Frank Lloyd Wright's Westcott House, built in 1904 in Springfield, Ohio (Photo by Brandon Smith) Here's an update on me: two pieces of mine are sitting in a queue to get onto a local satire site; I'm looking for a writing or researching or restaurant job; I'm waiting for my student loan to come in … Continue reading Whole-tree construction
Green living
Speaking of Aptera
Wired has reported that the Department of Energy has re-classified the company's car as, in fact, a car, allowing the company to apply for special government loans. (Whereas before, the three-wheeled vehicle was classified as a motorcycle.) This could mean great things for Aptera, whose story I've followed for several years now. (Two posts back … Continue reading Speaking of Aptera
Lutz race proves CTS-V
The 2009 Cadillac CTS-V on display at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit in 2008. (Flickr creative commons photo from joeross) I sent out a Facebook update a few days ago about a cool marketing concept: Bob Lutz, a famous General Motors executive, challenged his competitors to a race. "May the best car … Continue reading Lutz race proves CTS-V
Bobby Kennedy, Jr. liveblog transcript
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. spoke at my school this morning, at an environmental conference. Had to post a stock photo because I don't yet have a camera... I ate breakfast with him before his speech, basically a preview of the kinds of things he was gonna say, then live-blogged the speech itself on twitter.com/greenletters. The … Continue reading Bobby Kennedy, Jr. liveblog transcript
Light green, dark green, in between? Off the deep end?
Someone recently asked me this question: Do you think we should change our lifestyles to be more environmentally friendly? Or are you more dark green, like we should drop everything we're doing and start completely over, radically changing our entire lives? Or are neither of those solutions? The questioner is a smart cookie, and loves … Continue reading Light green, dark green, in between? Off the deep end?
Wind farm stories
It occurs to me I never linked to two stories I wrote about possible wind farms in Clinton County. My friends who head up the local green energy/green jobs advocacy group would be appalled. Here's the first, about the drive to get people interested in a possible wind farm. Here's the second, about the very … Continue reading Wind farm stories
Applied Sciences slideshow back online
I was able to work out the bugs in the Flash embed code, so you can now, once again, view my slideshow about Applied Sciences. This company, near distressed Dayton, Ohio, invented the tech to double the capacity of any lithium-ion battery. Here's the link.
Best of Twitter 6: Links to others’ green stuff part II
RT @Greenmoms In bad economies businesses need work and people need services, but both are short. Enter bartering. http://tinyurl.com/cd6hl0 12:36 PM Apr 14th If we could suffice with 1948 levels of consumerism, 40hr workweeks could be 13.5hrs. Fascinating. @Orion_Magazine http://tinyurl.com/dnl28y 1:21 PM Apr 14th And is your college ranked on http://greenreportcard.org/? A thoroughly researched project, … Continue reading Best of Twitter 6: Links to others’ green stuff part II
Best of Twitter 5: Links to others’ green stuff part I
Contest: What's the "greenest" concept you can think of? Mine is the "100 Thing Challenge." Only 100 personal possessions. Could you do it? 2:11 PM Feb 20th And visit betterworldshopper.com— a site (and book) that ranks companies for responsibility. Almost all products have a better option. 11:01 AM Feb 25th Cell phone radiation harmful? Who … Continue reading Best of Twitter 5: Links to others’ green stuff part I
Best of Twitter 4: My own green thoughts
Blogging about Applied Sciences, Inc, the world's third largest producer of carbon nanotubes - tech that could double the Volt car's milage. 4:32 PM Feb 12th If it's true that the first passive solar building stateside will be in Yellow Springs (near here), I'm on it like weatherstripping. 8:51 AM Feb 19th If we kept … Continue reading Best of Twitter 4: My own green thoughts
Best of Twitter series 1: Personal
I tweet a lot more than I write on here, and I hate to leave you as-yet-Twitter-shunners hanging. So much that I share in Twitter might be useful to you, and I can't stand that you'll never see it. The Twitter broadcast on the left sidebar is only so useful, because inevitably you miss 80-90 … Continue reading Best of Twitter series 1: Personal
Toxics now, IRE conference later
Since right now I'm technically still on vacation, I'll delay my stories about the IRE conference until Thursday or Friday when I get back to Ohio. Right now I'm in Boston seeing what there is to see, eating and drinking what there is to eat and drink, with a friend who just graduated from MIT. … Continue reading Toxics now, IRE conference later
CU/Green on the PR benefits of itself
CU/Green: Things Cedarville University should consider doing in order to be good stewards of the Earth. PR Blitz First and foremost we should remember we toil to take care of the environment, not to promote ourselves. But the PR department should also know their promotion could be as much a public service to the non-CU-population … Continue reading CU/Green on the PR benefits of itself
CU/Green on everyday stuff
CU/Green: Things Cedarville University should consider doing in order to be good stewards of the Earth. Healthy personal choices get rid of the rat poison around the buildings, maybe replacing it with natural alternatives Replace all cleaners and solvents with environmentally-friendly ones. Maybe contract with Seventh Generation or Biokleen. Make sure we're not using products … Continue reading CU/Green on everyday stuff
CU/Green on our refuse
CU/Green: Things Cedarville University should consider doing in order to be good stewards of the Earth. Recycling mandate recycling of all recyclables, in all buildings. Why make it a hard rule? First, rules aren't resented here as much as it may seem. Lots of people didn't mind the dress code. (And this rule actually caters … Continue reading CU/Green on our refuse
CU/Green on good air and energy
CU/Green: Things Cedarville University should consider doing in order to be good stewards of the Earth. Indoor air quality ...is notoriously poor. Installing air cleaners may be just too expensive when trying to do the rest of this, especially considering the near-equal benefit of periodically opening windows, using HEPA-filtration vacuums on carpets, and getting plants … Continue reading CU/Green on good air and energy
CU/Green on water use and landscaping
CU/Green: Things Cedarville University should consider doing in order to be good stewards of the Earth. Water supply quality Commission the engineering departments to do a study on the Village water quality. I hear some professors are wary of the water around here. The state EPA guidelines do allow for variation in quality. Water filtration … Continue reading CU/Green on water use and landscaping
CU/Green on building upkeep, construction
CU/Green: Things Cedarville University should consider doing in order to be good stewards of the Earth. Regular building maintenance Get ideas from LEED and other certification standards when purchasing new parts for buildings. (Read on for alternatives to LEED) Commission the engineering department to do a study on "green roofs." Can our roof strctures support … Continue reading CU/Green on building upkeep, construction
CU/Green on clothing and consumer goods
CU/Green: Things Cedarville University should consider doing in order to be good stewards of the Earth. Clothing Encourage the CU community to buy second-hand. Not only will we reduce new-item consumption and decrease clothing in landfills, but we will decrease the demand for sweatshop labor and possibly stop caring as much about the latest "fashions." … Continue reading CU/Green on clothing and consumer goods
CU/Green on food
CU/Green: Things Cedarville University should consider doing in order to be good stewards of the Earth. Food To start, Chuck's (our cafeteria) should buy food from local farms. There's Orion Organics in Yellow Springs, but they're probably not big enough to serve all our needs. Eventually we could start our own farm for our own … Continue reading CU/Green on food
Brandon Smith 