Finally a new post

It's been a while since I've last said anything on here. Consider my absence a result of playing Starcraft 2. Today's post is again about the environment and it focuses on two things: plastic bags and a company named Practecol (get it, practical).

First, plastic bags. They're everywhere, they're the poster child for why humans are bad for the earth, they're easy to use, and hard to reuse. Some cities have placed bans on them whereas others have opted for taxation. I like either method. My one curiosity with the bans is that they haven't become more popular. Obviously progressive cities in Europe and California (San Fransisco) have moved to phase out dispensable shopping bags, but I don't understand why this hasn't been a bigger national trend. I thought when I first heard of cities taking action against the bag that I would soon be charged a little extra as well for my visits to Kroger and Walmart. Oddly enough though there has been resistance to what is maybe one of the easiest ways to improve the environment, generate government revenue, and encourage responsible shopping habits.

Second on today's agenda is promoting Practecol - a very interesting green company. With a target audience of people who want to help the environment without necessarily being inconvenienced, Practecol makes products that are easy to use, generate revenue for the customer, and cut back on energy usage all at once. While I was shopping in Lowe's recently, I noticed a few of their products and was even compelled to buy two of them. The first is simply a 5 Minute Shower Timer. Hop into the shower, press the button, and hop out by the time the red light shows up. It's a neat way to cut back on water usage and save on the water bill. The second item I bought was the Perfect Flush Toilet Tank Displacement Bag. Again, the simplicity of the product is what stands out the most. Fill the bag with water, place in your toilet tank, and voila. I'm now saving upwards of 6000 gallons of water a year just by placing a bag in my toilet tank.

Could I have made these products at home instead of spending the $15 or so on them? Sure, but by the time I had found a timer lying around the house that was waterproof and a bag that I knew wouldn't burst, the cost savings would have been minimal. Besides, I'm all about supporting green companies, so that's always a bonus for me. The next step? Try and get the parents to join LGE's Demand Conservation program (which pays users $20 annually) and subsequently join the Green Energy Program which provides investment in local renewable projects.

Edit: tree bombs.

Windows programs you must have

I've long been a computer guru (as far as my family goes at least). I understand how computers work and can usually diagnose problems relatively quickly. Most of this comes from a combination of past experience and a mastery of how to use Google. Below are some of the programs I've found personally helpful and know you will too.

1. CCleaner
The C stands for Crap and boy does it get rid of it. CCleaner is one of the easiest programs you'll ever use and also one of the most efficient. If Piriform ever started charging for it, I would gladly give up the money. The program is broken down into four sections: Cleaner, Registry, Tools, and Options. Tools is essentially an Add/Remove programs function, and I rarely touch options. Cleaner, though, is the whole reason for the program. Here you scan your computer for tons of random files that you will never need. The first time you use the scan it will generally yield well over 1 GB of random trash that's floating around on your computer. (Two notes: Unless you uncheck the options, Ccleaner will clear your browser histories and usernames. Also, the scanning will permanently delete the files it finds). The second section, Registry, is also powerful and useful. Rarely would I recommend messing around with your computer's registry, but CCleaner is light enough to not cause any major harm and heavy enough to be useful. If you're like me and you're constantly adding and deleting files (video games for example) then there's going to be a lot of data left behind that you don't necessarily need anymore. The registry, combined with the scan, will help to remove all of that. Ccleaner is a must.

2. Mozy
About once every two years you'll turn on your computer and find that it's not working -- that's normally when the minor heart attack sets in. What will happen to all of your files? What will you do without your 3 years of photos that you've been saving on your hard drive? With Mozy, you can bypass these questions and go back to watching LOLcat videos. Your computer might be trashed but the files you want are safely stored on a server far far away from your now defunct HD. There's a few reasons why I like Mozy. For one, it's unintrusive. It only asks you a few questions here and there to start, and it really doesn't need too much supervision otherwise. Another great feature is that it's free, well, at least for the first 2 GBs, but you get the free space for as long as you like and if you refer friends, you can get 500MB more space per friend! I've been using Mozy for over 3 years now, and though I've only had to rely on the file restoration one time, it's been great knowing in the back of my mind that if my computer ever decided to go kaput (like it almost did a week ago) I would have been fine. If you need more space (unlikely), it'll cost $5.99/month.

