I flew Jet Blue last night and when checking in I was happy to see a section on their website explaining what they’re doing to be more green!  I hope to see this from more airlines.  I know it is also a marketing thing but whatever!  Every little bit counts so I’m happy to know I’m flying an airline that is trying.

They have a link to carbon-offset your trip through carbonfund.org which is handy.

Here’s what else they say…

While we operate a new, fuel-efficient fleet, we continue to look for ways to safely reduce fuel burn and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Solutions include:

• Using one engine to taxi to and from runways
• Connecting the aircraft to ground power at the gate rather than using the engines to power air-conditioning, etc.
• Deploying state-of-the-art technology to develop efficient routings and reduce flying times
• Equipping our aircraft with winglets to increase fuel efficiency
• Installing lighter aircraft seats and LED lighting

JetBlue’s onboard experience is designed to give customers everything they need – such as friendly service and innovative amenities – and nothing they don’t. That means:

• Eliminating disposable headsets (starting June 2008) and encouraging customers to bring their own to enjoy our free inflight entertainment.
• Saving paper by not offering an inflight magazine

At our hometown airport, John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK), we strive to reduce and recycle waste generated both inside our terminal (T6) and on the tarmac, including:

• Recycling spent jet fuel and oil and oil/fuel filters. This allows us to recycle approximately 1,500 gallons of fuel and oil and some 600 pounds of steel, each month. We hope to expand this program to all our maintenance bases in the near future.
• Working with our concession providers to recycle or re-use cooking oils (not for human consumption)
• Using de-icing chemical reduction techniques to minimize the environmental impact. (We are approved to use state-of-the-art infra-red technology in de-icing to reduce de-icing fluid usage.)
• Reducing paper by eliminating paper tickets, ticket holders and large boarding documents and offering small, simple boarding passes.

Later this year, we’ll open Terminal 5, our brand new, environmentally friendly terminal at JFK. 

These are pretty cool – I’m excited for them to arrive in dealer lots.  Not sure how they could work for a city dweller like myself without a garage to charge it in though.  I doubt people would be too happy if I ran an extension cord out my front door and across the sidewalk to the car which would have to be parked in the bus stop!

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My absolute favorite shopping tote is from Resuable Bags.  The Reisenthel – Modern Grocery Tote is fabulous because it has 6 exterior pockets to hold things such as wine bottles, jars of spaghetti sauce, etc – they’re great for holding anything breakable.  It also has a removable zippered pouch attached to the inside.  This is a must have!

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My Delicious Lunch at Lemonade - L.A.

Last weekend I went back to Los Angeles to visit friends, enjoy the warmer weather and eat at all of my old favorite restaurants.  I did however try a new spot and am so glad I did.

Lemonade has three locations – on Beverly in West Hollywood (where I went!), on Flower downtown, on Abbot Kinney in Venice Beach.  There will soon be another at the MOCA!

The restaurant is super eco-friendly from what I could tell.  I suppose they could be more eco-friendly by using real plates and flatware for inside diners but since they use disposable they are good about using utencils that are bio-degradable, recycled paper bowls and plates and recyclable/bio-degradable cups and take out containers.

OK – to the important part – the FOOD and DRINKS!

I have to start with the LEMONADE of course!  I had the Rosemary Watermelon Lemonade and it was the most amazing thing!  They also had Cucumber Mint, Ginger Peach and Blueberry Mint (which my girlfriend got – also amazing!).  The lemonades are all very colorful, full of flavor and very refreshing.

As far as the actual food goes – I don’t even know where to begin.  First off there are PLENTY of VEGGIE options – so many in fact that I had a very difficult time making my selections.  I opted for the Red Top Turnip Soup, Roast Cauliflower with Golden Raisins, Almonds and Curry, and Avocado & Cherry Tomatoes with Pine Nuts in a Lime Vinaigrette.  Turnip Soup may sound bland and boring but I assure you it was full of flavor.  I’m a huge curry fan so the cauliflower was amazing – the adition of raisings added a sweet touch to this savory dish.  I will definitely try to replicated these dishes at home.  My friend Lesli had Israeli Couscous with Wild Mushrooms, Parmesan and Truffle Vinaigrette and something with cubed sweet potatoes but I can’t find it on their menue now – I tried both and they were fantastic.  I think she may have had the seared ahi as well along with a couple of other sides that I can’t recall.  She loved them all but one which was too much like cole-slaw, which she doesn’t like.

