Why Go Green

Green politics

Green politics is a political ideology which places a high importance on ecological and environmental goals, and on achieving these goals through broad-based, grassroots, participatory democracy. Green politics is advocated by supporters of the Green movement, which has been active through Green parties in many nations since the early 1980s. The political term Green, a translation of the German Grün, was coined by die Grünen, the first successful Green party, formed in the late 1970s. The term political ecology is sometimes used in Europe and in academic circles. Supporters of Green politics, called Greens, share many ideas with the ecology, conservation, environmental, feminist, and peace movements. In addition to democracy and ecological issues, green politics is concerned with civil liberties, social justice and nonviolence.

Forest

A forest is an area with a high density of trees. There are many definitions of a forest, based on various criteria. These plant communities cover approximately 9.4% of the Earth's surface (or 30% of total land area) and function as habitats for organisms, hydrologic flow modulators, and soil conservers, constituting one of the most important aspects of the Earth's biosphere. Historically, "forest" meant an uncultivated area legally set aside for hunting by feudal nobility, and these hunting forests were not necessarily wooded much if at all (see Royal Forest). However, as hunting forests did often include considerable areas of woodland, the word forest eventually came to mean wooded land more generally. A woodland is ecologically distinct from a forest. Forests can be found in all regions capable of sustaining tree growth, at altitudes up to the tree line, except where natural fire frequency is too high, or where the environment has been impaired by natural processes or by human activities. As a general rule, forests dominated by angiosperms (broadleaf forests) are more species-rich than those dominated by gymnosperms (conifer, montane, or needleleaf forests), although exceptions exist. Forests sometimes contain many tree species within a small area (as in tropical rain and temperate deciduous forests), or relatively few species over large areas (e.g., taiga and arid montane coniferous forests). Forests are often home to many animal and plant species, and biomass per unit area is high compared to other vegetation communities. Much of this biomass occurs below ground in the root systems and as partially decomposed plant detritus.

Go Green

Grow Oxygen

Plants breathe in carbon dioxide and breathe out oxygen! Which is probably why some people think that it helps to talk to your plant from time to time. Photosynthesis is a metabolic pathway that converts light energy into chemical energy. Its initial substrates are carbon dioxide and water; the energy source is sunlight (electromagnetic radiation); and the end-products are oxygen and (energy-containing) carbohydrates, such as sucrose, glucose or starch. This process is one of the most important biochemical pathways, since nearly all life on Earth either directly or indirectly depends on it as a source of energy. It is a complex process occurring in plants, algae, as well as bacteria such as cyanobacteria. Photosynthetic organisms are also referred to as photoautotrophs.

Rainforests

Rainforests are forests characterized by high rainfall, with definitions setting minimum normal annual rainfall between 1750–2000 mm (68-78 inches). Rainforests are home to two-thirds of all the living animal and plant species on Earth. It has been estimated that many hundreds of millions of species of plants, insects and microorganisms are still undiscovered. Tropical rainforests have been called the "jewels of the Earth," and the "world's largest pharmacy," because of the large number of natural medicines discovered there. The undergrowth in a rainforest is restricted in many areas by the lack of sunlight at ground level. This makes it possible to walk through the forest. If the leaf canopy is destroyed or thinned, the ground beneath is soon colonized by a dense, tangled growth of vines, shrubs and small trees called a jungle.

Green

Green is a color, the perception of which is evoked by light having a spectrum dominated by energy with a wavelength of roughly 520–570-nm. In the subtractive color system, it is not a primary color, but is created out of a mixture of yellow and blue, or yellow and cyan; it is considered one of the additive primary colors. On the HSV color wheel, the complement of green is magenta; that is, a purple color corresponding to an equal mixture of red and blue light. On a color wheel based on traditional color theory (RYB), the complementary color to green is considered to be red. The word green is closely related to the Old English verb growan, “to grow”. It is used to describe plants or the ocean. Sometimes it can also describe someone who is inexperienced, jealous, or sick.

