Steve Fambro, one of Aptera‘s co-founders, imagined the aptera when he was stuck in a traffic jam. He met Chris Anthony, who further pushed the design through boat structures, and finally the project was brought to California (where the first production models will be sold).

Chris Anthony showed Steve Fambro a boat, but the Aptera (meaning ‘wingless’ in Greek) looks alot more like a plane. It was designed to cut through the air instead of push it, and, more importantly, it is an electric (or hybrid, depending on the model) car.

Many people may argue that in fact, electric cars only move the pollution away; the factories creating the electricity are still creating the pollution. However, electric cars use 80% of the power to move; oil cars lose 80% of the power to heat and sound. So overall, the electric car wins over. (Especially if you look at the money saved)

The Aptera’s top speed is 137 km per hour, which is quick for an electric car. It’s range is 160 km per charge, which is well more than a city commuter needs in a day.

At US$ 20,000, this is a reasonably well priced car, compared to other electric cars on the market. (eg. Tesla Roadster, which sells for US$101,500)

However, the Aptera’s resevation list has suposedly hit the 4 thousands, so you’ll have to wait long if you reserve now.

Aptera promise the first cars to arrive ’4rth quarter of 2009′.

Yann Arthus Bertrand filmed every one of the scenes in this film, on a plane, flying over vast landscapes. What he did before filming this was impressive enough; he has acted in two filmed, been an assistant director in one, and for 3 years, he lived amongst a Massai tribe for three years to study lions. He has also done numerous other documenteries and books.

But I digress. Yann Arthus Bertrand began filming Home in April 2007 with Luc Besson. His intention was to show humanity what it had done to the world, and the challenges we face in the coming years.

It is a very moving story, which really plays with the viewers emotions. It is very well done, and the images act as a stunning reminder that what is being told is real. It makes the viewer take into account much more what is being said.

On June 5th 2009, environmental day, Home was released internationally. In France, the music, narration, and moving music drew 8 million viewers to watch it on France 2 TV channel. Similarly, the film received more than 400,000 views in its first 24 hours on YouTube.

Since Yann Arthus Bertrand released all his author’s rights on the film, the film is available for free on the internet, and can be copied and shared.

And finally, the film is carbon offset. This means all the CO2 released into the atmosphere for the making of Home was calculated and ‘offset’; money from the film is used to pay for (through GoodPlanet) clean energy where people need it.

Kids save apes is an initiative started by Haley Stern. It concentrates on raising awareness about the dangers we pose to apes, and how we should react to them.

One of the main threats to apes is deforestation for palm oil plantations. To reduce the palm oil used, KSA has contacted airlines to encourage them to reduce the palm oil they use in their foods. The reason KSA chose airlines over other food companies is because airlines will have an easier job not using palm oil.

This initiative is great; though it is focused on apes, reducing the number of palm oil plantations will in fact save a large number of animals and plants.

I will try an contact KSA. Who knows, we could do a joint project? But that will be for later, unless there is a plastic related problem to palm oil plantations as well?

Enlighten me.

O’BON stationary is made out of recycled materials. The pencils are made of recycled newspapers with different themes to make them exiting and fun. The wildlife series is to help people understand that normal paper and pencils are made from wood which often causes deforestation leading onto homeless animals and extinction. On http://environment.nationalgeographic.com/, they say that at the current rate of deforestation, all the rainforests could dissapear in 100 years. To say that some of theese forests have been on the earth for longer then anything  else and we’re cutting them down makes me so angry that I wish that only O’BON statoinary was allowed.

Pasir Ris park is located on the east of Singapore. It’s a very beautiful place, with bike and jogging lanes. There’s even a boardwalk, that leads you through a mangrove. We went at low tide, and though the tide is supposed to take the rubbish out of the mangrove, it looks more like it brings it all in. The mangrove was littered with plastic items. Most was disposable, trash carelessly thrown on the ground or blown out of a landfill. But there were also bigger objects; a salad bowl, a flip flop…

Unfortunately, it is difficult to clean up all this trash because of the mangrove’s wildlife, and because of the uneven terrain. It makes sense that someone cleans it up, but what would have been ideal is if nobody had but it here in the first place. There were lots of plastic bags,and I have to strain the point that these bags have an extremely slim chance of being recycled, now that they are stuck in the mangrove. So those plastic bags will stay on earth for ever.

