I am relatively impatient when it comes to waiting.  I am constantly scrolling through old emails as I wait for and sit on the subway; I find myself making calls while standing in lines; I even pay for express shipping on items that I don’t really need urgently.  If there is a particular type of waiting that drives me mad, it’s definitely flight delays.

As a native of Brazil, I developed a severe dislike for flight delays having to travel back and forth from South Florida to Sao Paulo two to three times per year (as a kid it was much easier to deal with thanks to my Game Boy). Given my disdain of flight delays, I cringed at a recent study by the U.S. Joint Economics Committee. The report showed that in 2007 alone, delayed flights consumed an additional 740 million gallons of fuel, resulting in a whopping $1.6 billion wasted and 7 million tons of carbon emitted for no reason.

Surprisingly, I also heard about recent efforts on the part of airlines that actually justified longer flights. By slowing down cruising speeds and tacking on a few extra minutes to each leg, airlines have shown that they can save millions of dollars in fuel and thousands of tons of carbon emissions. For example, Southwest Airlines projects it will save $42 million in fuel this year by extending each flight by one to three minutes.

So, if the airlines can save money (and hopefully keep ticket prices at bay while energy prices keep skyrocketing), use less fuel (which helps out the environment and energy prices), and only add about 10 minutes to a nine hour flight from New York to Sao Paulo, I give it a solid two thumbs up!  After all, who is REALLY going to notice the difference, aside from your everyday macrophobiac (fear of long waits)?

But seriously, no more delays.

-Raphael, Greenzer Team - Business Development

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We recently expressed delight at finding out that China had decided to join the ranks of nations who’ve outlawed disposable plastic bags. These petrochemical-based bags currently choke our ecosystem to the tune of 500 billion a year worldwide, causing immeasurable damage to the earth and its inhabitants. While we continue to encourage everyone to stock up on reusable plastic bags like EcoBags’ Recycled Cotton Canvas Tote, we’re thrilled to discover that a Canadian teenager has come up with a natural solution to the plastic bag problem we’ve already created.

For his high school science project, 16 year-old Daniel Burd’s goal was to create some way to deal with the mountains of plastic bags that faced him every time he opened a closet door.

Burd decided to test his assumption that microorganisms were what caused plastic to eventually degrade, attempting to isolate the ones responsible for plastic’s breakdown.  His first step was to grind the plastic bags into a powder, mixing it with household chemicals, yeast, tap water, and dirt to encourage the growth of the microbes. After isolating the plastic-degrading microbes, he continued to add them in more and more concentrated amounts to shredded plastic, eventually achieving an impressive 43% rate of degradation in six weeks.

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Daily Greenz #158

Since the sun’s finally out for the summer, we’ve been particularly intrigued by solar-powered products of late. So when we caught wind that Apple recently filed a patent to incorporate solar cells into their products, we couldn’t have been more psyched.  What could be more convenient than boosting the battery power of your iPod, iPhone, or MacBook while you enjoy time spent outside? The patent proposes that solar cells could be layered below glass and LCD layers, and that each of Apple’s solar devices could monitor and display solar cell performance.

EPEAT, which rates just how eco-friendly electronics are, has already granted the MacBook their Silver rating, but it appears that the company wants to do more.

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Daily Greenz #157

Greenzer applauds stars who use their celebrity status to raise awareness about living eco-friendly, from cruising around in hybrid cars to composting. Julia Roberts is particularly committed to reducing the amount of waste she and her family produce. Roberts used chlorine-free, non-toxic diapers for twins Hazel and Phinnaeus and was introduced to gDiapers when newest addition Henry came along. The flushable diapers, comprised of a reusable outer cover and flushable lining, cut down on the 50 million disposable diapers that are tossed in landfills yearly and don’t begin to decompose for up to 500 years. GDiapers’ Cradle to Cradle certification means that every material used to make these flushables is absorbed back into the ecosystem with no negative impact.

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Daily Greenz #156

With the popularization of reusable bags by celebrities and mainstream clothing and accessories brands, there’s now hardly a soul unaware that using plastic bags is far from eco-friendly. But exactly how bad are they? Bangladesh banned them four years ago. Beginning June 1, they’ll be banned in China. And last year, San Francisco was the first U.S. city to prohibit their distribution in supermarkets and chain pharmacies. So what’s behind these bans? Firstly, their production requires valuable, non-renewable petroleum, and lots of it – 12 million barrels of it, to be exact. Secondly, the roughly 100 billion plastic bags we use here in the U.S. take up to 1,000 years to begin to decompose, and they don’t biodegrade. Rather, they photodegrade, meaning they break down into small, toxic bits that end up contaminating soil and waterways over and over again. 

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