Green computing

Green computing is the study and practice of using computing resources efficiently. Typically, technological systems or computing products that incorporate green computing principles take into account the so-called triple bottom line of economic viability, social responsibility, and environmental impact. This differs somewhat from traditional or standard business practices that focus mainly on the economic viability of a computing solution. These focuses are similar to those of green chemistry; reduction of the use of hazardous materials such as lead at the manufacturing stage, maximized energy efficiency during the product's term of use, and recyclability or biodegradability of both a defunct product and of any factory waste.

A typical green computing solution attempts to address some or all of these factors by implementing environmentally friendly products in an efficient system. For example, an IT manager might purchase Electronic Products Environmental Assessment Tool (EPEAT)-approved hardware combined with a thin client solution. As compared to a traditional desktop PC configuration, such a configuration would probably reduce IT maintenance-related activities, extend the useful life of the hardware, and allow for responsible recycling of the equipment past its useful life. Wiki Green computing An open industry standard called Advanced Configuration and Power Interface (ACPI) provides a standard programming interface that allows an operating system to directly control the power saving aspects of the hardware. This allows the system to automatically turn off components such as monitors and hard drives after set periods of inactivity. In addition, a system may hibernate, in which it turns off nearly all components, including the CPU and the system RAM, greatly reducing the system's electricity usage. To resume from this state, some components, such as the keyboard, network interface card, and USB ports may remain powered, to receive input from the user. ACPI itself is a successor to an earlier Intel-Microsoft standard called Advanced Power Management, which allows a computer's BIOS to control power management functions.

In the absence of ACPI or APM support, some external components, such as computer displays, printers, scanners, speakers, and hard drives may be turned off manually when not in use. In this state, though the external periphals may be off, the main system continues to consume electricity. To minimize the impact, the system could run file sharing software or volunteer computing software, donating its resources to a long-term project.

Some software programs allow the user to manually adjust the voltages supplied to the CPU, essentially reducing the amount of electricity used by the CPU while it's on and powered. Since many CPUs have "safety-nets" on either side of the spectrum (+/- the voltage parameters of a given CPU), one is able to reduce the amount of volts the processor uses, hence reducing both the amount of heat produced and the amount of electricity consumed. Some CPUs from Intel Corporation and AMD, particularly those intended for use in laptops, have technology to automatically adjust the processor voltages depending on the workload. This technology is called "SpeedStep" with intel processors, "PowerNow!"/"Cool'n'Quiet" with AMD chips, LongHaul with VIA CPUs, and LongRun with Transmeta processors. In 2007, Intel Corporation released a utility called PowerTOP, which measures and reports on a PC's power consumption. This utility is available only for PCs running a Linux operating system.

Mammoth Lakes is a town in Mono County, California, the county's only incorporated community. Mammoth Lakes resides on the edge of the Long Valley Caldera. The area around the town is geologically active, with hot springs and rhyolite domes that are less than 1000 years old. Visitors can take State Route 203 from the town of Mammoth Lakes to the Mammoth Mountain Ski Area, over Minaret Summit, then down to Devil's Postpile National Monument, with access to the Ansel Adams Wilderness. The area has natural hot springs, which used after skiing and hiking. Other features include lakes, a soda springs, and an obsidian dome. Mammoth Lakes is north of the Owens Valley, a scenic area with extensive hiking opportunities. The town surrounded by mountains: on the west, Mammoth Mountain looms over the town, while to the south; the Sherwin Range dominates the view. This hilly terrain and the high altitude makes the area great for high-altitude athletic training. The Mammoth Lakes real estate market has gone through difficulties over the past few decades. In 1980, an earthquake with magnitude of 6.1 on the Richter scale sent area property values plummeting. A huge real estate surplus formed after this, Mammoth Lakes had over 1200 properties on the market. The development of Mammoth Mountain ski area has had a direct effect on housing in more recent years. The tourist market has led to an explosion of property values. Mammoth Lakes is in the Mammoth Unified School District, which has its main office in town. An elementary school and the Mammoth High School are located in Mammoth Lakes. Mammoth Lakes also has a public library.