On This Week's Show: Saturday, February 19

Children in Multi-Unit Housing at Greater Risk of Tobacco Smoke Exposure

Mark Gottlieb, Executive Director for the Public Health Advocacy Institute, will discuss how children exposed to secondhand tobacco smoke are at greater risk for a variety of illnesses, even at very low levels of exposure. A new study from the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) Julius B. Richmond Center, the University of Rochester Medical Center, and MassGeneral Hospital for Children is the first to show significant evidence of increased tobacco smoke exposure in the blood of children who live in multi-unit housing, even if no one smokes in their unit. Key findings include:

• Children living in multi-unit homes had a 45 percent increase in cotinine levels compared with children who live in detached homes.
• From the lowest detectable to the highest levels of cotinine tested, a greater proportion of children in multi-unit housing were found positive for smoke exposure than children in other housing types. This increase could be caused by smoke seeping through walls or shared ventilation systems.
• Smoking bans in multi-unit housing may reduce children’s exposure to tobacco smoke.

Fracking + GASLAND the movie

Josh Fox, the documentary director, joins us to discuss what is fracking and how is it a threat to drinking water? This remarkable film is about the largest domestic natural gas-drilling boom in history has swept across the United States. The Halliburton-developed drilling technology of "fracking" or hydraulic fracturing has unlocked a "Saudia Arabia of natural gas" just beneath us. But is fracking safe? When filmmaker Josh Fox is asked to lease his land for drilling, he embarks on a cross-country odyssey uncovering a trail of secrets, lies and contamination. A recently drilled nearby Pennsylvania town reports that residents are able to light their drinking water on fire. This is just one of the many absurd and astonishing revelations of a new country called GASLAND. Part verite travelogue, part expose, part mystery, part bluegrass banjo meltdown, part showdown.

On This Week's Show: February 5, 2011

Scott Brusaw, Founder and Inventor of Solar Roadways

Imagine streets paved with solar panels. This is the dream of Scott Brusaw. He has discovered an efficient method of restoring and covering up damaged roads with an innovative surface material that could even adapt to changing traffic patterns and conditions. Plus, the system is environmental: clean electricity, eliminates runoff and the need to burn oil.

Dr. G will talk to Scott about his plan to blanket our streets with electric roads, which could lead to the end of our dependency on fossil fuels of any kind.

Eventually, Scott believes electric roads infused by the sun will deliver power — and broadband — to our homes, charge the batteries on our electric cars and eliminate all need for coal and gas. If every street, driveway and parking lot were replaced with Solar Roadways, it would supply three times more energy as the entire country needs and create 2.5 million jobs in assembly alone.

Visit Scott’s website: SolarRoadways.com

About Scott:

Scott is an electrical engineer (MSEE) with over 20 years of industry experience. This includes serving as the Director of Research and Development at a manufacturing facility in Ohio (developing their line of products for over 12 years), a voting member of NEMA (National Electrical Manufacturers Association), and developing several networked control systems from the ground up. Scott has multiple patents and his hardware and software have been sold internationally. Scott is also an ex-Marine Corps sergeant, a former Cub Scout Cubmaster, a former Boy Scout Scoutmaster, Chairman of the Board of Directors of his church, has been active in home schooling, 4-H, children's sports coaching, and teaching Sunday School. His interests include religious studies, the Civil War, NFL football, spending time in the woods, and playing on his John Deere tractor.

Paul Steely White, Executive Director of Transportation Alternatives

Dr. G welcomes Paul Steely White from Transportation Alternatives to discuss President Obama’s State of Union and the debate over trains.

Transportation Alternatives is involved in every aspect of traveling around New York City. From bike routes and bus lanes to pedestrian crossings and car parking, we’re fighting for safer, smarter transportation and a healthier city. When Transportation Alternatives was founded in 1973, New York City’s cycling population was a fifth of what it is now and the number of pedestrians killed each year by cars was more than twice as high. Since then, Transportation Alternatives has been laying the paving stones of a safer city – pedestrian plazas, parking-protected bike lanes, the very philosophy of the livable street – and pushing city agencies and elected officials to introduce this innovation into the urban landscape. Transportation Alternatives sees New York City as a web of streets and green spaces that viewed as a whole, are the foundation of a city with a greater quality of life. The goal of Transportation Alternatives is to make the streets of New York City better, and mile by mile, acre upon acre, we are shaping an unsurpassed urban landscape and envisioning a brighter way to travel.

