Save Eco Destinations

Australia’s looking up: a report recently showed how Australia could power itself with 100% solar and wind energy by 2020 using technology that is commercially available right now.

However, the federal government reached a deal to keep its renewable energy target at only 20% by 2020, while raising more near-term targets.

In any case, Beyond Zero Emissions — an Australian independent, not-for-profit NGO — released the report, “Zero Carbon Australia,” which contains a detailed explanation of how powering the country completely with renewable energy could be achieved in merely a decade. Beyond Zero Australia was founded in 2006 to help facilitate a quick transition to a zero carbon future.

“Zero Carbon Australia” says 40% of power can be generated with the use of wind and the rest from solar thermal installations (speaking of which, Denmark intends to source 50% of its power from wind by 2025). The report proposes managing variability in renewable power by using molten salt thermal storage (molten salt can store heat so that it can be retained for use for electricity during bad weather or at nighttime, when solar rays are not available).

The plan estimates that energy use will jump by 40% (!) up from 228 terawatt-hours/year in the present to 325 terawatt-hours/year in 2020. This will cost some USD 32.3 billion per year, by the way — but the authors find this manageable:

“The required investment of [AUD] 37 billion/year is the equivalent of 3% of GDP. The extra money spent versus Business-As-Usual to 2020 is the equivalent of $3.40 per person per day, the cost of a cup of coffee.”

Hey, that’s nothing [for most people in Australia, I assume and hope]. It’s fantastic.

The concept’s technical feasibility now needs just one bit of help:

“What is required to make this happen is leadership from policymakers and society, with firm decisions made quickly that will allow this transition to occur.”

Naturally.

So if you’re heading to Australia anytime in the next 10 years (or if you live there!), remember to support hotels and establishments that are pushing for increased renewable energy throughout the country. Stay at eco hotels, buy locally grown food, etcetera. We have the power to change the world!

You can help Beyond Zero Emissions if you wish by making a donation here.

Following up on my recent post discussing unsustainable fish deceptively marketed as sustainably sourced, I’d like to share with you that Greenpeace has released its latest Canned Tuna Guide in its continued effort to fight overfishing across the world’s oceans. (I’ve already shared the news via Facebook and Twitter, but it’s important enough that I wanted to write about it on here, too!)

If you’re a tuna eater – whether you consume canned, fresh, or whatever kind of tuna – and you’re interested in the future of tuna stocks (which you should be if you plan to continue eating it!) check out Greenpeace’s new guide.

The guide is meant to both inform consumers – like you! — whose increasingly raised awareness on the issue is leading them to opt for sustainably sourced fish, and to hold tuna brands accountable for selling unsustainable tuna to the unsuspecting public.

Check your supermarket to see if they carry the highest ranking brands in the tuna guide, so you can support the companies that are progressing toward environmental responsibility through the sustainable sourcing of their products.

This is how Greenpeace explains their ranking, based on an international canned tuna ranking system:

• 70%+ Good
An acceptable sustainable and equitable tuna procurement policy has been
obtained. Maintaining and improving these standards is essential.

• 40% – 69% Must improve
Initial measures have been taken to source sustainable and equitable tuna.
More concrete steps are needed to reach an acceptable standard.

• Less than 40% Very Poor
Urgent action is required to improve tuna procurement.

Criteria for the canned tuna ranking:
• If the tuna comes from overfished stocks;
• If the tuna comes from illegal vessels or companies;
• If the tuna can is labelled correctly; and
• If the tuna was fished using methods that result in high levels of bycatch.

Brands were also ranked on their:
• Commitment to not source tuna from proposed marine reserves.
• Commitment to equitable sourcing policy for tuna.

I will now shamelessly quote an article on the guide, since I wrote it and all. Here we go:

Since the beginning of Greenpeace’s first tuna ranking four months ago, Australian tuna brands have started to make ecologically sound progress. For the first time, Australians can now purchase a sustainable canned tuna brand: Fish 4 Ever, which ranked highest on the tuna guide at 86 per cent.

Fish 4 Ever uses pole and line fishing to source its entire range of tuna. It still sells overfished yellowfin tuna for 25 per cent of its range, but has vowed to move to 100 per cent skipjack tuna, the sustainable alternative.

