Strive for green

Inspiration from the Danes

Nicholaus Harris — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 16:57:22 +0000

I came across an interesting article in the New York Times today contrasting how Denmark and the United States have pursued energy policy since the 1970s. Here is a great excerpt from the article: Unlike America, Denmark, which was so badly hammered by the 1973 Arab oil embargo that it banned all Sunday driving for a [...]

Culinary Conservatism

Nicholaus Harris — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 00:42:39 +0000

Living in Berkeley makes it incredibly easy to get access to locally grown and sustainably produced foods. With an abundance of farmer’s markets, and incredible stores like Berkeley Bowl, we’re pretty lucky here. The abundance of good food options has been shaped significantly by geography and a highly progressive population. I was rather surprised then to [...]

Vanity Fair’s McCain spoof on New Yorker’s Obama Cover

Nicholaus Harris — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 23:34:05 +0000

Not directly related to all things green, but I just had to post this spoof of last week’s New Yorker cover “The Politics of Fear“:

Cloudy Germany Helping Sunny California at the 1st Solar Symposium

Nicholaus Harris — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 07:40:15 +0000

I attended an outstanding event in San Francisco today called the “1st Solar Symposium.” Essentially, the speakers explained the drivers of solar success in Germany (read feed-in tariffs), and discussed how to make solar big in the US, and namely the Southwestern US. The following are notes taken during the symposium: (I heard the presentations [...]

Obama: Renewable Energy in Nevada

Nicholaus Harris — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 05:42:16 +0000

Tonight, a good friend sent this article about Obama’s vision for making Nevada a major renewable energy producer. I went to high school in Nevada up at Lake Tahoe, and I still visit my family there whenever I have the opportunity. It is great to hear that Obama, who Strive for green is enthusiastically rooting [...]

Rethinking Plastics at the Berkeley Ecology Center

Nicholaus Harris — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 06:40:50 +0000

Tonight I went to an event at the Berkeley Ecology Center called “Rethinking Plastics.” Stuart Moody from the environmental/spiritual organization Green Sangha was the presenter, and he covered all the harm that comes from irresponsibly consuming and disposing plastic. Plastics are an amazing invention with incredibly valuable applications, but I was astounded to learn facts like [...]

Smart “Doomsayers” in a 1998 SF Chronicle Article

Nicholaus Harris — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 23:42:44 +0000

Browsing the SF Chronicle’s home page today, I noticed a headline titled “Doomsayers predict new world oil crunch” in spot #7 of the Most Read articles section. I was immediately skeptical given the fact that the word “new” was used in the title! As it turns out, the article is from August 31st, 1998! A striking [...]

Going from green marketing to renewable energy

Nicholaus Harris — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 23:38:34 +0000

A personal message from the author: Since October of ‘07, I have been involved in a green marketing campaign. My passion lies in creating and using technology to solve problems, but after graduating from UC Berkeley, I decided that it would be an important first step to understand how people perceive environmental problems and how to [...]

Secret Society of Global Warming - You can’t stop us now!

Nicholaus Harris — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 21:53:10 +0000

Global warming is just a giant hoax perpetrated by our secret society that wants to make America energy independent, clean our air and water, improve the fuel efficiency of our vehicles, kick-start 21st-century industries, and make our cities safer and more livable! You can't stop us!

Entrenched Styrofoam coffee cups in the office

Nicholaus Harris — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 02:09:00 +0000

How do you get an office to stop using Styrofoam coffee cups when they had problems with dirty re-usable mugs in the past? One of my co-workers asked me yesterday what my thoughts were on switching to more expensive biodegradable cups. Here is my response: The classic “Reduce – Reuse – Recycle” concept is the best way [...]