San Diego’s Only Eco-Friendly Transport Firm Reduces Carbon Footprint with Every Trip

As San Diego’s only carbon negative private transportation company, Terramoto offers executive-level services utilizing hybrid motor vehicles while at the same time, creating a positive impact on the environment by donating a dollar from every trip to plant a tree. Combining an eco-friendly approach to the transportation business translates into economically advantageous rates for customers and the benefit of enhanced earth-friendly surroundings for the community. The concept for the modern day private transportation company, Terramoto is derived from the combination of terra for “terra firma” (the planet) and moto, which means rapid movement.

HYBRID CAR

According to CEO and co-founder, Quentin Sponselee, “Our goal is to leave the lowest environmental impact possible. In order to do that, we decided our vehicles would have to be a hybrid. After considering factors such as rear passenger seat legroom, bench space, cargo capacity, fuel economy and vehicle purchase price, the Toyota Prius was the perfect fit. Particularly with our service in North County that has widespread terrain, the Prius is half the price of a Lincoln Town car and gets three times the gas mileage. We intend to make our entire current fleet ultra low emission and eventually — when technology allows — 100% emission free. To take things a step further, we contribute one dollar out of every trip to an organization that plants protected trees in order to offset our carbon footprint completely. In fact, we net a negative carbon footprint, a first in transportation history.”

Terramoto is a full service transportation company that provides airport meet and greets, curbside pick ups and drop offs, point-to-point transfers and hourly charters. They also offer hybrid Toyota Highlanders for larger group transportation needs. The company is a charter member of the New Environmentally Responsible Alliance of Transportation (New ERA of Transportation), a green transportation coalition whose members are committed to ensuring their day-to-day operations maintain environmentally friendly practices. To learn more about Terramoto, visit

L.A. County Votes to Ban Plastic Bags

This week, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors approved a ban on single-use carryout bags at all grocery stores, convenience stores, pharmacies and drug stores located in the County’s unincorporated areas.

The vote bans stores from giving consumers single-use plastic bags. Store will also be required to charge 10 cents each for paper bags. The ordinance, which will go into effect  July 1, 2011, will not affect the 88 cities within county boundaries such as Long Beach.

As part of its approval, the Board supported an amendment by 4th District Supervisor Don Knabe which revised the definition of “reusable bag” to include language that a reusable bag can be cleaned or disinfected, not just machine washable.

“While I support the elimination of single-use bags, if there is going to be a ban, I believe it should be done at a statewide level, as the Board previously supported in AB 1998,” said Supervisor Don Knabe. “Rather than being punitive, we should provide incentives to encourage businesses to develop creative, green solutions, and therefore jobs, to our environmental challenges. That is why I asked for a change in language to today’s motion to ensure that we did not exclude many locally-owned manufacturing plants from producing reusable carryout bags. There are many types of materials that can be used to manufacture reusable bags, and we should not limit their use because they are not machine washable.”

A statewide ban on plastic bags was defeated earlier this year. However, several major metropolitan areas have acted to ban single-use bags including San Francisco and Washington D.C.

Avoid Pesticides — Kill Weeds with Hot Water

If you’ve got a garden, then you’ve got weeds. Even if you’ve decided not to manage your garden organically, it’s still important to pay close attention to what you’re putting into the soil. Using herbicides are harmful to the environment and cause particular damage to the water system. They can seep into the ground water or be washed into storm drains that flow into the ocean.

There are all natural herbicides available, but you can save money by trying this weed-killing solution first. Use heat to destroy weeds.

Yep. Heat kills weeds. Just pour boiling water directly on the weeds. (This technique works best in small spaces as a topical spot treatment.) You’ll notice that the weeds will begin to turn brown within a few hours.

Although this is a low-cost, low-impact method to kill weeds in your garden, it does have a few caveats.

The hot water is indiscriminate. In addition to killing weeds, it will also kill the good microorganisms in the soil. This is why you need to be careful how you apply the water. First to protect yourself and second to protect your flowers or veggies — especially any plants with a shallow root system. Try using a non-meltable watering can to apply apply the boiling water only where you need it.

Although this method may not control all your garden invaders, as an organic method to kill weeds it’s very effective. The boiling water strips  away the weed’s protective coating causing extensive damage to its cellular structure. Just know that it may require more than one treatment.

Of course, the safest and least destructive way to kill weeds is still to get down and just plain pull ‘em out.

Dirty Gold: What is the Environmental Impact of Gold Mines?

“Dirty” gold is a term used to describe gold that is mined in an unsustainable, environmentally irresponsible way. Unfortunately, gold is one of the “dirtiest” metals to mine, requiring large amounts of toxic chemicals and generating tons of waste.

Here are some of the effects of dirty gold mining practices.

How Gold Mines Impact Local Ecosystems

Gold is usually mined in enormous, open pits. Some of these gigantic craters can even be seen from outer space. Of course, much habitat destruction takes place when one of these mines is created. Local ecosystems are disrupted, affecting the connection between plants, animals, soil, water, and all those elements of a healthy ecosystem.

Types of Pollution Cause by a Gold Mine

To extract gold from the surrounding rocks, heat and chemicals are used. Some of these are dangerous pollutants. For example, the deadly poison cyanide is regularly used to leach gold from ore. Air, soil, and water are all affected. The waste products from gold mining are called “tailings.”