Aldi, with a 57 per cent ranking, is the first supermarket to tout a sustainable seafood policy available online and to show support for marine reserves by not sourcing its fish from proposed Pacific high seas marine reserves. It has also publicly committed to halting the use of destructive Fish Aggregation Devices (FADs) fishing in its tuna range, which produces the bycatch of turtles, sharks and juveline tuna.

Independent retail supermarket group IGA got a 47 per cent ranking for also having introduced a sustainable seafood policy for its suppliers, while still catching its home brand Black and Gold tuna ranges with huge nets and FADs. The tuna used, however, is sustainable skipjack.

IGA has begun labelling its tuna cans to inform consumers which tuna species it sells and where it was fished.

“Before the guide came out, most people didn’t know where their tuna came from, or that turtles, sharks and juvenile tuna get killed in tuna nets,” said Greenpeace oceans campaigner Genevieve Quirk. “Since then, thousands of people have written outraged emails demanding that the tuna companies behind these brands clean up their act, and they’ve listened.”

IGA supermarkets and independent stores have also started stocking Fish 4 Ever.

“We became aware of the issues surrounding overfishing five years ago and wanted to offer Australians a sustainable option,” said Sandy Abram, Co-Founder of First Ray and distributor of Fish 4 Ever.

Last week I wrote about the efforts of certain companies to deceive consumers into thinking they are purchasing sustainably caught fish.

If you remember, I discussed the problematic Marine Stewardship Council (MSC), which offers eco-certification to fisheries across the globe and has never refused the certification to any fishery that has completed the certification process. Ahem.

Well, it turns out that the independent adjudicator has ruled in favor of MSC last Monday, which means that the endangered Fraser sockeye salmon stocks have been ruled sustainable. Environmentalists are wailing and independent salmon trollers railing.

The certifier will now submit the Final Certification Report to MSC, recommending that the Fraser River sockeye salmon fishery be certified as sustainable. The certifier may issue a certificate and MSC would announce certification after a final internal MSC review of the documents takes place.

So what’s the problem?

“This certification could actually result in well-intentioned consumers buying an endangered Fraser River sockeye with an eco-label on it,” explained Jeffrey Young, aquatic biologist with the David Suzuki Foundation, one of the groups who filed a notice of objection to the MSC’s intent to provide eco-certification to the stock.

I would like to reiterate that some Fraser River sockeye stocks harvested in the fishery that is getting certified by MSC are already classified as “endangered” by the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada, and “critically endangered” by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, whose scientists consider overfishing a key threat to the stocks’ health.

Further, the Canadian Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) recently set up a commission to study the decline of the Fraser River salmon stock.

This is definitely bad timing for an eco-certification, don’t you think?

Next time you’re shopping for seafood, remember that MSC-certified seafood is probably not actually sustainably fished, and steer clear of Fraser River sockeye salmon.

These days, many seafood species are in decline and numerous stocks have already been depleted by overfishing. Various types of tuna and the Fraser sockeye salmon stocks in British Columbia, Canada, are all species under severe threat.

Part of the problem is fraud – and when eco-certifications are awarded without due consideration, without being truly warranted, everyone suffers (that is, the fish and those of us who care for the planet).

The London-based Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) offers eco-certification to fisheries across the globe. It has never refused the certification to any fishery that has completed the certification process. Fishy, isn’t it? And we’re not the only ones who think so. But I’ll talk more about the MSC when I discuss the sockeye salmon stocks below.

Atlantic bluefin tuna

Tuna

I’ve already blogged about the plight of tuna – bigeye, bluefin, and others – and the efforts of environmental groups like Greenpeace as well as those of entire countries who have called for an international ban on the tuna trade, focusing on bluefin tuna in particular. This call, by the way, has been futile. Some blame Japan and say officials from that country threatened representatives of poor African and Asia-Pacific nations at the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) meeting in Qatar last March, which was a complete failure. Whatever the case, tuna thus remains without official protection.

Fraser sockeye salmon - photo from TreeHugger

Fraser sockeye salmon

This time I want to discuss the plight of the Fraser sockeye salmon stocks in British Columbia on Canada’s Pacific coast.

