AutoWeek Magazine Celebrates the Future of Green Vehicles for Earth Day
In this year’s special Earth Day issue, AutoWeek editors take a look at the latest vehicles, including a star of the Geneva motor show, the Giugiaro Namir
AutoWeek published its first issue devoted entirely to the subject of “green” automobiles 19 years ago. Today, AutoWeek remains the automotive authority, continuing this legacy with its special Earth Day issue on April 20, 2009. The special issue includes coverage of Italdesign-Giugiaro’s Namir, as well as first drives of the Chevrolet Cruze, Honda FCX Clarity, and the All-New Toyota Prius.
“The automotive industry is gearing up for a greener tomorrow, releasing several alternatives to reduce our carbon footprint,” said Dutch Mandel, editor and associate publisher of AutoWeek. “People need to be educated regarding the various green choices entering the market, their costs and long-term affects. Our Earth Day special issue provides them with the latest information on what’s out there.”
The April 20, 2009, issue includes:
Green Means Go
- One of the stars of this year’s Geneva motor show, the Namir points the way to a responsible generation’s supercar — and sets out to prove the technology for its mass production cars, too. Italdesign-Giugiaro creates the Frazer-Nash Namir, a series hybrid that can top 187 mph and produces only a small amount of carbon emissions.
Focused on the Future
- A look inside four Southern California companies that are on the cutting edge of what could become a major electric-car industry. There are research houses staffed by PhDs, small shops converting hybrids into plug-in hybrids and working garages winding electric motors, AutoWeek gives you an in-depth look into each of them.
Hydrogen Hang-Up
- Honda’s FCX Clarity is state-of-the-art, but where and how do you get all of the hydrogen needed to power the car? AutoWeek spends the better part of a week in the hydrogen fuel-cell vehicle and we have to say, it is leaps and bounds beyond the science experiments that represented the first few rounds of fuel cells we remember from 20 or so years ago.
AutoWeek is committed to the green movement as it continues its online coverage year-round. More information, as well as information on how to obtain a copy of this year’s Earth Day issue, is available at autoweek.com.
AutoWeek is a fortnightly automotive-enthusiast publication based out of Detroit, Michigan, and is one of more than 30 titles published by Crain Communications Inc. Through its print and online products, the AutoWeek brand is symbolic of core automotive passion. It is a must read for those who live the automotive lifestyle. AutoWeek delivers by-the-minute news to autoweek.com while taking an in-depth look at the enthusiast world in the primarily subscription-based magazine. AutoWeek provides readers with more information more often, giving them their car fix before the other guys even start their engines.
Source: AutoWeek
What You Can Do About Overpopulation: CAPS Offers Nine Things to Talk About on Earth Day
Since Earth Day 2008, an estimated 80 million people have been added to the planet. That’s approximately 150 people a minute, or about 6.6 million people every month. Think of it as adding a city roughly the size of Chicago, Hong Kong or Hyderabad, India — every single month.
World population now is 6.8 billion. This growth in human population, coupled with unprecedented human activity, use of natural resources and rapid economic growth, is unsustainable. That’s the bad news.
The good news is that fertility has been declining in most countries recently. However, Africa continues to experience very high fertility, with some African countries averaging more than seven children per woman. Other countries with a high TFR (total fertility rate) off-the-charts are Afghanistan (7.07), Yemen (6.32), Paraguay (3.75) and Pakistan (3.60), as well as ultra-Orthodox communities within Israel where the TFR may be as high as 8.
But the bad news on top of bad news is that the high birth rates persist in countries with high poverty and illiteracy, poor health care and female inequality. And even though some countries are experiencing fertility rates lower than in the past, the planet nonetheless is still on an unsustainable trajectory. More must be done to decrease high fertility rates in the less developed world.
“In the United States, we’re importing unsustainable population by failing to enforce our immigration laws; on top of that, we’re proposing amnesty for illegal aliens which will impact our growth for years to come because of ‘chain’ migration. Under present policy immigrants can sponsor, in addition to minor children, spouses and parents, their sisters and brothers, who with their spouses, can then bring in their extended families and all adult children,” said Diana Hull, Ph.D., President of Californians for Population Stabilization (CAPS).
“We want to bring needed focus on Earth Day to the problem of overpopulation — here in California, as well as in the U.S. and the world. Clearly it is at the root of most of our environmental problems,” added Hull. “From wildlife habitat loss and water shortages to congested roads and suburban sprawl, overpopulation is a major negative for our quality of life.”
