After hitting San Francisco, New York City and Boston the exciting Cleanweb Hackthon stops in Boulder CO. The Cleanweb Hackathon is an upcoming gathering to demonstrate the impact of applying information technology to resource constraints. Are you a developer looking to make a difference through tech? Head on over!

Join us May 18-20 in Boulder as we bring together developers, designers and business professionals dedicated to optimizing resource use and accelerating cleantech development. Participants are tasked with building applications that tackle energy, waste, water, and other sustainability issues by leveraging web and mobile technologies. We challenge attendees on what they can do over the course of the weekend that might just change the world for the better.

The Boulder Cleanweb Hackathon will be held at Trada, 1023 Walnut St, one block away from Boulder’s famed Pearl Street. The event begins at 6:30pm on Friday evening with a networking session where developers can find teammates and network. Register here.

Judges include:

Tim Enwall, Tendril Co-Founder and Special Advisor, @tenwall

Joel Serface, Clean Range Ventures, @jserface

Don Brown, Atlassian

Steve Herschleb, Access Venture Partners

What if you can travel in your gap year, get intimate with a new country and culture while doing social good and honing your skills? Yup, you can have it all. Volunteering abroad with Smaller Earth is a great way to spend your vacation dollars, get off the beaten path and explore real communities around the world. 

Participating in organized, meaningful travel opportunities can be an excellent chance for the new traveler to make friends and have a support system – or it can be the experienced traveler’s chance to immerse themselves in a whole new manner. You will not only have fun, but you can make a real difference during your placement.

Smaller Earth offers a bunch of different programs to suit your time commitment and interest.

International Internships

These can offer you the chance to conduct business in new languages, understand global trends in your industry, and show a desire to work with a diverse team.  Gaining professional and international work experience has never been more important to add to your resume.

This post by Scott Cooney originally appeared on the GreenBusinessOwner.com

Just yesterday, MSNBC covered a story about the Pacific Garbage Patch having grown 100-fold in the last 40 years. In places in the gyre, as it’s called, there are 46 times more plastic bits than there is plankton. Plastic does not biodegrade and persists in the environment for eons, so seeing a pile of plastic trash in the ocean just north of Hawaii has always seemed to put a damper on living in paradise for many Hawaii residents. Perhaps cosmically, we were due for a little great news.

Following the City Council’s 7-1 vote in favor, Honolulu Mayor Peter Carlisle signed SB2511, a bill banning plastic bags in retail stores yesterday across Honolulu County, which comprises the island of Oahu and Hawaii’s capitol city of Honolulu. What makes the bill’s passage extra significant is that Hawaii’s other counties had previously banned plastic bags, meaning that Hawaii has just officially enacted the first full statewide ban on plastic bags in the nation.

Just a year ago, the American Chemistry Council, a lobbying group representing the plastics industry, managed to bribe politician Joe Souki to help defeat a similar plastic bag measure. No kidding. It was in broad daylight, they paid him $24,000 in quote-unquote consulting fees. He helped the ACC ward off a plastic bag ban and styrofoam ban.

But they only delayed the inevitable, as a plastic bag ban in one of the most beautiful places in the world had tremendous public support.

It’s cause for major celebration, and a victory for the public that can only be described as monumental. Stuart Coleman, Executive Director of the Surfrider Foundation of Hawaii, said “there were too many people to thank,” indicating the broad support the bill had across industries and across Hawaii. The Surfrider Foundation has been conducting a Rise Above Plastics Campaign with this bill as one of its hallmark goals. In Honolulu’s bill, a plastic bag is defined as “a bag…made from nonbiodegradable plastic…not specifically designed or manufactured for multiple re-use.”

Thus, bioplastic bags are fine, as are reusable shopping bags that may contain some plastic inputs. Down To Earth, a local all vegetarian health food store, has been using biodegradable bioplastic bags for years.

Under Honolulu’s bill, which phases in the ban over 3 years, plastic bags distributed for loose vegetables, flowers, and the like would still be allowed, but bags with the purpose of carrying retail items out will incur fines of up to $1,000 per day if violated by a retail store.

Ironically, GBO Hawaii, the sustainability-themed board game we’ve developed here at GreenBusinessOwner.com incorporates plastic bag bans and oil industry lobbyists, and I have to admit, this is a day I didn’t think I’d ever see when I started creating the game.

The card at left is a part of the game. Yeah, we had fun creating this game.

Turtle image via Inhabitat

With over a million new books published in the U.S. each year one might think that getting your hands on a good book wouldn’t be too hard, despite the growing popularity of e-readers.  But the truth, as they say, can sometimes be stranger than fiction.  Organizations focused on building literacy in underserved areas, such as schools, libraries and non-profits can benefit greatly from books – even gently- used ones – but may have trouble obtaining them.

