A soon to be launched, interactive website will unite businesses and college students in an ongoing effort to better the environment. EcoApprentice.com is the brainchild of Richard Halpern, a public high school counselor who drew on 15 years of experience in education to combine two of his passions‚ sustainability and career based education. EcoApprentice will foster collaboration between college students and businesses in the implementation of sustainable goals. Participating businesses and nonprofits will post EcoChallenges, while students enrolled in participating colleges and universities will post EcoSolutions. This practical collaboration could lead to earning college credits, career based learning experiences and future employment contacts for the students. Moreover, businesses could gain…
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Life Without Wheels – An Interview with Kevin Pile
Surely you’ve had one of those days when you thought about just giving up owning a car altogether. You know, one of those days when you just found out that the new timing belt’s going to cost you $1800 and while they are in there working on that they might as well do…(you fill in the blank)… for another $….(again, you fill in the blank)…. Or maybe it was the day the monthly payment, the gas bill, the new plates and the insurance premium all had to be paid in the same week. Or even better, maybe you are one of those that is tired of spewing exhaust gases into…
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Purple Wind Turbines May Be Less Likely to Harm Birds
Researchers Chloe Long, Dr. James Flint, and Dr. Paul Lepper, all colleagues at the Loughborough University in the United Kingdom, conducted experiments to learn whether color might play a role in attracting insects to wind turbines. They measured how many insects were attracted to different colored cards laid out in random order next to a 43-foot-tall three-blade wind turbine. The experiments showed that insects are most attracted to yellow followed by white and light gray. The researchers discovered that the color least attractive to insects was purple and reasoned that wind turbines painted purple would likely kill fewer birds and bats: Birds and bats are often hit when…
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The RINSE Project Helps Wineries Reuse Wine Bottles
Cowhorn Winery in Applegate Valley, Oregon has teamed up with Wine Bottle Renew to establish a powerful new bioregional program called ‘The RINSE Project.’ The project cuts per-bottle costs and reduces wineries’ carbon footprints by recycling used wine bottles and preparing them for industry reuse. Some 300 million cases of wine are sold in the United States each year and the wine bottles from about 210 million end up in landfills. As the first Southern Oregon winery to ship used bottles through the RINSE Project, Cowhorn Winery aims to help change that and cut its carbon footprint in the bargain. In addition to cleaning, packing, and shipping wine bottles for…