The MSC has just has just certified three Canadian salmon fisheries as sustainable. As consumer awareness about seafood sustainability is growing worldwide, lots of companies are coveting and applying for the MSC label, which makes their seafood gain popularity in the market. You, Save Eco Destinations reader, may be one of the people who makes efforts to purchase environmentally grown or harvested foods. And you should be aware that the MSC is trying to fool you.

Sockeye salmon fished from the Skeena and Nass Rivers and from Barkley sound on Canada’s Pacific coast will now be sold with MSC’s coveted eco-label worldwide. But Dr Craig Orr, executive director of the Watershed Watch Salmon Society, believes this is, to put it bluntly, crap. He thus vowed that his organization will be supervising the fisheries to make sure MSC standards are being followed.

“The MSC has just granted eco-certification to three fisheries that routinely overharvest threatened and endangered salmon stocks,” said Orr. “As disturbing as this is, the MSC has placed several conditions for improvement on these fisheries, and we will be watching closely to see if these conditions are enforced.”

Earlier this year, his organization plus two other conservation groups from BC – the David Suzuki Foundation and SkeenaWild Conservation Trust — filed a notice of objection to the MSC’s intent to give the Fraser River sockeye salmon fishery eco-certification.

The certification was thus put temporarily on hold pending the verdict of an independent adjudicator, whose decision is expected by Saturday, July 10.

“We objected to the Fraser River certification because we believe it does not meet the MSC’s own minimum standards for certification, and that the management of the fishery is so dysfunctional that the conditions of certification are very unlikely to be met within reasonable timelines,” explained Greg Knox, executive director of SkeenaWild conservation trust. “Overfishing is a serious concern in the Skeena, Nass, and Barkley Sound fisheries, but the situation is not as dire there as it is on the Fraser,” he noted.

Under the MSC’s third-party certification process, firms hired by fishing industry “clients” decide if a fishery meets the MSC’s criteria for eco-certification. Again, I would like to note that no fishery has ever been refused certification after having finished the MSC assessment process and no objection to a certification has ever been upheld.

The three Canadian sockeye salmon fisheries were assessed by the independent organization Moody Marine Ltd, reported CBC News.

Some Fraser River sockeye stocks harvested in the fishery that is about to be MSC certified are classified as “endangered” by the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada, and “critically endangered” by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, whose scientists consider overfishing a key threat.

A commission of inquiry by the Canadian Government recently targeted the Fraser fishery because of a major collapse of the fishery and prevalent concerns over mismanagement.

“Eco-certification can provide a powerful incentive for improvement in the way we manage our fisheries,” declared Aaron Hill of Ecologist Watershed Watch, “but it becomes meaningless when you set the bar too low, and certify unsustainable and mismanaged fisheries. It becomes fraud.”

The assessment for Fraser River began in 2009, when only 1.4 million sockeye salmon returned despite the Department of Fisheries and Oceans’ (DFO) forecast of up to 10.6 million, reported Vancouver Sun.

“It was a catastrophe,” said Sto: lo First Nation fisheries adviser Ernie Crey. “No one knows what happened to those ‘missing’ fish.”

MSC-certified seafood

Why the MSC’s certification means nothing

The MSC eco-label isn’t even good enough to meet the sustainability policies of some supermarket chains. Really. Retailer Waitrose refuses to carry MSC-certified hoki from New Zealand.

“The fact that the sustainability policy of one of the UK’s largest food retailers could not be met by fish carrying the Marine Stewardship Council’s (MSC) eco-label proves the council’s ineffectuality,” Greenpeace said last year.

Supermarket chains in the U.S. and Europe have refused to carry New Zealand’s orange roughy, a species that is MSC-certified even though it is endangered. This fish is harvested by bottom trawling, which is bad news for seabed communities and is one of the most environmentally destructive fishing methods in existence.

“This shows that even MSC certification is no guarantee of sustainability,” said Greenpeace New Zealand’s oceans campaigner Karli Thomas.

Greenpeace also believes Friend of the Sea (FOS), another eco-certification scheme, is unreliable. FOS even offers eco-certification for farmed fish. Imagine that! I won’t even get into how wrong that is (in this post).