Though many people carefully consider the lifespan of their books, others intent on spring-cleaning or those looking for a more convenient option of moving used books out of their homes simply throw them away. But discarding your old books can adversely affect the environment, cramming landfills with materials that will take years to decompose.  And – by dumping your books you may be missing an important opportunity to support someone in need.

Now, organizations like the one I work for, Discover Books (formerly Thrift Recycling Management), encourages people to consider repurposing their books for the benefit of others.  Based in the Seattle, Washington area, we are a book collector, online reseller and a socially-minded organization dedicated to the ideal that where books are concerned, reuse is the best possible form of recycling.   By reselling, recycling or charitably redistributing books, our company ensures that millions of otherwise good books are treasured, not trashed.

Triple Bottom Line in Action: Win-Win for People, Planet and Profit

As one of the largest online sellers of used books on Amazon we also strive to have a fiscally sound organization able to grow and contribute to a growing number of jobs in communities across North America.  Yet like many organizations today, our mission extends beyond profit-making.   We are one the single largest sources of book donations to literary causes or literacy organizations in North America.  With over six million books donated to non-profit causes like schools, charitable organizations and libraries, we’re proud of the opportunity we have to give back.  Our good work doesn’t end there, our efforts have also diverted over 155-million pounds, or 78-tons of books, from landfills in just eight years.   

Here’s how it works.

Our company collects books from multiple sources; buying used books from thrift stores that otherwise might go to landfill, or purchasing library discards to sell online, returning a portion of the revenue back to the library.  We also place deposit boxes in neighborhoods as a convenient local option for people who want books out of their homes while ensuring they will be re-read, or, in some cases, recycled as another consumer good.

We estimate that to date we have generated more than $25 million in value for non-profit organizations, corporate partners, thrift stores and libraries through the collection, sale and charitable distribution of used books.

“At a time when school and library budgets are being cut, having organizations with the infrastructure and resources to recycle used books by putting them  to good use is invaluable,” says Kathleen Andrews of PhoenixReads.org, a volunteer grassroots initiative that collects unwanted books from individuals and redistributes them directly into the hands of children in need.  “Companies like Discover Books are able to do a lot of good because they have the resources to do it with,” Andrews continued.  “I don’t know any non-profit organization that could to the same; the resources and infrastructure simply wouldn’t exist.”

So, if you have books that are in good condition or even those that are barely holding it together, don’t let them gather dust unread.  Instead, consider these options:

• Companies like ours have deposit boxes in locations around the U.S. and Canada.  You can also call your local recycling city department and ask where and how to recycle books that can no longer be used.

• Beyond organizations like Discover Books that resell, recycle and donate books, you can always bring your books to a local school or your local library (call first to ensure they will receive your donation) or to charitable organizations like Goodwill.

• If you would like trade or swap books, you can go to sites such as PaperBackSwap where you can list your used books and send via mail to interested parties. In return, you get select used books from a large selection (usually in the millions) of available novels, text books, and more.

Books image via Shutterstock

A Wonderbag is a heat retention cooking bag. 

It is basically an insulated bag in which you can cook anything from meaty stews or vegetable curries to simple rice and soups. You heat up your pot of food on the stove, kick-starting the cooking process, and then place it in the Wonderbag. Why is it an appropriate technology?

This means families can cook appetising hot meals, while saving energy – and money. It also means less time spent on cooking food – time that can be better spent looking after children, earning an income or doing essential chores. Energy saving tools like the Wonderbag is great in any part of the world with our increasing energy consumption, but is specially important in poorer communities where clean energy is expensive. With the Wonderbag money saved on energy can be used to buy better food.

The Wonderbag has bigger societal benefits. Apart from reducing energy use by 30%, it reduces cooking time and time used to forage for fuel which itself helps mothers spend more time with their children and helps children remain in schools. It reduces exposure to toxic fumes and health costs related to illnesses. It even saves scarce water. When the pot is insulated in a Wonderbag at a fairly constant temperature, less evaporation occurs, so less water is needed. Open fires and unregulated stoves actually burn food and 20% is wasted. With the Wonderbag wastage due to burning is eliminated.

What is a Wonderbag and How Does it Work?

The Wonderbag consists of a fabric bag and matching lid, both filled with recycled polystyrene that retains heat. You heat up your pot of food on the stove and then place it in the Wonderbag to finish cooing with minimal loss of heat. Slow cooking is known to help retain nutrients and make food delicious. There are a number of recipes to get started.