Visit Transportation Alternatives website: www.transalt.org

Photo credits:

http://www.switched.com/2010/09/26/citizen-scientist-designs-self-sustaining-solar-street-sheets/

http://www.envirowarrior.com/roads-paved-with-gold/

http://www.observer.com/node/36665

Could you turn your backyard into a CSA?

Greener Living welcomes Steven Wynbrandt to the show.

Steve is a urban farmer who has created a french-intensive, biodynamic starting an edible gardening company in LA. He has transformed his 3,000 square ft. childhood backyard in West L.A., from a shaded field of weeds and 50 foot trees into a sun-soaked, Bio-intensive, urban mini-farm. It’s just the beginning for the home of a CSA, an educational garden and an edible garden building company!

Can anyone become an urban farmer? Urban farming is the practice of growing and distributing produce to a village, town or city. People, like Steve, are turning to urban gardening for all sorts of reasons: it's healthy, economical, convenient and it's environmental.

The biointensive model of organic gardening that Steve is practicing focuses on maximum yields from a small plot of land. This type of agriculture also aims to improve the quality of the soil. The long term goal of biointensive gardening is sustainability. This model of gardening is successful on a small scale, but less successful for commercial farms who need larger amounts of produce in a short period of time.

Check out some beautiful pictures of the produce that was grown in Steve's backyard garden:

body politic is giving the green light to a new breed of shopping philosophy

Situated in the newest trendy neighborhood of South Main in Vancouver, sustainable style shop, body politic, is engineering a greener future in shopping. Destination shopping has come full circle. Not only does body politic carry the hottest independent eco and sustainable labels from coast to coast, but the true reason to travel to South Main is the urban design oriented aesthetic.

Owner Nicole Ritchie-Oseen edits her showcased collections to include a fresh mix of LA’s most well known green designers, like Stewart + Brown and Perfectly Imperfect, to the upcoming fresh faces of Vancouver’s eco scene, including Elroy and Noir bonbon. One thing is for sure, at body politic shoppers know they are not only making a conscious ecological choice to support local North American manufacturing, but also have confidence that all their purchases represent the sustainable, limitless design philosophy her shop was built upon.

Eco elements were added to the entire space while still maintaining much of the space’s design integrity; from the energy efficient lighting to the repurposed antique furniture pieces housing some of the boutiques accessories and adornments. The raw concrete walls help to balance out the vibrant light shining through the stores huge windows, while the neutral color fabrics and dark Mahogany wood help to subdue the vibrant colors and designs of the Spring/Summer 2010 collections.

Here’s an insider secret- take a trip down Main away from the over crowed shops to body politic for the personalized shopping and warm boutique atmosphere found nowhere else in the city. You will walk away from the experience with not only a eco friendly shopping bag full of fashionable finds (some exclusive to body politic), but just ask the owner what her best kept secret is….A few of her designers carried make pieces specifically for body politic (if you love a piece that you didn’t think came in an eco fabric alternative …think again, body politic may just have it). She has this special sort of relationship where many of her designers make green pieces specifically for her store to keep with the sound philosophy of its owner.

body politic is proving that green boutiques don’t have to be full of uninspired casual athletic wear, but can assert itself a major player in fashion’s big league. Owner Nicole Ritchie-Oseen says, “At body politic we began with the belief that sustainable and eco-friendly clothing didn’t mean sacrificing style. The goal was to fuel our absolute love of fashion and distinct style without compromising our environment, our community, or ourselves!”

Are walkable neighborhoods richer in social capital?

GREENER LIVING WITH DR. G

January 22, 2011

5-6 PM EST

Listen Live at CBS Hartford: WTIC News Talk 1080

On This Week's Show: John Halstead, Professor and Chair of Natural Resources, University of New Hampshire

Topic: Are walkable neighborhoods richer in social capital?

What we'll discuss on the show:

• What is a walkable neighborhood?
• What is social capital?
• Are people in walkable neighborhoods actually happier people?
• Which neighborhoods were studied?
• How can citizens create happier, healthier towns and cities?
• Does this research relate to bikeable and the movement for installing bikeways?
• What should someone do if they live someplace that is not so walkable? Walk anyway?
• Are walkable neighborhoods the vision for a greener future?

Join the conversation online! Do you or someone you know live in a walkable community? What's it like? Are you happy? Do you drive less? Tell us your story.

Photo credit: downtownrising.com