I love that the food is set up deli-style so you can try a little of several different items.

For meat eaters they have tons of different pot roasts which look so cute in their colorful LeCrueset roasting dishes.

To complete my meal I had a small red velvet cupcake. The size was perfect – not a full cupcake but not a one bite mini.  It was moist and delicious – much better than the one I had the day prior at Toast (sorry L.A. friends, but I’ve decided theirs are always too done and not moist enough for my liking).

If you live in Los Angeles put this at the top of your list of places to try.  If you don’t live in L.A. nor are you going to be visiting soon, check out their menu for ideas.  They give enough detail for each of the their marketplace sides that you could have a go at replicating them.

Since I’m a Michigan native I found this Time article interesting.  I’d love to see this happen!  Michigan is such a beautiful state.  These repurposed roads would ideally draw many more people to Michigan to enjoy our great summers on the lakeshore, fantastic fall colors and fun winter sports.

Off the Interstate: Turning ‘Blue Highways’ Green (Time)

Kim Gallagher has a plan for America’s “blue highways,” the thousands of miles of dusty, old, single-lane heritage routes that wend desolately through the countryside: turn them green. Superseded by high-speed interstates, many of these narrow byways have been long forgotten, along with the faded small towns they connect, says Gallagher, a project manager for the Southwest Michigan Planning Commission. But off-the-beaten-path America could be revived, she says, by transforming little-used roadways into “green highways” that cater specifically to electric-vehicle drivers and other slow-moving, eco-minded tourists traveling by bicycle or on foot.

“We need innovation in [Michigan]. We’ve got beautiful scenery. And we see the low-speed, low-range electric-car industry bringing them together,” says Gallagher, who is heading up a project to revitalize the U.S. 12 Heritage Trail in Michigan, her home state. She thinks green corridors could resuscitate Main Streets in Michigan and across the country. “This could be a small boon to local merchants, healthy-café owners, bed-and-breakfasts,” she says. “We just want everyone to slow down and enjoy the view; the road is like a destination itself.”

read the rest…

In addition to noise corridors, recycled plastic is also being used to replace old wooden rail ties. Photo: sxc.hu

I’m not a huge fan of plastic as it is not a natural product and has been known to emit toxins ,but I do believe that we should utilize the plastic that we already have and recycle it for other uses rather than tossing it in our landfills where it will sit for hundreds or thousands of years.  I’m happy to hear that there are such great uses for PVC and I hope the idea of recycling it for use in freeways and railways catches on.  The article below states that using PVC in our transportation infrastructure costs 1/3 of the price of the concrete version of the same thing!

by Lori Brown

With the federal stimulus plan allowing for more highway and railway infrastructure improvements to be made, the need for project resources will inevitably increase as well.

Becoming more common is the use of recycled plastics in construction of these large-scale infrastructure projects.

Polyvinyl chloride (PVC), or plastic #3, is a thermoplastic polymer of vinyl chloride commonly used in piping for water systems and other construction processes.  The additives used in the production of PVC inhibit most large-scale, post-consumer recycling, a factor contributing to a national recycling rate of only one quarter of one percent!

Read the full article

This is so cool!  Pet Airways recently launched and will begin flying in July.  This awesome airline provides safe travel for your dog who may be too big to ride in the cabin with you and would otherwise have to ride along with the cargo down below.  Riding below is extremely dangerous as the temperature is not controlled nor is someone down there to over see the pets so each year numerous pets die during travel.  Pet Airways is the ONLY way for your pet to travel happily and safely.  Price-wise it isn’t bad at all.  I know that a couple of years ago it was around $85-$100 each way to carry Winston on board with me (he’s just 15 pounds – the maximum weight).  Pet Airways is currently $149 each way so not much more at all!  What a genius idea!

Yapta is a fabulous online tool to help you save money on your travel.  Once you’ve booked your air and hotel plug in the info into Yapta and they’ll monitor your reservation for price cuts!  If the prices drop below what you’ve paid, Yapta will alert you and guide you through the process of a refund or a credit.  Average Yapta members save $306 a year!