Landfill Harmonic

http://www.landfillharmonicmovie.com/

Cateura, Paraguay is a town essentially built on top of a landfill. Garbage collectors browse the trash for sellable goods, and children are often at risk of getting involved with drugs and gangs. When orchestra director Szaran and music teacher Favio set up a music program for the kids of Cateura, they soon have more students than they have instruments.

That changed when Szaran and Favio were brought something they had never seen before: a violin made out of garbage. Today, there’s an entire orchestra of assembled instruments, now called The Recycled Orchestra.

The film shows how trash and recycled materials can be transformed into beautiful sounding musical instruments, but more importantly, it brings witness to the transformation of precious human beings.

Light from a water bottle could brighten millions of poor homes

http://phys.org/news/2011-09-bottle-brighten-millions-poor-homes.html


September 16, 2011 by Lisa Zyga 

As simple as it sounds, a one-liter plastic bottle filled with purified water and some bleach could serve as a light bulb for some of the millions of people who live without electricity. Originally developed by MIT students, the "solar bottle bulb" is now being distributed by the MyShelter Foundation to homes throughout the Philippines. The foundation’s goal is to use this alternative source of daylight to brighten one million homes in the country by 2012. 

In order to make the water bottles "light up," holes are cut in the metal roofs of homes and a bottle is placed and sealed into each hole so that its lower half emerges from the ceiling. The clear water disperses the light in all directions through refraction, which can provide a luminosity that is equivalent to a 55-watt electric light bulb, according to the MyShelter Foundation. The bleach prevents mold growth so that the bulbs can last for up to five years. 

Although the solar bottle bulb only works during the day, it can meet the needs of many of the people in Manila, Philippines, and other cities, where the homes are so close together that very little sunlight can enter through the windows. As a result, the homes are dark even during the day. 

The solar bottle bulbs’ advantages include sustainability and safety; compared with candles or faulty electrical connections, they aren’t a fire hazard. The bulbs are also inexpensive to make and install, and of course have no operating costs while in use. 

The MyShelter Foundation is promoting the solar bottle bulbs as the Isang Litrong Liwanag ("A Liter of Light") project. In Manila, the city government paid for the bulbs while the foundation is training residents on how to make and install them.

Destroyed Coastal Habitats Produce Significant Greenhouse Gas

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/09/120906123234.htm

ScienceDaily (Sep. 6, 2012) — Destruction of coastal habitats may release as much as 1 billion tons of carbon into the atmosphere each year, 10 times higher than previously reported, according to a new Duke-led study.

Published online this week in PLoS ONE, the analysis provides the most comprehensive estimate of global carbon emissions from the loss of these coastal habitats to date: 0.15 to 1.2 billion tons. It suggests there is a high value associated with keeping these coastal-marine ecosystems intact as the release of their stored carbon costs roughly $6-$42 billion annually.

"On the high end of our estimates, emissions are almost as much as the carbon dioxide emissions produced by the world's fifth-largest emitter, Japan," said Brian Murray, director for economic analysis at Duke's Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions. "This means we have previously ignored a source of greenhouse gas emissions that could rival the emissions of many developed nations."

Chicago Unveils the “Greenest Street in America” with Permeable, Smog-Eating Pavement

http://inhabitat.com/chicago-unveils-the-greenest-street-in-america-with-permeable-smog-eating-pavement/

by Mark Boyer, 10/15/12

filed under: Green Materials, green technology, Landscape Architecture,News, Water Issues

Last week, Chicago officials held a ribbon-cutting ceremony on “the greenest street in America,” a two-mile stretch of Cermak Road and Blue Island Avenue in the city’s Pilsen neighborhood. In addition to new pedestrian and bicycle features, the innovative new street surface will filterstormwater, helping to prevent the city’s combined sewers from overflowing. Most impressive of all, the cement used to pave the street cleans the surface of the roadway and removes pollution from the air.

Cermak Road isn’t the prettiest in Chicago; the busy truck route passes through a gritty industrial corridor that includes the now-shuttered Fisk coal plant. But Chicago Department of Transportation officials were able to see green in the South Side thoroughfare. Thanks to a mix of local Tax Increment Financing and Federal Highway Administration grants, the street now boasts the most sustainable elements in a single stretch of road in the country.

The new roadway uses photocatalytic cement, an innovative new paving surface that contains nano particles of titanium dioxide, enabling it to literally “eat” smog and remove nitrogen oxide gases from the surrounding air. Additionally, the sidewalks are paved with 30 percent recycled content, and more than 60 percent of all construction waste was recycled.