Just another friendly reminder not to use plastic bags.

This is an event organised by the Recyclists ( www.therecyclists.blogspot.com ) to promote awareness about plastic bags.

It is to be held at No.235, Jalan Bukit Bintang, in KL, on the 31st of August, from 12:00 to 18:00. The items on sale will not be all about the environment. There will be pre-loved items (apparently for grabs at a steal ), a pet adoptation drive, raffle draws, and some celebrities will even be donating some bjects for an auction!

There are a host of vendors, including some green lifestyle ones:

Just Life, Tiny Tapir, Forest Voices, the Light Show, This wonderful life, Animal care and Jumble Station.

I can’t wait to go, and I’m thinking of contacting the Recyclists… Who knows, we might see some Kids for Earth wine bags at the bazaar!

I didn’t know what to think when I first saw this. This site completely trashes most of what I believe, and accuses people of blowing up myths of plastic bags. They are very convincing, and their mythbusting works like this: they tell us a myth, and tell us what alterations have been done to a statement to create that myth.

Here are two myths ( if we are to believe this site ) that have been busted (and that I believed and repeated!)

Media Myth number 1

It is Economically unviable to recycle plastic bags.

“There’s harsh economics behind bag recycling: It costs $4,000 to process and recycle 1 ton of plastic bags, which can then be sold on the commodities market for $32.”

- Jared Blumenfeld, Director of San Francisco’s Department of the Environment

One ton of plastic bags returned to a grocery store has a true market value of between $300 and $500. The same amount of new plastic would cost about $2000.

In San Francisco Jared was referring to plastic bags’ impact on consolidated collection. Since bags are customarily returned to stores the quote was not relevant to the debate presented.

- As an experienced recycler, that has not been our experience at Hilex Poly LLC

Media myth number 2

A small percentage of bags are recycled each year.

“Less than 1% of bags are recycled. It costs more to recycle a bag than to produce a new one.”

- Christian Science Monitor newspaper

In the past few years many recycling plants have come online and industry capacity has grown more than 500% and continues to expand year over year.

This 1% rate, often reported isn’t an error, rather it is a quote that is almost 10 years old.

Recently rates were at >7% of total bag production and 17.5% of available bags…with most others being used for bin liners and disposed of properly.  It is important to date studies when quoting so relativity can be seen in context.

These arguments are very convincing, and more importantly, this site doesn’t say that the bags aren’t harmful to the environment, they just say that what we here about them isn’t necessarily true or accurate. They say much of what we say about plastic bags should perhaps be attributed to plastic pollution.

Definately a site worth visiting.

Algae have always been in Britanny, but about 20 years ago, they began growing out of control. Now, workers use trucks to pick tonnes of algae off beaches every day. Most people associate this to nitrates farmers use seeping into the seas. Algae in the seas is not only unpleasant, but it has dettered many tourists from visiting Britanny.

Also, the algae releases a toxic gas, which has already killed two dogs and a horse. The question is, does it affect humans?

Many people are unsure what to do. One mayor says, “We can close the beach for security, but then what? How do we make sure no one gets in?”

Rather than look at the algae as a problem, Brittany should look at the algae as a solution: Brittany is not France’s richest state, and they could use it to help increase production of things;

Farmers can be encouraged to use algae, rather than nitrates as a fertiliser, and cosmetics production could be increased. Also, iode, used on cuts, can be extracted from the algae. Some algae can even be eaten!

Slightly off topic, but the algae looks remarkably like a plastic bag when it is in the water… so a plastic bag looks alot like algae…

Veja’s initiative is a question more than a statement; is another world possible? It wants to make shoes that follow three rules:

1. Using ecological inputs – this means they use ecological materials over others

2. Using fair trade cotton and latex – this means the cotton and latex they buy gives more profit to the producers and less to the ‘middle man’. The middle man is responsible for selling the product to us. Since they collect a large chunk of the profits, they make money by essentially doing nothing. Every year, they push the price up, and give farmers less money for their products, increasing their profits. Fair trade tries to cut out the middle man and give a ‘fair’ chunk of profit to the farmers.

3. Respect the worker’s dignity – most of this was covered above; they don’t try to keep pushing the money the farmers get down.

Veja is not only environmentally friendly, but it is also social. Veja’s website is www.veja.fr