Greenpeace believes that no certification system for sustainable seafood currently exists that is 100% reliable.

Further, Professor Daniel Pauly at the Fisheries Centre of the University of British Columbia and the principal investigator of its Sea Around Us Project accused the MSC last year of acquiescing to pressure from the Walton Family Foundation and Wal-Mart and being complicit to a scam.

“At first, the MSC certified only small-scale fisheries, but lately, it has given its seal of approval to large, controversial companies. Indeed, it has begun to measure its success by the percentage of the world catch that it certifies. Encouraged by a Walton Foundation grant and Wal-Mart’s goal of selling only certified fish, the MSC is actually considering certifying reduction fisheries, with the consequence that Wal-Mart, for example, will be able to sell farmed salmon shining with the ersatz glow of sustainability. (Given the devastating pollution, diseases, and parasite infestations that have plagued salmon farms in Chile, Canada, and other countries, this ‘Wal-Mart strategy’ will, in the long term, make the MSC complicit to a giant scam),” he wrote.

FYI, here are other fisheries hit by the MSC

“The Atlanto Scandian herring fishery is PFA’s third fishery to achieve MSC certification: its North Sea herring and its North East Atlantic mackerel fisheries were certified in 2006 and in 2009.” – FIS reported on July 8.

Others include Alaska flatfish, Eastern Canada swordfish, Norwegian cod and haddock, North Pacific albacore tuna, and the Aker BioMarine krill (Euphausia superba) fishery has been in the Antarctic waters of the Southern Ocean.

So what can you do?

Here are some neat recommendations (except for the MSC one).

Keep up the fight!

Peru and Brazil signed a pact last month to build six hydroelectric dams in the Peruvian Amazon — and the indigenous peoples in Peru as well as the environment will have to suffer the calamitous consequences.

Populations will be displaced and ecosystems disrupted if these projects are realized, environmentalists say.

Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and Peruvian President Alan García signed the pact in question.

Peru has thus committed to deliver a permanent percentage of electricity to Brazil for 30 years. Also, if anyone wants to back down, this will only be possible 15 years into the agreement, according to Peruvian Energy Vice Minister Daniel Cámac. The idea is that Peru will get all the electricity it needs out of the deal, although it hasn’t yet decided how much it will require.

But not everyone thinks this makes sense.

“What is the point of signing a pact without having determined if this is what we need as a country?” asked lawyer César Gamboa, director of the NGO Law, Environment and Natural Resources (DAR). “Why don’t we conduct the studies before we make commitments we can’t back out of?”

The idea of the pact, born in 2006, is to generate 6,000 megavolts (mv) (note: 1 mv = 1 million volts) through the construction of generators in Peruvian turf that will prioritize internal supply and allow for the sale of surplus energy to Brazil, the official version goes.

On the other hand, engineer Alfredo Novoa says this is BS. The director of the NGO ProNaturaleza said,

“Peru doesn’t need energy projects in the Amazon to cover its demand. There is a 22,000 mv potential in the Andes and thousands more along the coast. Why more?”

Professor of the Institute of Electrical Engineering and Energy at the University of Saão Paulo Célio Bermann said the plants won’t meet Peru’s energy needs. Further, the agreement will irrevocably harm the Peruvian Amazon’s ecosystems.

“Yet the energy that will be produced will serve the interest of international and Brazilian mining, and metallurgy companies that are ever-expanding in the Amazon. The power will not go to meet the needs of everyday Peruvians or Brazilians,” he stated.

Moreover, it is still unclear where these generators will be built – it may happen in the Andes instead of the Amazon, Cámac told.

Oy.

Two problems

Asháninka

Mariano Castro, former executive secretary of the Peruvian National Environment Council and lawyer with the Peruvian Society of Environmental Rights (SPDA), said the dams will not ensure clean and renewable energy for Peru.

“On the contrary, it will impose a series of negative environmental and social impacts such as displacement of indigenous people and deforestation in at least five departments of Peru, putting at grave risk the future of the Peruvian Amazon,” Castro said.

One of the controversial projects is to take place in the Inambari River, located in the Amazonian limits of the Cusco, Madre de Dios and Puno regions in the southeastern part of Peru. This would be the largest hydroelectric plant in the country and the fifth-largest in Latin America.