3. VLC Media Player
Never worry about not being able to open a video/music file again. Ever.

4. Windirstat
A great program with great visualization, Windirstat will look at all the files on your computer and let you know what's taking up the most space. It provides a helpful, interactive graph on one half of the program and your actual files on the other half. Want to know what's taking up so much space on your hard drive? Windirstat will help you out. There's been a few times when I've found old movies, seasons of TV shows, and even video games that I forgot to uninstall. Windirstat helps you free up space on your computer, plain and simple.

5. System Restore
This one comes already loaded on your computer but nobody I know uses it, and that kills me. If you use System Restore and you happen to get a virus, no matter how bad the virus is, you can return your computer to a healthy state in minutes. Essentially, you set your computer to automatically set restore points -- snapshots in time of how your computer was doing at that current moment -- and anytime you get a virus, you simply restore back to a healthier computer. Example, you set restore points every week. If you get a virus on May 16th, you just restore your computer to the week before (May 9th) and voila. Your computer is healthy again. BONUS: Any documents you've saved since the 16th? They're all saved for you. How is that possible? I don't know, but it's awesome. I've worked on about 5 computers over the past year and if any of them had System Restore the job would have been over in a few minutes. Start using this, and tell your friends to. You can find it under Start > Programs > Accessories > System Tools > System Restore.

One final note, you can find most of these programs and more on File Hippo, one of my favorite sites to download useful programs ranging in topics from video playing to virus protection.

Edit: tree bombs.

Genius Bar

Apple is one of my favorite company's - mainly because I like buying products that work. But last night while playing some Age of Empire's III my computer suddenly froze. No biggie, that's happened before. What was odd though was this flashing folder icon with a question mark on it that appeared when I restarted the computer... uhoh.

I took the computer into Apple's Genius Bar today to see what they could do. After a short consult, they said my hard drive had crashed and I needed a new one. What? How does a 2 year old laptop burn its hard drive? The genius in me wasn't convinced. Still, I let them have my precious piece of aluminum (Apple computers are among the greenest) and they went to work. Since I had the Apple Care Protection (or whatever I forked over $190 for when I bought the computer), I was covered. Woohoo! While waiting for my computer to be worked on, I got a call saying that it wasn't my hard drive, but rather a cable connecting my hard drive which had failed. Aww.

Now I remain computerless while they order the part, but regardless I'm still in love with this company. Why am I writing this post? To commend Apple? Eh... sort of. Their product broke, but they were awesome about fixing it. I guess I just like when things go right. I've been using Mozy to backup my 2 most important gigs of information, so that was covered. Add the protection plan to that and this fatal accident will cost me no important files but also $0.00. Time to go add Mozy to my family's computers. Here's to being prepared.

Tree Bombs.

Kiva.org

Just made my first ever Kiva "donation". Kiva is the middle man between you and someone around the world who needs a small loan. You can donate as little as $25, or as much as you'd like. Either way, you're helping someone you will probably never meet become a little richer as they use the money you lend (not really a donation since you get it back) to build up a business. As their business gets stronger, they eventually make payments back to you.

Want to help the woman in the picture? Her name is Lhagvasuren Togtokh and she lives in Mongolia where she sells firewood. Her donation page and info is here. Only $300 left until she gets sent the money she needs!

One of my favorite quotes ever is, "It is in giving that you receive." With Kiva's online statements, the proof is in the pudding. Pay $25 now, help someone out, receive $25 later. Awesome.

And for more on the concept of microfinancing, check out Vandy grad Muhammad Yunus.

Tree bombs.

EDIT: Holy crap. Only a few hours after I donated, Lhagvasuren is now completely funded and will be receiving her microfinance loan immediately. Over the next 20 months I'll be receiving reimbursement. Hello $2/month income!