Wonderbag as a Business Opportunity

• CSR Initiatives and Carbon Credits: Because the Wonderbag mitigates global warming, the project has been submitted to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) as a Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) project. The CDM allows Natural Balance to generate and sell certified emission reduction (CER) credits, commonly called ‘carbon credits’ each equivalent to 1 tonne of CO₂, the income from which makes widespread distribution in the developing world possible at affordable prices.
• Business partnerships: Consumer products giant Unilever partnered with Wonderbag to market their curry powders and seasonings, leading to a 200% increase in sales for the same.
• Do Good PR: The WOW (Wonderbag on Wheels) project is an over-land trek that will travel from Cape Town to Bonn in Germany, introducing Wonderbags to communities and leaving a viable solution for families in that community and beyond. WOW will be a powerful vehicle for raising global awareness and generating attention for the issue of more affordable, cleaner, safer cooking. Is this a right PR mechanism for your company?

A report released on Monday by the Union of Concerned Scientists circulated by Reuters has confirmed that electric cars are cheaper to run than gas powered cars as well as being less polluting. The report shows that  ’Drivers should feel confident that owning an electric vehicle is a good choice for reducing global warming pollution, cutting fuel costs, and slashing oil consumption,’ said Don Anair, a senior engineer on UCSs clean vehicles program.

UCS said the study is the first to analyze emissions from vehicles charged on a power grid of electricity made from fuels such as coal and natural gas.  According to the report, owners of electric vehicles can save $750 to $1,200 a year based on 11,000 miles of driving, compared to drivers of a gasoline-powered vehicle that gets 27 miles per gallon at $3.50 per gallon. For every 50 cent rise in the price of a gallon of gasoline, an EV driver can save an extra $200 annually, the report said.

Car companies themselves are realising the global demand for electric cars that rely on less fossil fuels and although hybrid sales have remained strong, the market for electric only/battery operated cars is buzzing. Recent figures from China show a strong market for electric vehicles, however, three years ago, the Chinese government unveiled policies to propel sales of all-electric vehicles (ie, ones that can’t use petrol at all) to 500,000 by 2015 and 5m by 2020. But barely 8,000 electric cars were sold last year, almost all going to government fleets.

To quote an article this month’s Economist magazine: “Novel business models to deal with electric cars are emerging. Better Place, an Israeli firm that promotes swapping batteries rather than recharging them, has a tie-up with Chery, a Chinese car firm, and China Southern Power Grid. Hertz, a car-hire firm, and GE, an industrial giant that makes charging stations, have struck a deal with BYD to lease its electric cars to drivers in Shanghai, Shenzhen and Beijing.”

And if we look at a recently released list of the top ten cities by numbers of electric cars, it’s obvious that the recent policy changes in Europe relating to carbon emissions have really encouraged innovation, as well as new economic thinking.

The demand for family cars, sports cars and business fleets hasn’t showed any signs of slowing down, so the automotive industry must learn to adapt if they’re to capture further gains in the market, along with urban sales.

Kevin O’Connor  is a freelance writer and web media analyst from Ireland and working in London. He has written on a wide range of issues in a number of print publications as well as online. When he isn’t working, he enjoys making the most of nature, as well as reading and world cinema. 

Electric car image via Shutterstock

Why Should We Grow Our Food

We should be growing our own food!  All of us should; as a society why did we stop?  Our agricultural construct is a problem everyone refuses to acknowledge because we like bananas in Colorado or we want oranges in the winter.  We don’t think about the fact that those tropical fruits came from…well, the tropics.  Importing and exporting and transporting food is expensive, especially because it’s something we need daily and always.

I grew up in a family that gardens, but never really stretched my legs in the arena until this spring and I can already feel something special here.  I can grow foods that are new to me: chard, kale, chives, dill, cilantro, beets.  I can grow so many varieties that the stores are prevented from selling because of our industrialized agricultural complex.  My garden can’t realistically be compared with Alison’s, which really has become my inspiration in the yard.  But this takes time, I guess.

I want to share a video with you that’s very special to me and everyone who worked on it because it marks the beginning of an incredible journey.  This is the first teaser we put together for Holy Terror; before gas drilling was even an issue in the North Fork Valley.  We fell in love with an inspirational tale on a breathtakingly beautiful farm in the Rockies:

Alison said something there about the production of life being “pleasurable, magical, and satisfying” and I guess that’s what I’m getting at here.  This is our chance at having a hand in what we power our bodies with, and we really ought to take ownership of that!  We have the opportunity to take stake in a very intimate relationship with ourselves, our world, and our food.  Who doesn’t want that!?

She also said at the end that this was more important that anything she’d ever done in her life.  And believe me, this woman has done some important things.  But I don’t think this is an exaggeration; that lack of relationship with life she speaks of is something that we’ll start to suffer the effects of as a society.  This trend must be reversed immediately.