The other is the Paquitzapango Project in the Ene River in Junín, home of the indigenous asháninka population.

Three other projects exist in the pact. The building of all five entails an investment of between USD 13.5 million and USD 16.5 million.

A more important cost will be that paid by the indigenous peoples. More than 4,000 inhabitants of the Inambari region and up to 10,000 in Paquitzapango would be displaced. To make matters worse, the unfortunate asháninka of Paquitzapango were already displaced during the internal Peruvian armed conflict of 1980-2000.

Peru’s greenhouse gas emissions are set to rise by 5.9% as a result of the project.

Love your beaches

On Monday, June 10, we celebrated World Ocean Day 2010.

On June 26, you can head to your local beach and join hands to oppose offshore drilling and endorse renewable energy. Look up Hands Across the Sand events near you or email everyone in your area and start one up in your community! And don’t worry if you’re not in the U.S. — the event is taking place across the globe!

Read more about the event here.

Be sure to travel green

Remember to do your part and be eco-friendly, whether at the beach or anywhere you travel.

Going on a road trip? Read this.

And if you’re planning to get married, remember that coastal weddings are a no-no!

Further, if you’re looking for lodging, make sure you choose an eco hotel. Learn about eco hotel certifications here.

And finally –

The top 10 U.S. beaches

For the past 20 years, a coastal scholar known as Dr. Beach has compiled a list of the best beaches in the country. Dr. Stephen P. Leatherman is the director of the Laboratory for Coastal Research at Florida International University.

He uses 50 criteria to evaluate the nation’s beaches, including water and sand quality, beach width and environmental management, according to CNN.

Cape Florida Lighthouse at Bill Baggs Cape Florida State Park, Key Biscayne, Florida.

Here’s the list:

1. Coopers Beach in Southampton, New York

2. Siesta Beach in Sarasota, Florida

3. Coronado Beach in San Diego, California

4. Cape Hatteras in the Outer Banks of North Carolina

5. Main Beach in East Hampton, New York

6. Kahanamoku Beach in Waikiki, Oahu, Hawaii

7. Coast Guard Beach in Cape Cod, Massachusetts

8. Beachwalker Park in Kiawah Island, South Carolina

9. Hamoa Beach in Maui, Hawaii

10. Cape Florida State Park in Key Biscayne, Florida

By the way, I have been to Siesta Beach (#2) and I can attest that it is amazing! It’s got sand like flour and warm, luscious waters. Hopefully it will remain unscathed by the oil spill currently taking over the Gulf of Mexico…

If spring is coming up for you (and you’re not near the Gulf) enjoy the beach!

Many companies tout their hotels as eco, but – as one might, unfortunately, expect – many companies also lie.

So how do you know if the place you’re thinking of staying at during your next vacation is really an eco hotel?

A great resource is EcoHotelology, a blog written by Holly Worton, who has 11 years of experience in the eco hotel industry. Although her blog’s main purpose is to help hoteliers learn how they can green their business (and home and office), Worton’s posts are helpful for anyone interested in expanding her or his knowledge about eco hotels and greening one’s lifestyle.

13 tell-tale signs that you’re dealing with an eco hotel:

• The rooms have a door-key-card-controlled electricity system that allows guests to turn off the electricity to their room by removing their card when they exit it
• Having green options offered to you, such as foregoing daily housekeeping
• Recycling services
• Low flow or dual flush toilets and low flow showerheads in the bathrooms
• Vegetarian meal options (and I don’t just mean spaghetti and salad. Give me something I can use!)
• The food is grown or produced locally, perhaps grown in an organic garden located on the premises
• Mindful ecotours/safaris – this means hummers are not used to drive guests around, nor ATVs; people are not allowed to speak or photograph in the presence of wildlife, and so on. Otherwise, it’s just a regular, nature-unfriendly tour/safari, and nature has enough hostility to deal with from us as it is.
• Only pasture-raised animal products are offered in its restaurants
• Only native plants are used in the landscaping
• Organic massage oils and all-natural products are used in the spa
• Wall dispensers provide shampoo, etc., instead of individual bottles and individually wrapped soaps
• The eco hotel uses renewable energy (solar, wind, tidal, geothermal, etc.)
• Hybrid cars are used to transport guests and you can rent bicycles to get around the area

If you can rent bikes to get around, you may be in good hands.

