This Is Just Cool!

From Time Magazine:  Carmel, Ind., is driving in circles. Since 2001, the Indianapolis suburb has built 50 roundabouts, those circular alternatives to street intersections that have become a transit fixture in much of the rest of the world.

Because roundabouts force cars to travel through a crossroads in a slower but more free-flowing manner — unlike traffic circles, roundabouts have no stop signals — in seven years, Carmel has seen a 78% drop in accidents involving injuries, not to mention a savings of some 24,000 gal. of gas per year per roundabout because of less car idling.

"As our population densities become more like Europe’s," says Mayor Jim Brainard, who received a climate-protection award this year from the U.S. Conference of Mayors, "roundabouts will become more popular."

About 1,000 roundabouts have been built in 25 states, and research bears out the benefits to states like Kansas, where the new design has produced a 65% average drop in vehicular delays, according to a recent Kansas State University study. Most roundabouts are also more aesthetically pleasing and cost much less to construct than stoplight intersections.

The problem is teaching Americans how to navigate them. (Folks, cars entering a roundabout yield to those already in it.) But the heightened anxiety people feel in roundabouts makes them drive more carefully and remember that intersections are dangerous places. And as Tom Vanderbilt notes in this summer’s best seller Traffic, "The system that makes us more aware of this is actually the safer one."

Technorati Tags: traffic roundabouts, mayor jim brainard, climate-protection award

A coalition of labor and environmental groups has a plan for boosting America’s sluggish economy: persuade Uncle Sam to invest $100 billion in green building and technology.

Such an infusion would create 2 million jobs nationwide in two years, the groups say, four times more than would be created if that money was invested in oil.

The conclusions are part of a report released this week by the Center for American Progress, a liberal Washington D.C.-based think tank.  It was prepared by the Political Economy Research Institute at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst and supported by such organizations as the Sierra Club, United Steel Workers and the National Resources Defense Council.

The groups back several green strategies, including retrofitting buildings to improve energy efficiency, expanding mass transit and freight rail, and increasing the production of wind and solar power.

The report says that clean energy will "put more people to work, provide consumers relief at the pump . . . and revitalize our economy," NRDC President Frances Beinecke said in a news release.

But although conservationists say the report shows why the next president should make green energy a priority, offshore drilling remains the hot topic on Capitol Hill.

Technorati Tags: green projects, us economy, offshore drilling, center for american progress, sierra club, green strategies

As sustainability awareness becomes second nature in the business world, more companies are coming up with ways to target environmentally conscious customers even if their primary business isn’t making eco-products such as solar cells or organic foods.

The 100 vendors at the recent GreenSummit convention in downtown Phoenix offered examples of the growing diversity: a green handyman, a green broker, a green pest-control service and a green limousine firm. 

Cox Communications Inc., a provider of cable TV, broadband and telephone service, joined the expo to promote its green call-center program. It not only has 320 of its own call-center employees working at home in virtual offices but it has begun helping other companies and government organizations, such as Arizona’s health-care program for the poor, shift their call-center workers to home offices.

Rainey Daye Holloway, a spokeswoman for the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System, said about 350 of the agency’s 1,200 employees have switched to virtual offices over the past two years, saving an estimated 2.5 million miles in driving time and $436,000 in fuel costs. The agency was also able to save about $1 million in lease costs this fiscal year because it doesn’t need as much building space.

Companies that have been involved for some time in the green movement have watched environmental interest soar.

Lisa Miller, a Mesa resident who owns the "environmentally responsible" Lady Bug Pest Control Specialists, affirmed that it hip to be green today. "When we started in 1995, nobody cared about environmentally friendly," she said. "Now it’s the wave of the future. It is the wave now."  Her Mesa company, which has grown to 12 franchises, controls pests using natural substances such as thyme, rosemary and guava fruit.

Discount Cab is adding 200 chartreuse Toyota Priuses to its Phoenix fleet as part of a "green cabs for blue skies" campaign. EnviroCar, another local company, also uses Priuses and Lexus RX400h SUVs to give passengers "chauffeured hybrid transportation."

Robert Nelson of Surprise bills himself as anEZ Green handyman because he can help residents with simple fixes to help control their energy costs, such as replacing lightbulbs with compact fluorescents.

And while it’s customary for exhibitors at trade shows to hand out candy, pens, key chains and other things, those at an ecology minded show have to be careful what they offer. Plastic pens wouldn’t be appropriate.   That’s where Wright Choice Promotions of Glendale comes in. It offers products such as pencils made of recycled newspapers, denim and currency, as well as pens made of recycled tires. 

Much of this information comes from an article by Betty Beard - The Arizona Republic

Technorati Tags:  greensummit, sustainability,  environmentally conscious,   eco-products, solar cells, organic foods 

Our first real post has to do with an organization called "We".  The We Campaign is a project of The Alliance for Climate Protection — a nonprofit, nonpartisan effort founded by Nobel laureate and former Vice President Al Gore. The goal of the Alliance is to build a movement that creates the political will to solve the climate crisis — in part through repowering America with 100 percent of its electricity from clean energy sources within 10 years. Our economy, national security, and climate can’t afford to wait.

You are invited to join the campaign in order to get leaders to recognize climate change through having millions of people pushing for a solution by the end of 2008. You are encouraged to invite your friends to be a part of the campaign to help. "We" also offers help and solutions in your area of the country through hosting a meeting, training and recruiting people to join.

This is primary an initiative for the United States, but we feel that climate change is a global problem, and therefore it requires all of us to work together to help the environment, even in other countries.

Technorati Tags: we can solve it, Al Gore, we campaign, climate change, environment

The picture above is the Four Peaks Wilderness just northeast of Phoenix, Arizona.   It was take in 2006.  This is a rare view of these mountains as recent warming trends have not allowed snow this deep and widespread for many years.  It’s a good example of why we are "going green" with this blog.

We know "green" is the cool thing these days.  But we also feel that EVERYONE needs to do their part in turning things around.  So we decided one of the things we can do is keep promoting green to our readers.  We are doing this for a few reasons:

- We need to reduce pollution.  Quality of life is everything.  As long as you are alive on this earth, why not make it the best experience possible?  Let’s breath clean air, swim in clean water, and wander through a clean environment.

- We need to cool the earth.  We really don’t feel it is important to be a part of the global warming debate.  Is it man-made or is it natural?  It just does not matter.  The fact is, man is having some effect and it is mostly negative.  Rather than debate it, let’s just reduce our impact.

- We need renewable engergy & energy independence.  We live in Arizona in the good old USA, so we would like to see the U.S. become much less dependent on foreign energy sources.  But it goes beyond that.  We need to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels.  The whole world needs to find a way to transition to renewable energy.

So that sums up our main reasons for changing This Is Just Cool to an energy & green related blog.  As always we value your ideas and contributions.  If you know an excellent "green story", please let us know.  We look forward to hearing from you and doing our little part to change the world.

Technorati Tags: going green, energy independence, renewable energy, pollution, cool the earth, four peaks, phoenix, arizona

Today we are starting to transition this website into a "green" website with the focus on environment and cooling the earth.  We were inspired by our beloved Phoenix Suns who have made a huge commitment to solar power at their US Airways Center.   Please stick with us as we begin our new focus.  We encourage you to submit cool stuff. We prefer to see pictures or videos, or hear some audio. But if all you have is a story, send it in!  If it’s good quality and really cool, we’ll post it.