Combined sewer overflows are a major issue in Chicago, a city that has some 4,000 miles of streets and more than 2,000 miles of alleys. When heavy rains occur, the stormwater ends up in the Chicago River and Lake Michigan, sending harmful chemicals down the Mississippi River towards the Gulf of Mexico. The use of permeable pavement helps to reduce the amount of rainwater that enters the sewer system. Through a combination of permeable pavement, bioswales and rain gardens, the new streetscape in Chicago’s Pilsen neighborhood is estimated to divert up to 80 percent of average yearly rainfall from the sewers. Here’s hoping this kind of streetscaping becomes more than just a pilot program, and that it extends to other parts of Chicago and beyond.

via Curbed Chicago and Grist

Photos courtesy of CDOT 

Inside Job (2010)

http://www.filmsforaction.org/Watch/Inside_Job_2010/

2010 Oscar Winner for Best Documentary, 'Inside Job' provides a comprehensive analysis of the global financial crisis of 2008, which at a cost over $20 trillion, caused millions of people to lose their jobs and homes in the worst recession since the Great Depression, and nearly resulted in a global financial collapse. Through exhaustive research and extensive interviews with key financial insiders, politicians, journalists, and academics, the film traces the rise of a rogue industry which has corrupted politics, regulation, and academia. It was made on location in the United States, Iceland, England, France, Singapore, and China.

Gimme Green (2007)

http://www.filmsforaction.org/Watch/Gimme_Green_2007/



Gimme Green is a humorous look at the American obsession with the residential lawn and the effects it has on our environment, our wallets and our outlook on life. From the limitless subdivisions of Florida to sod farms in the arid southwest, Gimme Green peers behind the curtain of the $40-billion industry that fuels our nation's largest irrigated crop-the lawn.

Recycling hotel soap to save lives

http://www.cnn.com/2011/US/06/16/cnnheroes.kayongo.hotel.soap/index.html

By Ebonne Ruffins, CNN

June 16, 2011 4:54 p.m. EDT

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• CNN Hero Derreck Kayongo, a Uganda native, started the Global Soap Project in 2009
• The group recycles partially used hotel soaps and sends them to impoverished nations
• Kayongo says many children are dying because they lack access to basic sanitation
• Do you know a hero? Nominations are open for 2011 CNN Heroes

Atlanta (CNN) -- That bar of soap you used once or twice during your last hotel stay might now be helping poor children fight disease.

Derreck Kayongo and his Atlanta-based Global Soap Project collect used hotel soap from across the United States. Instead of ending up in landfills, the soaps are cleaned and reprocessed for shipment to impoverished nations such as Haiti, Uganda, Kenya and Swaziland.

"I was shocked just to know how much (soap) at the end of the day was thrown away," Kayongo said. Each year, hundreds of millions of soap bars are discarded in North America alone. "Are we really throwing away that much soap at the expense of other people who don't have anything? It just doesn't sound right."

Kayongo, a Uganda native, thought of the idea in the early 1990s, when he first arrived to the U.S. and stayed at a hotel in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He noticed that his bathroom was replenished with new soap bars every day, even though they were only slightly used.

"I tried to return the new soap to the concierge since I thought they were charging me for it," Kayongo said. "When I was told it was just hotel policy to provide new soap every day, I couldn't believe it."

Kayongo called his father -- a former soap maker in Uganda -- and shared the experience.

The 11th Hour

http://www.filmsforaction.org/Watch/The_11th_Hour/

Narrated by Leonardo DiCaprio, this captivating documentary explores the perilous state of our planet, and the means by which we can change our course. Contributing to this crucial film are noted politicians, scientists and other ambassadors for the importance of a universal ecological consciousness. The 11th Hour is directed by Nadia Connors and Leila Conners Peterson and features narration from Academy Award® Nominee Leonardo DiCaprio (The Departed, Blood Diamond). The environmentally friendly DVD packaging is produced with 100% certified renewable resources. A portion of the profits will be donated to Global Green.

New Bioretention Cells in Washington

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10151156955172270&set=a.422100082269.194110.18765892269&type=1&relevant_count=1

One of DDOE’s new bioretention cells at work during yesterday’s rainstorm! This facility helped capture a considerable amount of water from 1st St NE yesterday in NOMA, allowing it to be sequestered by plant life or infiltrate into the ground. Projects such as this are necessary for reducing polluted stormwater runoff from reaching our local streams and rivers. Just an example of how the District is working hard to restore our local watersheds, the Potomac and Anacostia Rivers, and the Chesapeake Bay. Come check out this beautiful new device at 1200 1st St NE., Washington.