5 signs that your eco hotel isn’t:

• The hotel contains a golf course
• The hotel endorses fishing, dolphin swims, visits to zoos, the use of jet skis and other personal water crafts, bonfires, hunting, etc.
• You see foie gras on the menu
• Food or drinks are brought to you in disposable containers and/or you get aluminum foil, plastic wrap, Styrofoam coffee cups or plastic utensils with your order
• You get mineral water in plastic bottles

Make sure to speak up and let the manager, etc., know you aren’t happy with their false advertising or any unsustainable aspects of the so-called eco hotel. And if the place is truly an eco hotel, feel free to inform them how glad you are about their eco-friendly services!

And always remember to do your part to travel green. We are all responsible for taking care of our planet!

The United Nations (UN) is celebrating World Ocean Day on Tuesday, June 8^th with the theme ‘Our oceans: opportunities and challenges.’

The celebration was instituted just last year and since then has been commemorated annually by conservation groups, schools, businesses and governments everywhere.

Check out this year’s events here and find more info on World Ocean Day at The Ocean Project.

Reasons to celebrate World Ocean Day

Given the recent and very-much-ongoing BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, it’s an especially wonderful time to raise awareness about the oceans’ plights and learn how we can “make a difference” (or a phrase that doesn’t make you gag).

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moo said the ocean’s main three challenges right now are overfishing, climate change and pollution.

World Ocean Day allows us to:

• Change perspective: encourage others to consider what the ocean represents to them and our planet, which hopefully will get more people interested in respecting and working to preserve it for generations to come.
• Learn: read about and watch documentaries on marine life and the richness of life in our oceans, visit the beach, etc., – whatever you feel will allow you to bond with our planet’s natural bodies of water.
• Make adjustments: educate yourself about endangered marine species (e.g., bluefin and other types of tuna, swordfish, skates and rays, marlin, Atlantic cod and orange roughy) so you can cross that seafood off your shopping list – and remember to tell others why you’re switching! (Check out Greenpeace’s Seafood Red List here.) You can also read up on which supermarkets shun unsustainable seafood (so you can shop there), biodegradable pesticides and fertilizers for your backyard, wear biodegradable sunscreen, etc.
• Celebrate: take part in the day’s festivities! For instance, write a letter to BP about the catastrophe it’s caused in the Gulf of Mexico and take part in demonstrations and sign petitions against oil drilling.

Atlantic cod is an endangered species

The UN resolution

The UN resolution calls on user States and States bordering straits utilized for international navigation to keep working together to resolve issues regarding navigation safety, e.g., aids to navigation safety and the prevention, reduction and control of pollution generated by ships and other vessels.

Countries are being urged to consider becoming members of the International Hydrographic Organization, and to cooperate with that organization to boost the coverage of hydrographic information across the planet.

These orders are meant to strengthen technical assistance and promote navigation safety, particularly in areas of international navigation, ports and vulnerable or protected marine zones.

“The oceans play a fundamental role in our daily lives. They are an integral part of sustainable development and an important frontier for research. As scientists explore the oceans to increasing depths, they continue to discover new forms of marine life,” said Ki-moo.

“These investigations have great potential with regards to the improvement of human welfare. But if we are to benefit fully from what the oceans have to offer, we must address the harmful effects of human activities. The diversity of life in the oceans is under increasing pressure,” he added.

Ki-moo said marine ecosystems are being threatened by three major phenomena:

• The overexploitation of living marine resources;
• Climate change;
• Pollution from activities involving materials and hazards.

“The same applies to the increase in criminal activities, including piracy, which have serious implications for safety of navigation and the protection of seafarers,” he noted.

Going green is cheap and it can even save you money. (So even if you don’t care about the environment, you have some robust motivation to get you going!)

One way to go green is to kill all your electricity vampires. Just wear necklaces made from raw garlic. All day.

All right, I’m only kidding — there are certainly more efficient ways to fend off vampires!

