repeat for your desired hours.  The angles should get bigger and bigger as you get farther away from noon.  The number of degrees given by the above equation always represent the number of degrees from the noon line.
7. Now that you have the base of your sundial done, you need to make the part that actually casts a shadow on it.  This part of the sundial is called the “gnomon.”  The gnomon is shaped like a triangle most of the time.  You will cut a corner end off of your square piece of wood to make the triangle.  Take that square piece of wood and your saw.  Now take your latitude. Mine is 33 degrees, so I will use that.  Notice how the corner of the square piece of wood forms a 90 degree angle; that is one corner of your triangle.  Create a triangle by drawing a line at 33 degrees from the base of the triangle and cut it out along the line.
8. Now you have to glue, nail, or fasten the gnomon on top of the sundial.  Position the triangle so that the 90 degree angle is up in the air, the 33 degree angle is in the center of the table where you drew the x in the first step, and the 66 degree should be closest to the mid-day point on the sundial.  You are now done!  Position your sundial so it is facing due north and enjoy!

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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.

Master craftsman, eco-designer, furniture hero - words that Stephen Staples, maker and co-owner of Staples Cabinet Makers, embodies. Allow me to tell you a little bit more about our eco-superhero Mr. Staples. No, he doesn’t wear a red cape with a large S on his chest, nor can you summon him with your magic ring. But this guy really does know how to save the environment - this hardworking artisan makes gorgeous and natural looking furniture from reclaimed wood from old barns and houses found throughout the New England area. Following a Japanese philosophical style known as “wabi sabi,” which roughly translates to “flawed beauty” in the art world, Staples truly believes that the real beauty in his work lies in the natural contours, knots and stains that have naturally formed in the wood throughout time. With his dedication in using reclaimed wood to create unique furniture laced with historical and aesthetic value, Stephen Staples is our green superhero/super-artisan of the year! To learn more about his beautiful furniture pieces and about his inspirations, visit Staples Cabinet Makers.

It seems that nowadays celebrities can avoid just about anything from jail time, rehab and long term marriages. But aside from the paparazzi, there’s one thing they can’t run from: pollution. Whoda thunk, right? According to this post on Treehugger.com, one of the worst polluted beaches in Italy is located right by George Clooney’s lovely little villa. You wouldn’t think it, but in those shimmering blue waters lie deadly microbes from unsustainable agriculture and toxic runoff. I’d highly advise against swimming in those tempting waters unless you’re looking to bring home salmonella, dermititis and a variety of other skin infections. Gross!

Today’s quiz is a bit more in depth compared to the last one I posted called What’s Your Environmental Footprint? This quiz called the Ecological Footprint Quiz is a bit more personal, first asking you questions like your age and what city/township you live in, in addition to 15 questions about how you live and whether you carpool. Once again, I was put in my place, with an ecological footprint score of 17, compared to the average of 24, which tells you that if everyone lived like me, we’d need 3.8 planets. Ouch. Take the quiz and share your score!

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.

While drinking my tall, low-fat, double shot, no whip caramel machiatto from Starbucks, I found enough time and enough breath to read some of the “Way I See It” quotes found on the coffee cup. It wasn’t until I got to the sleeve that I realized that like John Mayer, Starbucks was waiting and perhaps encouraging for the world to change. “Change a bulb, change the world,” the sleeve said. “Using compact fluorescent lights eliminates hundreds of pounds of greenhouse gas emissions,” it said. Purportedly an eco-friendly sleeve with inspirational quotes, I couldn’t help but wonder, is being “GREEN” so trendy that even Starbucks has to jump on the bandwagon? Now correct me if I’m wrong, but I swear Starbucks uses incandescent bulbs in their flagship and licensed stores. Greenyness is not a trend, folks! It should be a habit!