One last thing, coming back to the bike thief: I’ve not felt so violated in as long as I can remember.  I cried like a baby.  Later that Saturday, when I got back around to working on this project I couldn’t help but compare the theft of my bike with the way the government and the industry is trying to pry these peoples livelihoods from them in the Valley.  Obviously we’re talking different orders of magnitude here, but consider this: the person who took my bike knew damn well it would render the owner bikeless and that cutting the lock constituted stealing.  But the gas industry is committing a bit more of a blind theft here, like they forgot their flashlight.  They are willing to decimate the land, air and water in this agricultural community in part because they simply don’t know all of what these processes can do to the environment.  They haven’t been forced to find out, and they don’t want to know.  So why look?  Denial is not excusable, but it surely begets ignorance.  Ignorance earns a bit of pity.

Help the Organic Farmers in Colorado

About 10 days left in the Kickstarter campaign and I encourage you to help us out.  Spread the word, donate if you can.  We want to shed some light on this, and we need your help to do it!

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/658194669/holy-terror-documentary-film

Part of a series of blogs on the  production of Holy Terror: A Farm Under Siege.  For more: http://www.halffropro.com/directors-blog/.

Cameron Terry is a Colorado native and a fishing enthusiast.  As a documentary filmmaker in Denver, he seeks to make engaging, impactful films about important topics. 

Hackers and developers are hard at work right now, working on clean apps that have the potential to scale up our efforts to reduce carbon emissions and global warming. The apps use the power of technology, social media and easy usability to tackle resource constraints.

The competition began Saturday morning (May 5) and continues over a 30 hour period. Hacking ends at 2:30 pm today EST and will be followed by presentations by the teams, judging and awards at 3 pm. You can watch the proceedings live here through ustream. The live feed from will be on periodically throughout the rest of the weekend as well.

If you are coming down to the venue  to check out the presentations, be sure to get here by 2:45 to grab a good spot. Presentations will start at 3:00PM sharp. Greentown Labs is at 337 Summer St. in Boston.

Broadcasting live with Ustream

What are two critical aspects we need to effectively counter bottled water? Resuable bottles and access to clean drinking water. Now a collaboration between two companies will help make drinking water more accessible to college students all over the country.

Vapur® , makers of the foldable, reusable and eco-responsible “Anti-Bottle,” along with Elkay®, manufacturer of stainless steel sinks and faucets for residential and commercial use plan to create the Vapur Refill Station Program, making water more accessible to college campuses nationwide.

Using Elkay’s built-in proprietary filtering system and Vapur Anti-Bottles, this co-branded “Be Healthy – Stay Hydrated” alliance aims to encourage and promote the use of reusable and recyclable bottles, while providing safe, filtered water and healthier beverage options to college students.

Now students can carry a reusable bottle that is not bulky and also find drinking water easily on campus. Vapur and Elkay strive to promote the healthy habit of hydration by making filtered water readily available, promoting the use of reusable water bottles and reducing waste on campus. The durable Vapur Anti-Bottle allows for students to fill up their bottles when thirsty, fold or flatten them when done and easily carry them to refill throughout the day. Anti-Bottles are made in the USA, highly durable, freezable, dishwasher-safe, and BPA free.

“We are excited about our partnership with Elkay, as both of our companies have like-minded philosophies to keep people hydrated while providing clean water and protecting the environment,” states Brent Reinke, Co-Founder and Chief Operating Office of Vapur. “Students will be able to purchase Vapur Anti-Bottles at locations on their campus, stay hydrated at the Refill Stations and walk away knowing that they’re doing their bodies and the environment good.”

Many universities and colleges are banning bottled water on campus and this alliance takes cognizance of that fact and need for reusable bottles and fillings stations across campuses.

Ted Hamilton, Director of Sales, Sustainable Products at Elkay includes, “With the University of Vermont and Muhlenberg College’s recent ban on the sale of bottled water on campus, collaborating with Vapur to bring Refill Stations to participating campus’ throughout the United States provides a relevant and necessary solution to this growing, nationwide issue. In addition, Elkay’s filtering system helps reduce unpleasant tastes and odors frequently associated with unfiltered water and helps to decrease the amount of harmful impurities such as lead, cysts and sediment from reaching drinkers.”

Vapur Anti-Bottles are designed to withstand everyday use and regular cleaning. The included carabiner allows users to clip the Anti-Bottle to anything and take it anywhere. The Vapur Program will be springing up throughout National and State Parks in the United States to help educate park visitors about the importance of staying hydrated , reduce waste created by disposable plastic water bottles and refuel the nation.