Vampire power, and how to pound a stake through its heart

You see those little red lights flashing after you turn your TV, cell phone, computer, etc., off? That’s electricity being used up! This is called “standby power” or “vampire power” and it sucks up a yearly 5% of household electricity use in the U.S. (read: $10 billion) and 10-15% in Japan, Germany, and the Netherlands, according to the EPA. A real – and fully preventable! – shame.

Turn off and unplug all electronics when not in use. To simplify this task, you can plug all cords into a switchable power strip and turn it off to get all appliances in one go.

Track your energy vampires:

• Power supplies and transformers
• VCR/DVD players and certain audio systems
• Some home video game consoles
• TVs and set-top boxes
• Microwaves
• Computers, digital monitors, fax machines, and printers
• Remote-operated AC systems
• Devices featuring “instant on” functions
• Devices with a stand-by light or clock, e.g., alarms you have to plug into the wall (you might only want to unplug these when you’re going away for a few days)
• Power adapters/battery chargers, regardless of whether they are powering a device (used for digital cameras, cell phones, etc. – always unplug them when you’re finished charging your device!)

Read more about which appliances suck up power here.

When available, always do your best to replace energy suckers such as dishwashers, electric ovens, AC, and water heaters with energy efficient alternatives.

And don’t be fooled by computer screen savers – they aren’t saving you any power!

A lot of people think going vegetarian – and vegan, especially – and being ecologically conscious would put a strain on their wallets.

But are these people right?

Let’s take a look at veganism (a diet and lifestyle that eschews all animal and animal-derived food and products, such as honey, gelatin, milk, fish, and leather).

Many believe being vegan is expensive – after all, Whole Foods will rip your head off, and so will living off pricey meat substitutes like Tofurky and coconut milk frozen desserts (which is a true shame considering how delicious they are!).

But do you really need to incorporate such costly products into your vegan diet?

The answer is a hearty no, you don’t!

A varied diet rich in whole grains, legumes, vegetables, fruits, seeds, nuts, herbs, and so on is all you need. Granted, seeds and nuts have never been cheap, but you need only consume them sparingly, and economical all-natural peanut butter (just peanuts and salt, with no hydrogenated vegetable oils, sugar, or any other pernicious ingredients) counts big time.

Vegan patties with potatoes and salad

Buy in bulk

A key tip: the more [non-perishable] products you buy in bulk, the more money you will save. This goes for all types of rice, beans, grains, seeds, nuts, dried fruits, pasta, and so on.

Also, don’t even think about buying organic.

Educate yourself

The trick is to educate yourself to make sure you’re giving your body all the necessary nutrients to substitute an omnivorous diet. And, no, pasta and salad alone will not do — it’s these kinds of vegans that give the rest a bad rep and make omnivores think veganism is the unhealthiest diet they’ve ever heard of!

Sticky vegan cinnamon rolls

Educating yourself need not be expensive. You can take out library books, read copious information online (this is a favorite source of mine), and watch online documentaries (try conducting a search on Google video) — all for free. This is also how you can find myriad recipes (try going here, here, and here).

Cosmetics, toiletries, cleaning agents, etc.

Being vegan also entails shunning products tested on animals and those including animal by-products like casein and gelatin. But there are cheap alternatives to the luxurious green products (e.g., those made by Burt’s Bees and The Body Shop) advertised everywhere you look. For example, Revlon, Avon, Bonne Bell, Jane and CVS Brand products are all cheaper as well as animal-friendly.

Here is a guide to companies that test and don’t test their products on animals to get you started (yes, it’s by PETA, but trust me: even though they do asinine things sometimes, they also do a lot of good and provide plenty of useful educational literature, such as this guide). You can order a free pocket guide to take with you to the store here.

A note on B-12

Because modern agriculture has made it so difficult for us to get vitamin B-12 from produce, it is highly recommended that vegans take B-12 supplements (or just get a multivitamin – good for you anyway! – that includes this nutrient).

Remember

The widespread misconception that greening your habits is expensive keeps many people – too many! – from making the switch to a vegan diet. The largely white and upper-middle class crowd and Whole Foods culture doesn’t help, of course. Just remember: you don’t have to go that route!