To encourage more discussion on the impacts of overpopulation, CAPS offers these suggestions on Earth Day:
1. Educate yourself about the impacts of overpopulation in your community, your country and the world. Consider how the news behind the headlines (a new housing development, an amnesty for illegal aliens, water shortages) can be traced directly to population growth.
2. Write a letter to the editor of your local newspaper, favorite online news site or blog about the impacts of overpopulation on the environment — educate others about how big a problem this is and why it must be addressed.
3. Volunteer or contribute to nonprofit organizations that work on overpopulation issues at the state, national or global levels.
4. Contact your legislators and let them know that you want immigration laws enforced and do not support an amnesty that will add millions of people to an already overpopulated United States. Amnesty will increase population by encouraging even more immigration. Consider that at least 98 percent of California’s present growth is from direct immigration and births to immigrants
5. Initiate a discussion with friends, family and colleagues about overpopulation. You might begin by asking what they think will happen to America if the population continues to double every two or three generations.
6. Keep your population facts at hand for discussion. For instance, the population increased four times between AD 1 and 1830 from an estimated 230 million to 1 billion. A six fold rise to 6.8 billion has occurred in the 180 years since.
7. Ask environmental organizations to be sure to include information in their literature on how overpopulation impacts the issues they’re concerned about.
8. Support policy changes that will have a positive impact on a sustainable country, including ending birthright citizenship and decreasing government incentives for having more than two children.
9. Advocate for improving education and governance in developing countries.
Source: Californians for Population Stabilization
PRECYCLING: The Trend for This Earth Day
Make Soda at Home – Eliminate Waste, Travel Emissions
Eco-Consumers Can Go Green, Save Green with Sodastream at Kohl’s, Williams-Sonoma, Sodastream.com
More and more people are avoiding bottled water and now you can also reduce — or even eliminate — soda bottles and cans. Just in time for Earth Day, Sodastream has brought its revolutionary line of home soda makers to retail locations nationwide, including all Kohl’s and Williams-Sonoma stores, bringing PRECYCLING to a national level.
PRECYCLING — eliminating waste at its source — is the new trend this Earth Day, and it’s even better for the environment than recycling. According to the Container Recycling Institute, about 70% of soda and water bottles do NOT get recycled. Most of the waste ends up in landfills or in the ocean.
By making soda at home, you can eliminate the roughly 600 bottles and cans of carbonated beverages the average American consumes each year. The compact and portable home soda maker uses no batteries or electricity, making it a highly energy efficient small appliance. Using a Sodastream soda maker, Americans can cut the waste and travel emissions that come with every sparkling water and soda bottle or can.
“For Earth Day this year, we can all make small choices that have a big impact on the health of our planet. If just 1% of Americans used a Sodastream home soda maker — we’d save over 180 billion bottles and cans from the waste stream each year,” said David Rachlin, North America CEO of Sodastream. “Make every day Earth Day by making soda and sparkling water at home! You’ll eliminate waste and pollution, and save some money, too,” he added.
Sodastream’s growing success is due in part to the environmental benefits of its products. Some imported sparkling waters travel thousands of miles to reach the United States, an environmental absurdity, and even soda has to travel by truck to reach the store. This Earth Day, Americans can embrace the Sodastream solution and actively reduce the environmental cost of carbonated beverages.
And there’s a money savings, as well. Using Sodastream, sparkling water costs about 20 cents per liter, and soda costs about 20 cents per can, a significant savings compared to store-bought beverages.
A Sodastream soda maker makes fresh, fizzy sparkling water and soda in under 30 seconds. The soda maker adds carbonation from CO2 carbonators into the water you would drink in reusable BPA-free plastic or glass bottles. Each cylinder carbonates up to 60 liters of soda. When empty, the cylinders are sent back to Sodastream to be cleaned, inspected, refilled and reused. Sodastream makes over 25 sodamix flavor concentrates including regular flavors without high-fructose corn syrup, and diet flavors sweetened with Splenda. The unique technology used to concentrate the flavors reduces packaging and travel emissions: each bottle can turn 12 liters of freshly-made sparkling water into delicious soda.
To learn more about Sodastream’s environmental benefits or purchase online, visit www.sodastream.com.