Osama bin Laden

After hearing the news from my brother that Osama had been killed I felt a few emotions. One was obviously excitement (with neither a positive nor negative connotation to it). Had we really found the man responsible not only for 9/11 but for other terrorist attacks as well? What was the next step? What would Barack say in his address?

These original thoughts soon faded once I jumped on Facebook and Twitter, though. All over my screen were images of USA flags and 'Murrica! screams. Unoriginal, but expected. What really got me was how happy people were - and not just happy, elated. I was expecting a collective sigh of relief, but instead America had fireworks, parties, and gatherings in front of the White House - though most of the attendees seemed to be teenagers and younger adults.

Throughout the next few hours this scene kept repeating itself, and I couldn't help but think someone would scold us eventually. For acting like the death of one man was the victory we were waiting for all this time. You can't undo what happened, and revenge rarely provides the comfort it promises. So why were all of these people so excited? I figured most were just playing along, not thinking anything of it. But some people had to legitimately believe this was the day America had been fighting for for years. In fact, many political leaders from Lebanon to France said this was a great milestone in the fight against terrorism. In that respect, I would have to agree. Cut off the head and the snake will die. But I guess what I'm really more upset and confused about is the general feelings post-incident. The whole situation really begs the question, why beat the dead horse?

I found a great article that I really enjoyed reading and I was glad someone else had a more somber opinion of the events that had taken place. In fact, many articles like this one soon flourished from the sporadic confines of the internet.

Regardless of my opinions on the aftermath, this is still a great victory for these United States and all who have been harmed by the life of Osama Bin Laden. I just wish we could have handled it a little better.

USA. USA.

Tree bombs.

Cradle to cradle

One way to combat our environmental problems is by attacking waste. The waste issue is largely looked over. Yes, America's heavy consumption of cheap-everything doesn't help, but reusing is an important, if not overlooked, part of the 3 Rs.

One company in California (always in California) called Biolumber uses plastics which would otherwise have been headed to a landfill to produce a product that is 4x as strong as lumber and can be used in place of lumber. Essentially, it's a win-win, and I loooove win-wins. Here's why: it reduces the amount of material we're sending to landfills while simultaneously saving us from needing to cut down additional forests. A very cool concept which addresses a critical need. Hopefully other companies (especially larger ones) will start tackling our dirty trash problem.

Thumbs up to BioLumber from this eco-freak.

Tree bombs.

My new favorite application

Cinch for mac (or Sizeup for Windows) is amazing.. Instantly resize windows to have two side by side panes of perfectly equal dimensions. AWESOME. I have been wishing for something like this forever. Funny how only today do I actually do something about it. I knew this was available when Windows 7 came out, but I'm really happy there is a Mac compatible program that works just as well.

Simply drag your window off screen and instantly resize to half the screen. Perfect for taking notes in class while searching the web (or for other, more productive reasons as well). Be sure to take a look at this highly recommended program. It's a Cinch.

Tree Bombs.

My new favorite song

Credit to Julia Hilkey for unknowingly introducing me to quite possibly my new favorite song. Ben Sollee's "It's Not Impossible (Boys Don't Cry)." I met Ben in Frankfort after the I Love Mountains rally on the capital building. He plays cello and sings. He excels at both. You should check him out. Bonus points: The music video was shot at the skate park in Louisville, KY.

The rally was a great day. I had to skip class for the early Monday morning rally, but it was definitely worth it. Over 1000 people attended, and while Gov. Beschear didn't take our message to heart completely, he did budge a bit and gave in to talks with some of our best environmental agents (Wendell Berry, KFTC to name a few). Activism at its best. Hopefully I'll be doing something like this during the summer. Apparently there is a march in West Virginia that sounds exciting. We'll see if I can fit that in. You should try too.


Tree Bombs.

This.

This. is a great show. It's called Big Ideas for a Small Planet and for some reason I can only find the 3rd season of it on Netflix. The show's focus is on creativity, innovation, and environmentalism as it surveys three different ideas per episode with an overarching theme for the whole show (examples include design, babies, entertainment, games, architecture). The show is ridiculously simple and that's maybe its best attribute. There is no emotional detachment if you don't see all the episodes back to back; instead, you can learn a few interesting facts and leave after the 20 minutes have elapsed. I'll keep this post short but I did manage to find this somehow on netflix and thought more people should watch this neat little show. My favorite episode was about edibles -- this summer I plan to grow my own food in my back yard.

