Greenopolis Recycling Rewards

This is the largest Swiss Army knife in the world. It’s made by Wenger, crafters of genuine Swiss Army knives since 1893 and holds the Guinness World Record for “The Most Multifunctional Penknife,” with 87 precision-engineered tools spanning 112 functions. According to the manufacturer, It has seven blades, three types of pliers, three golf tools (club face cleaner, shoe spike wrench, and divot repair tool), 25 flat- and Phillips-head screwdrivers and bits, saws, wrenches, a bicycle chain rivet setter, signal whistle, 12/20-gauge shotgun choke tube tool, combination fish scaler, hook disgorger, and line guide tool, cigar-cutting scissors, laser pointer, tire-tread gauge, toothpick, tweezers, and key ring. But my question is- how do you hold the thing? And why do the Swiss need an army anyway? Are they only armed with complex knives? Sometimes the environmental to-do list may seem as long and complicated as a Swiss Army Knife. Climate change, [...]

Company hopes to help suppliers increase amount of sustainable palm oil available around the globe. The Kellogg Company is doing what it can to help produce sustainable palm oil for use in its cereal and snack lines. The company uses about 0.1% of the total available palm oil each year, but says that the amount of segregated sustainably-produced palm oil is not enough to meet the demand. Sustainable Palm oil supplies come from different plantations, mills and even countries where the oils are intermingled at each stage of the production and delivery process. Under normal circumstances, it is impossible for palm oil purchasers to know exactly where their oil has come from or how it has been produced, making it difficult to assure that the oil used is certified sustainable. Kellogg’s is pushing suppliers to increase the amount of sustainably produced palm oil available, even in blended supplies of the [...]

They may look like circus tents set up in the middle of extremely remote locations, but they’re actually a new string of solar cell systems designed by the U.S. Army. Since July 2010 soldiers from the Kansas National Guard stationed have been using solar powered tents to survive the hot and harsh climate in Djibouti. These tents were originally created for a military pilot project, but their awesome ability to reduce fuel costs and provide clean energy has prompted the Army to think about including them in domestic equipment. Images: army One of the most amazing features of the solar powered tents is how much money they have already saved on fuel costs. Since the solar cells are connected to a system of storage batteries, less money is spent on vehicles driving back and forth to transport fuel. That also means spending less money on replacement parts for vehicles that [...]

Round out your summer vacation with a trip to your destination’s local Farmers’ Market. No matter where you are, a trip to the local veggie stand is always a good idea. At home, a stop at the local market is an errand, like picking up a prescription or doing laundry. It’s something I do without thinking, so my family will have good, healthy food to eat. But I rarely have time to stop and chat or just browse around. Visiting a Farmers’ Market while on vacation is a whole other experience. It’s not just the people you meet or the delish local goodies you might find. There’s just something about the leisurely pace of walking the stands that is so relaxing, and so very vacation-y. Suddenly, a trip to the Farmers’ Market is an exotic mix of culture, creativity and new taste sensations. And isn’t that what a vacation is [...]

The Greenopolis Basic Green Guide is here to help you answer the most important question in stepping easier on the planet: Where to start? Each week, we offer another of easy to do tips in each of the four areas where you spend your life; Home, Work, School, and Play. Where do I start? Right where I am, right here, right now. This week’s “At Play” tip: Buy Recycled Material Clothes! At play: Buy recycled material athletic clothes. Polypropylene wicks moisture well, recycled PET keeps you warm on cool days. Let your water bottle come back as a warm-up[ jacket. Kate Black at Magnifeco says: “Upcycle from your own closet – You can give your own wardrobe a new lease on life by taking a look at what is needed to make the pieces in your closet wearable again. Spend an hour mending what needs to be mended, and then [...]

Earlier this month at the Waimea Ocean Film Festival in Hawaii an amazing sculpture by artist Auroro Robson was on display for all to see. Organizers of the event asked Robson, who grew up in Maui but now lives in Brooklyn, to design a piece that raises awareness of the plastic debris that constantly washes up along the Big Island’s shores. This plastic is part of the Pacific Garbage Patch (also known as the “Plastic Vortex), which some people say is larger than the size of Texas. Since she is known for creating artwork from plastic bottles rescued from the waste stream, Robson was more than thrilled to be a part of the event. For over a month she was a part of community beach cleanups organized by the Hawaii Wildlife Fund. She and high school volunteers from Hawaii’s Parker School collected over 12 large garbage bags of plastic debris [...]

Artist Carole J. McCoy, who was born in Louisiana but currently lives in Los Angeles, lives by an inspiring motto: “Creativity is the DNA of humanity. Just create.” That’s exactly what she did with her recent exhibit titled “Music Speaks!!!” Carole was one of 45 artists who was asked by curator/artist Michael Massenburg to use 45’s (old vinyl records) as a medium for an art exhibit titled The 45 Show. The artists were given free range to use the records for one-of-a-kind designs that were to be featured at the Twenty Miles East Gallery in Pomona, California. Why did Massenburg want the artists to use old records? He was sorting through his personal collection one day when he came across a pile of broken and cracked records. He couldn’t see himself throwing them all away, so he decided to give them to two of his artist friends to create art [...]

An example of how a restaurant operation can lead the way in protecting both endangered species and the environment. On Father’s Day, my family took me to dinner at a restaurant that serves grass-fed and finished beef and local wild seafood, only two varieties of which were in season: ling cod and sculpin. We discussed matters of sustainability related to food without feeling guilty about what we were eating for dinner. Perhaps they were just humoring me, but my family seemed genuinely surprised by a couple of key statistics that I shared, courtesy of Greenpeace. First was the fact that it takes the harvesting of up to five pounds of wild-caught fish to produce a single pound of farmed fish. The logic of doing this escapes me entirely. Even pound for a pound would make no sense to me. So the question needs to be asked: is there a way [...]

Plastic is wonderful material. It can fit almost any need. But we design durable plastic to be “thrown away!.A lot of it ends up as plastic soup in our oceans, riding the seas for decades in ever widening ocean gyres, systems of rotating currents that hold whatever drifts into ithem. The mass of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch has been estimated at around 100 million tons. Seabirds, whales and dolphins, sea turtle species, and fish species have been found with plastic in their bodies. Many die. And the problem is growing, literally. photo © 2007 defendersenews | more info (via: Wylio) This thursday, 6/30 at 12 PM PST/3pm EST, join us for a Community Action Call discussing the Great Pacific Garbage Patch with Leslie Moyer from 5 Gyres! Ask questions and share your stories. Every caller gets 100 Greenopolis points and 3 people win Dr. Sylvia Earle’s new book, “The [...]

As much as I enjoy modern-day video game consoles like the Wii, Xbox and PlayStation, nothing compares to the most awesome game console of them all: the original 8-bit Nintendo Entertainment System. I loved games like the original Super Mario Bros., Contra, Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out and Castlevania. Previously I showed you 8 ways to recycle Nintendo video game controllers. Now here are 4 unique ways to turn those old school Nintendo game cartridges into cool new products. 1. Hard Drives Etsy seller 8BitMemory recycles old Nintendo video game cartridges into cool external hard drives. Images: Etsy 2. Lamp This unique lamp is made from a Duck Hunt video game cartridge and zapper! Image: Bonanza 3. Clocks Etsy seller CocoClock salvages old NES video game cartridges from game shops and turns them into clocks. Images: Etsy 4. The HarmoNESica Oh yes, this guy can show you how to turn an NES [...]