Thursday, February 21, 2008

The Alguita Returns Home

"For a solid two hours, we fished as fast as we could, pulling up floats, toothbrushes, plastic and glass bottles, a golf ball, a billiard ball, an unused glue stick for a hot glue gun, and several rope boluses filled with crabs and tiny striped fish - But most appalling was the plastic confetti. An endless stream of delicate, white snowflakes, like plastic powder coating the ocean’s surface. This, remarked Charlie, is indicative of the gyre, “where the trash comes home to roost and degrade…..” - From The Alguita's Blog

My friends Anna and Marcus are returning tomorrow from their trip across the Pacific to study the Pacific Gyre. I fear that I have been less than active in passing on their words from the voyage, mostly due to being sick at first and then overwhelmed by all of the things I didn't get to while I was sick. Theirs is an unbelievable journey and story and one that should be heard by everyone. As soon as they have settled in, I will surely be speaking with them to hear first hand accounts of what they found and pass along what I learn.

In the meantime, here are a few links to some stories that have been written about them, and links to the remainder of the posts from their voyage.

Common Dreams
San Francisco Chronicle
LA Times
London Independent



Dave





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Tesla Raises Big Bucks

Tesla Motors has just announced that they have successfully raised $45 million in financing. The money will be used for further development of the 4 door all electric sedan that they are presently calling White Star. The vehicle, which should be here in 2010, will be in the pirce range and styling of an upper tier Lexus type sedan and will most likely get 200+ miles to a charge.

Live Sustainably

Dave



PRESS RELEASE



Tesla Motors, a manufacturer of high-performance production electric cars, recently completed $40 million in bridge financing. The round was co-led by Valor Equity Partners and Elon Musk, entrepreneur and Chairman of Tesla Motors.


The financing will be used for the continued development of a 4 door, five passenger sports sedan planned for introduction in 2010, the establishment of company-owned sales and service infrastructure, and the continued production of the Tesla Roadster, a stylish, high-performance, zero emissions car.


The first production Tesla Roadster was delivered to Elon Musk on February 1, marking a historical milestone for the company. Series production is scheduled to commence March 17th. The entire production run of the 2008 Tesla Roadster is sold out and the company is currently taking orders for the 2009 model year.

Tesla Motors is establishing nationwide sales and service capabilities, beginning with flagship stores inMenlo Park and Los Angeles. Both stores are scheduled to be opened early this Spring.


"The delivery of the first production Tesla Roadster marks a great historical milestone along the way to Tesla becoming one of the great car companies of the 21st century," said Elon Musk, Chairman of Tesla Motors. "The Roadster now in production is just the first of a series of models from Tesla, soon to be followed by our 4 door sports sedan. Eventually, Tesla Motors will offer a full line of electric vehicles, leading the way in the changeover from gasoline cars to an electric future."



About Tesla Motors

Tesla Motors develops and manufactures electric vehicles with exceptional design, performance and efficiency, while conforming to all U.S. safety, environmental and durability standards. The Tesla Roadster is the only highway capable production electric car of any kind for sale in the United States.



With a 0 to 60 mph acceleration of 3.9 seconds and the fastest 30 to 70 mph acceleration of any production car ever tested by Car & Driver magazine, combined with an EPA rating of 135 MPG equivalent, the Tesla Roadster is unique in providing super car performance at twice the energy efficiency of the best hybrids. For more information, visit www.teslamotors.com.

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Wednesday, February 20, 2008

Washin' the car

This morning was a rainy day in LA and as a result, I decided to wash the car. Now at first, washing the car in the rain may seem a bit strange, but in reality it makes perfect sense. You don't need to wet down the car, and you don't need to worry about the soap drying, so you can take your time and really clean it. The whole operation used a small bucket of water for rinsing the rag, and about a 2 minute rinse with the hose, which was on low (it was just misting at that point). Of course, you're going to end up with some water spots, but not too bad.

For suds I like to use Simple Green as it is non-toxic, biodegradable, and works really well (it smells cool too). We buy it in bulk, dilute it in a spray bottle, and use it forever. It's great stuff.

I don't wash my car too often but because I show it to school kids I don't like it to get too dirty either. When it's summertime, I try to wash it early in the AM or later in the evening, and I pull the car up on the lawn so the water ends up being used rather than heading down the street as run off.

And on top of saving water and feeding the lawns, both of these activities get a few weird looks from the neighbors, so the way I figure it, it's all good!

Dave

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Tuesday, February 19, 2008

Sigg Re-Usable Drink Bottles

I picked these up for my kids today for their lunches. We've been using plastic ones and they were getting pretty old (we've set them aside for outside squirting fun now). They are all aluminum, don't smell, have no taste, and are leakproof. They are made by a company called Sigg in Switzerland and I know several folks who use them (they make large sizes too). Here's the kicker though - they were $17!!!!! I was shocked. The nice thing thoguh is that the larger sizes are only about $4 more so while they are expensive, at least they represent what it probably costs to make these things. The way i figure it, my kids health is worth it, if they last 10 years, they are 1.70 a year, and for others, as compared to store bought bottled water or juice boxes everyday, they're a steal.


Live Sustainably

Dave

P.S. A friend emailed me that at Re-usable Bags there is a good comparison between Siggs and KleenKraft another good option. Check it out.

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Packaging Insanity

I ordered some tapes online for my video camera and look at what they came in. 10 tapes (they are on the right there) and 14 other pieces of stuff. Incredible. I'll give you that the plastic air bags are better than the styro-foam peanuts which end up blowing all over the place, but come on. This could have been packed in a box half it's size and used much less packaging. No wonder we're in trouble.

Everything in the pic goes into our mail area and will eventually be re-used for shipping something else, except for the tape box, which will be used to organize shot tapes.

Dave

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Monday, February 18, 2008

Carbon, It's the New Chocolate

Christian's Told To Give Up Carbon For Lent

Live Sustainably

Dave

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Virgin Atlantic Biofuel Test Flight

Pretty cool little article about Virgin Atlantic's first test flight on biofuels. Apparently they will run one engine on 20% algae derived biofuel. This is a pretty major step forward. Branson, the owner of VA has pledged to have his entire fleet running on biofuels by (I believe) 2020. It's a pretty steep promise but he seems to be serious about it and it's getting it out there which is good. Better yet, algae based biofuels, which can be grown in tanks just about anywhere, have a tremendous amount of potential and won't add to global devastation ala what is currently going on with the biofuel craze. Let's hope this is only the beginning.

Live Sustainably

Dave

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Posted by Dave at 11:19 PM 0 comments

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