http://www.startribune.com/462/story/1551107.html

UPDATE: Apparently, they had to cancel this event due to its success:

Electronics recycling effort overwhelmed by public, forced to halt operations at megamall

So, yea, that sucks.

Plus, well, I REALLY wanted to build a rain barrel. When spring comes, I’m eager to drop all freelance gigs and get the hell out of the house to putz around the yard. Last year we grew a garden for the first time. The kids loved it. So did the pumpkins, which soon overtook our garden space. However, our water bill kind of spiked last summer so, hence the rain barrel idea.

So I was off to get one. Googling for resources in the area only returned the odd, deeply buried, 7 year old PDF on some local government site, or the the Minneapolis Rain Barrel program (allowing you to purcahse a pre-made rain barrel at half price). Being in St. Paul, I didn’t have that option but eventually found a blurb regarding Vine Park Brewery giving away free food-grade barrels. I called them up and they said ‘sure, stop on by’ and by that afternoon I had myself a 55 gallon blue barrel and a 6 pack of Vine Park Root Beer (good stuff!). A few plumbing odds and ends from Menards and a whole bunch of this really sticky waterproof gutter glue and we were up and running!

I was pretty proud of myself. And then I stumbled upon fellow St. Paul Graphic Designer Jason Hammond’s Strib blog documenting the journey he and his wife are having building a modern home in Maplewood. There’s a lot to like about the house they are designing, but check out the ‘rain barrel’ idea they’ve come up with. Impressive!

“There are about 220MM vehicles in service in the US today. If all of those were converted to Plugin Hybrid Electric Vehicles (a technology already available), the existing US electrical grid system has enough unused off-hours generating capacity to power 84% of US transport of cars and light trucks.” – Mark Anderson, Strategic News Service

“Sure, you’ve heard of corn and switchgrass as potential sources of biofuel. But those are rendered totally boring in light of the potential of trash, dead cats, and human fat to meet our energy needs.” – Kate Sheppard

This exhibition focuses on the design and planning of culture and civilization. It is very powerful in its message and it raises many questions about how we view and interact with space and how we live in our world.

When I saw this show in September, I thought out loud, “I always wondered why no one is designing anything really useful. I guess I was wrong.”

A few highlights and observations I made of the show:

1. In one particular room, I loved the overwhelming graphic quality of words/phrases covering every inch of the walls. I didn’t feel the need to read everything. In fact, I took away an appreciation of all the text for its graphic quality and design. Its placement at the beginning of the show is also foreshadowing. It set up a mindset that even in chaos there is order.

2. I enjoyed the interactivity of sound incorporated into the show. In another room, there were boxes suspended from the ceiling that stopped about 8 or 9 feet from the floor. When you walk under one, it starts an audio recording. I loved this simply for the fact that it was information available to me when I asked for it. I hate walking halfway into videos in museums. This presentation solved that problem.

3. The final room of the show includes a series of 2 sides to an argument. For example, one issue talked about designing better food to provide more food worldwide. Each issue has 2 large plexiglass boxes. One is labeled “Yes” and one is labeled “No.” In the middle is a stack of yellow pieces of paper the size of Post-it notes. Viewers are invited to answer the question: “Do you agree?” to each issue by putting a piece of the yellow paper into either the Yes or No box. It’s visually interesting to be surrounded by stark white walls and see 2 clear boxes filled with yellow pieces of paper. In a way, you feel like you’re taking part in the massive change.

4. This show changed my opinion of all the building of condos that is currently happening in Minneapolis and everywhere else. I realized it’s a good thing that it’s happening. By condensing our living space and leaving open spaces for the environment, we can leave a positive imprint on our world.
Check it out. It’s very relevant to today.

While his numbers (extrapolated out for a year) are interesting (iMac: $27/yr, Fridge: $39/yr) the comparison against his car is the kicker:

Annual Household Carbon Footprint:
1800kWh * 0.085kg Carbon / kWh = 336.6 lb Carbon / year

Totoya Echo:
15 gallon tank * 9.1 lbs Carbon / gallon of gas = 136.5 lb Carbon / tank of gas (how many times to do fill up each week?)

Based on Eric’s calculations, commuting to work is more damaging than working from home with all the lights on.

Seems like a good reason to stay home, and pick up a TerraPass to counteract the remaining car trips.

The Emerging Green Builders is a new sub-committee of the Mississippi Headwaters Chapter of the USGBC. We are a group for students and young professionals who are interested in green building and sustainable design. Our first event is a tour of the green unit at the Midtown Lofts in Uptown. This will be an Open House type event on Tuesday, August 16th, between 5:30 and 7pm and will be followed by drinks at Bar Abilene. The building is located at 2845 Colfax Ave S and the unit is number 306. Please RSVP to Ben Kerl at ben@landergroup.com, 612-827-3393 to attend or to learn more about Emerging Green Builders.

(via the most excellent NextStep/MnSCN update)

The new Walker Art Center is very cool looking. As I walked by this afternoon, I saw a maintenance person weed whacking the twenty or so perfect circles of grass.

Yes, the green dots contrast nicely to the square, pale sidewalk and the other architectural elements. Seriously, though, making something cool shouldn’t make it more of a hassle.

At a young age, I learned two things from watching these programs:

1. Acronyms can tell you who the bad guys are.
2. The group with the nefarious acronym never wins.

You can understand my disappointment when I received an email from the Minnesota Environmental Action Network.