Green Tech Girl

The green trend has now hit web browsers - you can download the free Flock Browser Eco-Edition here. The browser comes pre-set with links and feeds from various eco-websites, and they give 10% of the search engine proceeds from the browser use to an environmental organization voted on by users.

I downloaded the browser and installed it (it does come in a version for Linux), but I’m not sure if I would use it that much. Some of the eco-trendy sites that come pre-loaded I don’t like particularly much. The one that wins my top “Eco-Irony Award” would be Sprig, which claims to be about the environment while pushing mindless consumerism. (No, you don’t really need to get a new pair of designer expensive “environmentally friendly” shoes when the ones you already have work just fine.) Ecorazzi, which focuses on green celebrities, seconds my list of mindless eco-trendy consumerist crap.

So while I feel that the idea behind Flock’s eco-browser is a good one, I am personally not thrilled about the trend towards corporatey, consumerist websites that play off the green trend but are in reality more of the same consumerism that got us into this environmental mess in the first place.

I have no idea why anyone would want to buy a car that can’t fit into a standard parking spot. But I guess some people have issues with their egos. If you hate Hummers (like I do), you will enjoy this site:

FUH2

The Sierra Club has a quiz on the energy efficiency of various television technologies. You can take the quiz here. (I got a high score even though I guessed on many of the answers.)

I was interested to find out that my guess that it’s better to keep my old CRT than trade it in for a large widescreen was right - keeping the CRT is probably the more eco-thing to do. Why? (more…)

I just bought my first printer in nine years. Yes, that’s right, nine years. When I say I am anti-consumerism, I really mean that. If something works, I don’t just throw it out to get something new. I have a perfectly good 1994 HP LaserJet that still does the bulk of my printing. In 1999, I bought an Epson color inkjet. That was the last printer I purchased. I wasn’t using it that much, but it, along with an old printer/scanner combo a friend gave me, finally bit the dust.

So I went to Costco and got a new Canon all-in-one printer for around $100 with tax. This thing is amazing. It prints, it scans, it copies, and it faxes. And excuse me for sounding like an old fart here, but back in the day I used to own a printer, a copier, a fax machine and a scanner. Trying to find homes for these items in my then one-bedroom apartment was a challenge. My home copier was actually situated on the top of my fridge. (more…)

I’m always interested in new ways of doing business that don’t involve making new stuff. Here’s one interesting application of the Internet: Setting up sites where people can swap goods instead of throwing them away or purchasing new products. This lends itself quite well to things like books and CDs.

One such site that I am currently checking out is Bookins.com, which gives you points for each book you offer for trade and then charges a flat $4.49 shipping fee for books you receive. (You don’t have to pay to ship books, just to receive.)

Of course, you could just use your local library too. But some books are good to keep around as reference. And yes, we all look toward the day when books will be entirely electronic instead of made from paper…and then sadly we’ll have the book publisher equivalent of the RIAA on our asses for book file sharing. For that reason alone, perhaps I am old-fashioned, but I’d like to keep paper books around.

OK, I realize it is a bit ridiculous that I live by myself and own three television sets. To be fair, however, they are older sets, the big heavy behemoths of yesteryear: two 27″ screens and an old 13″ TV with a VCR built in.

The 13″ was being thrown out by a roommate years ago, which seemed like a waste, so I snagged it. It’s now in my office near my computer. The second 27″ a friend gave me (her landlord had it sitting around gathering dust). It’s now in my bedroom. The third 27″ is in the living room. I like it, actually. It’s big enough to see but it doesn’t take up too much space.

So I guess I don’t quite see the point in this constant TV-upgradamania that we seem to be going through. HDTV - why should I care? I have enjoyed TV for decades without HD so I miss HD about as much as I miss 3D TV. Which is…never. (more…)

I just got a Costco membership after being taken there on two trips by different folks who swear by the low prices there. (You must be careful, however, to not buy bulk items that you don’t really need.) I shop at Trader Joe’s for most of my groceries, but on occasion I have a hankering for things like Gatorade, Skippy, and deluxe macaroni, so I go to a normal grocery store for those items. Costco seemed like a better option.

But what about Whole Foods? Isn’t that supposed to be the feel good, environmental grocery store? Sure, but it’s damn expensive. I simply cannot afford to go there and shop regularly. The location near me, in West Los Angeles, has prices sometimes double or triple that of Trader Joe’s. (more…)

This is the question asked, and pondered quite intelligently, by Richard T. Stuebi on the Cleantech Blog. Among other comments of note:

We aspire to free-market capitalism in the United States, and we come pretty close to achieving it, closer than most countries in the world. And, because we are very capitalistic, it is easy to make the leap that American consumerism is inextricably a co-product of capitalism. It is not. (more…)