Here's a shitty wikipedia article about the show. I could have found something more significant, but this is about as much research as I'm capable of doing at 1:35 AM (that's ante meridiem for my more stupid reeders).

Tree bombs.

One small caveat...

Though I don't except every post on here to be environmentally related, a good portion of them will be in some way. Today I discovered just how well my Economics major fits in with being environmentally responsible as both look at ways to reduce usage of materials in order to best save money, resources, etc.

Here is a video of something awesome that I wish would be happening in Louisville, KY but instead the smart people of Philadelphia, PA are taking advantage, and it's all about trash cans and solar panels.

Another eco thing I'm really interested in is called Solar Mosaic. The concept is brilliant. If you can't have solar panels on your house because you rent, your house doesn't receive a lot of sunlight, or any other reason, you can buy into a solar panel project that will be placed at a local school, church, or building with a roof that is more applicable for solar panels. Once the project is completed, you are compensated for 100% of the money you put into the project. I think I might just have to throw a few bones at this one. Almost reminds me of the million dollar homepage.

Alright, seriously, that was the last hyperlink for a while.

Tree Bombs.

Tree Bombs

Now for my first actual post. Why is it called Tree bombs? There's two reasons: For one, I found this great article on treehugger.com (one of my favorite, and often referenced websites) that talked about repurposing old war planes for uses other than killing thousands of people (lame). One idea was to replace the actual bombs with thousands (we're talking 900 of them) of tree seeds in an effort to replant forests which have been destroyed. Although there's a few things to think about in this scenario -- mainly the biological idea of introducing non-native species and how they can literally ruin ecosystems -- there's something very cool about flying in a plane, planting 900,000 seeds, and knowing you very well have created a potential home for millions of little critters.

The second reason for Tree Bombs is because of my good and faithful friends who know I am an environmentalist (read: hipster) at heart. By connecting my general apprecaition of Mother Earth with the fact that my father is from the Middle East (read: oil and bombs) you can start to piece together the puzzle that is this blog's name. Whoa whoa whoa Chris! You're friends are ignorant!! Yes, they're pretty silly; that's why I'm trying to educate them. Hopefully with these posts my friends and all people around the world will begin to see how we can innovate, repurpose, reuse, and rediscover things about this world which we never thought possible.


Tree Bombs.

So I decided to make a blog...

For a few reasons. 1) I am constantly on websites like treehugger, reddit, digg (RIP), youtube, wikipedia, google, etc. and I'm always finding information that I think is useful and wish other people would know about. Thus, what better way to reach an audience than through a blog they will doubtfully ever see? Am I right? Thought so.

Essentially, this will be the opposite of what you're used to. No real revisions or intense thought. Just sporadic, whatever-I-feel-like-writing-about writing. I hope that's ok with you because it's perfectly fine with me. On a side note, you'll notice that some things don't quite match up. For example, I started making a list in the first paragraph (see: 1)) and then I completely forgot about it; this further emphasizes my lack of seriousness throughout this thing, but I do honestly hope that readers will attain some knowledge of the interconnectedness of the world, the environments in which we all live, and the small actions we can all take to make sure the Republicans don't kill us all.

No, just kidding, I'm a registered Republican and I support Rand Paul...but I also like Barack. I'm somewhere in between, I guess you could say. Actually, people have told me that I'm not really anywhere on a political spectrum because I'm in so many places at once. To them I say, yes. You are correct. Because as Jay-Z said,

"A wise man once told me / don't argue with fools, / cause people from a distance cannot tell who is who."

I'll be posting a little more frequently than weekly (hopefully). I found the bold button. I'll use this to highlight important topics/ideas throughout the posts. Aside from that, stand up, get uncomfortable, and don't enjoy the show.

Tree bombs.