• How Gold Mines Affect the Air—Dust from open mines fills the air and can cause illness when it’s breathed by miners or local people. If tailings are left out in the open air, they can generate dust full of chemicals like cadmium and arsenic. And the extraction of gold involves heating it to extreme temperatures (smelting), which releases pollutants like nitrogen and sulfur dioxide into the air.
• Environmental Impact of Mining on Water Sources—Gold mine operators have been known to dump tailings into local water supplies. There are reports of streams and rivers, full of cyanide from gold mines, losing 80 percent or more of their aquatic life. Tailings that are stored in reservoirs can leak out. Sometimes the reservoirs burst, flooding surrounding areas with polluted water. Mercury and other heavy metals persist in water supplies near gold mines.
• Environmental Soil Damage from Gold Mines—Waste products from the mining and processing of gold accumulate and leach into the soil.

The Results of Mining on Communities

Entire communities of indigenous people are often displaced by gold mining. Crime increases in mine towns. The people’s traditional way of life is obliterated. The pollution of water and soil can destroy local agriculture, which many communities depend on for survival.

Much of the wealth generated by the gold mine benefits the usually foreign company that owns the mine. Government officials in the country where the gold is being mined also benefit. But workers and individuals do not reap the same rewards. The local community, in other words, is not aided by the economic “boom” generated by a gold mine.

Gold is non-renewable. This means that, eventually, the mine will close, leave a crater and a displaced people.

Harmful Health Affects on Gold Mine Workers

The health of the people is also threatened. Inhalation of the dust induces asthma, and can lead to lead and other heavy metal poisoning.

Gold mines have a very real environmental impact of the land around them -- and most of it's not good.

Workers in gold mines are subject to lung diseases due to dust inhalation. Human rights abuses have been reported at many mines. Women often bear the brunt of this, suffering disproportionately as their traditional agricultural jobs are obliterated.

Green Tips for Cars: Don’t Let Your Car Idle

Do you ever stop to think about how much waiting we do while “running” around town. If you’re ready to make your errands more environmentally friendly, then don’t be idle. Idle engines are the Devil’s playthings.

An idle engine gets zero miles per gallon. In fact, letting your engine idle for more than ten seconds is worse than just shutting it off and restarting — it uses more gas and lets loose more harmful pollution.

Green Tips for Cars

Idle opportunities can sneak into your driving routine if you’re not careful. So be vigilant. Avoid drive-thrus, opting instead to park the car and walk inside. When you’re waiting on a passenger, pull to the curb and turn the car off. And, if you’re listening to a radio show and can’t tear yourself away, it’s ok…. just turn the car off while you listen. Want to make your around-town trips even greener still? Then try this. Once you park the car stay stopped. Park once and walk from store to store, you’ll save even more gas and go a little more green

First Home Certified Emerald Under Green Building Standard

RGB Custom Builders of East Stroudsburg, Pa., has built the first home to be certified to the Emerald level of the National Green Building Standard rating system.

Builder Bob Brown’s home scored a total of 724 points in the six categories of the standard, which include energy, water and resource efficiency, indoor environmental quality, lot and site development and home owner education and maintenance.

The National Green Building Standard was approved earlier this year by the American National Standards Institute as a green rating system for new homes, remodeling projects and subdivisions.

The 1,900-square-foot home has not been sold yet, Brown said, because the company is using it as a showcase for green building techniques and to spur more home sales. In the week after it was certified, the home attracted 60 visitors in the small Pocono Mountains community where it is located.

Those touring the house have been especially interested in its geothermal heat pump — a top-of-the-line model that added $20,000 to the cost of the home, Brown said. However, current tax credits for energy efficiency bring the price down to $14,000 and the home’s owners can expect lower heating and cooling costs to pay for the pump in less than four years.

Before beginning construction, Brown used the standard scoring tool to see how his current home projects would rate.

The good news, he said, was that RGB Construction’s base homes scored at near the top of the standard’s Silver level.

The company targets the area’s luxury market, building 20 to 25 homes annually at an average price of $450,000 plus land costs, and it has been using many sustainable building practices without calling them green.

Now, Brown said he’ll likely offer his home buyers the option of Gold level certification for an additional cost of $3,000, which will pay for certification, low-flow toilets and the other products he will need to reach that level.

The home cost about $45,000 more to build, Brown said, but it would still have reached the Emerald level without a number of the materials and appliances that were chosen — such as the heat pump, $4,500 in landscape design and installation costs and $2,600 worth of cork flooring. “We could probably cut $15,000 off this number and still be Emerald,” he said.

It’s also 38% more efficient than the standard home he builds, which scores at the Silver level and is 30% more efficient than a home constructed under prevailing building codes.

Brown said that the next job should be much easier now that he understands the scoring system and the certification process. His brother and business partner kept careful records to document and measure almost every step they took. While the documentation helped them in the learning process, much of it was not necessary for certification.

“We didn’t need to do a lot of the things we did,” he said.  “Now that the learning curve is down, we can probably do this in our sleep.”

Brown also credited Frank Malpere, his NAHB Research Center-accredited verifier, for his expertise, which also helped him through the process.

Having a show home just down the street from the company’s sales office is sparking more than the usual amount of interest from home shoppers, he said. “Everyone wants to see it, and that’s working well for us,” he said.

In a press release, NAHB Research Center President Mike Luzier congratulated Brown on his home’s achievement. “We are thrilled to have a home certified Emerald so soon after that option became available,” he said. “It’s a testament to the flexibility of this national certification program that allows builders to select the right level of green for their markets and their customers.”

Home Green Building Standard

Since the ANSI approval of the National Green Building Standard in January, more than 1,000 homes have been scored to the standard using the online scoring tool at NAHBGreen.