Environmentally Friendly Motor Oil?

This afternoon while working I had a rerun of CSI: NY on in the background and did not think much of it until I heard one of the characters identify the motor oil that leaked from a suspect’s cab as G Oil. The character went on to explain that it was an environmental option because it was created from animal by-products. I love watching crime shows to hear fancy words and learn what they are so when the flashy sounding G Oil was mentioned I looked away from the project I was working on to pay attention.

Like any good Greenie I wondered if this was real or something contrived for television so I went right to Google and sure enough the top result led me directly to Green Earth Technologies (GET) where I came upon a picture of the motor oil bottle just featured on the show. Not only that but they manufacture complete lines of Automotive, Lawn & Garden, Marine and Household cleaning products.

The company boasts on the website banner “Save the Earth. Sacrifice Nothing” and with the SM Certification this bio-based oil has received it seems they are proud to put their money where their mouth is; they are the only bio-based motor oil to have passed the test to receive the certification. In addition to the ability to provide optimum performance in all vehicle types, the oil is considered ultimate biodegradable, their bottles are created from 25 - 100% post consumer plastic, the bottles are recyclable and their labels are printed with water based ink on recycled paper.

Due to the fact that I have not used this product to personally attest to its performance, yet with all of these amazing eco-friendly advances the company is attempting I am going to grant GET and its environmentally friendly motor oil an initial Three Green Leaves!

The next time I have my oil changed I will consider looking into this innovative oil product.

Get Back, Jack

We all know about the benefits of sleep, it will recharge our little bodies to produce energy for our go-go lifestyles, but why are we forced to “gain” an hour of it in the fall only to subsequently “lose” an hour in the spring? Ah yes, the ever discussed, sometimes controversial, Daylight Savings Time (DST) clock change. Falling back to the actual standard time occurred last night (although technically this morning at two) but why do we do it? What possible benefit could it have to mess with our body clocks for a few days every six or so months?

Spring forward, fall back. We are probably all aware of the seemingly timeless expression by now. It may surprise people outside of Arizona, Puerto Rico, The Virgin Islands and Hawaii to learn that there is no federal mandate on states to implement this. Say what? That is right my friends, there is no one forcing us to collectively spring forward but we have been doing it on and off for the past ninety years as a way to ensure electric energy savings as well as a way to standardize the schedules of trains, which began to grow in frequency near the end of the nineteenth century.

To make sure that everyone could get to their train on time the concept of time had to be implemented and in 1883 a bunch of big wigs from the railroad deemed what we now know as time zones. Considering they were the most likely to benefit from standardized time, the oversight of this concept has remained with the Department of Transportation.

Now some may be asking -- OK, so that part about saving electricity, how does that factor in? Great question!

In general our body clock tells us that we should rise when it is light and sleep when it is dark. This is not to say that there are some who buck that trend, such as night shift workers, or vampires, but for the majority of us it rings true. In the fall it gets darker earlier so once the sun does set we are supposed to just go to bed. Consequently, in spring, we gain an hour on the clock (this is the DST by the way, fall is the “actual time”) so we have more natural light when the weather is getting warmer to get outside and enjoy nature instead of trapping ourselves indoors with our little boxes of wattage; gaining an hour of daylight will keep us from turning on those pesky energy sucking devices like computers, televisions and lights for another hour.

In theory it sounds wonderful but as our dependence on technology increases and focuses less on the world around us, it is fair to wonder -- is there still a notable savings in electricity usage? There certainly could be if we allow DST to do what it was designed for. We should all use it to its greatest advantage, ensure that it does create a marked difference, so make use of the extra hour of sunlight and read instead of watching television or take a vigorous evening stroll to see the last of the golden leaves.

So on Tuesday when everyone briskly walks to their local polling station to voice their own personal choice, please be mindful of the time of the setting sun. Be safe and bring a flashlight, lantern, glow stick or other means of attraction such as reflective stickers or flashing lights so passing cars will “hit” the polls, not our nation’s energy savers.

Putting My Mission Where My Mouth Is

Last night was this month’s meeting for my town’s Sustainable group that I discovered two days ago and we braved the dipping temperatures to take in what this committee is all about. None of us were disappointed and came out even more jazzed to do more! There were eleven of us in attendance at the meeting plus two guest speakers and other absent members were referenced as the night went on so it was clear this is a decent sized group with a common goal in mind.

That goal includes efforts such as Local First -- an initiative to promote the environmental and community building aspects of shopping for products and services in our own towns first, 150 Households -- an effort to encourage 150 residents to sign up for the New England Wind Fund which will allow for the town to garner one 2kW photovoltaic panel and The Energy Smackdown -- a contest including 3 town teams with ten families per town pledging to reduce energy consumption over a one year span. My brain was swimming in a sea of beautiful, algae free, carbon low, green water by the end of the meeting just thinking about the ability to get involved with some of these efforts as well as those proposed for the coming year’s focus.

At the end of the evening the Webmaster and I chatted about this blog and the fact that the committee website is receiving a major overhaul in the very near future. He asked if I would allow an RSS feed from here on the main website and also if I would be interested in doing some content rich article writing on pertinent local information. Um, hello of course I am interested! Yippie! It made me feel great to know that I can use my own area of talent to provide back to this amazing group.

As we drove back to my Mom’s to drop her off we all discussed some of the ways we are already making differences but also some of the things we do that, according to what we discussed during the evening, are not very sustainable and what the trade offs are for each choice we make. In the end all of us are committed to make a concerted effort in helping to protect the planet and that is what truly matters. It will be fun to get out there and become even more involved with our local community to further enhance those commitments.