Thanks to Xeros Ltd, a forward thinking company in the UK, the future of green washing machines is about to take one giant leap towards a more sustainable future.

According to Eco geek this new washer will hit the market by the end of next year. By cleaning clothes with tiny plastic beads, this new machine allows for a 90 percent reduction in water usage and could reduce utility bills up to 30 percent.

The 3mm-long recyclable nylon beads, along with a small amount of water and detergent, flood the machine during the wash cycle, then drain away with the water when the wash is done. The beads can be reused hundreds of times. The machine will also have the added environmental benefit of eliminating the need for dry cleaning delicate clothing.

The company claims that these machines will have a hugely beneficial environmental impact, stating that: " If all US homes converted to the Xeros cleaning system, the reduction in carbon footprint is equivalent to taking 5 million cars off American roads."

(Photo credit:parabola-pop in SuperEco group on flickr)

March 8th is International Women's Day  a day on which hundreds of events that celebrate women occur all around the world.

For so many women green is the color of choice, the color of hope. Green initiatives offer a way out of poverty and oppression for women and cast a new light upon their role within the nuclear and Global family.

2010 being declared the International Year of Biodiversity, makes this year's celebration of women more poignant since biodiversity is key to the survival and livelihood of so many women worldwide.

The green movement has so many incredible women achievers to celebrate. Here are just a few interesting sites that celebrate women and the environment:

1. Going Green: Women and the Environment at Women Make Movies films by and about women.
2. The Green Women listing at Best Green Blogs
3. The Green Belt Movement whose mission it is: "to mobilize community consciousness for self-determination, equity, improved livelihoods and security, and environmental conservation."
4. The Eco Mom Alliance "a global organization of mothers working collectively to reduce global warming and propel an environmentally, socially and economically sustainable future.
5. Audubon Women In Conservation Program "was created for girls and women to discover the world of conservation and connect with the best and brightest women leaders in the environmental movement."

Happy International Women's Day 2010!

(Photo credit:blmurch on flickr)

In 1894 John Muir wrote: "When California was wild, it was one sweet bee-garden throughout its entire length, north and south, and all the way across from the snowy Sierra to the ocean."

He continues by describing the immense biodiversity before him: "The great yellow days circled by uncounted, while I drifted toward the north, observing the countless forms of life thronging about me, lying down almost anywhere on the approach of night. And what glorious botanical beds I had! Often-times on awaking I would find several new species leaning over me and looking me full in the face, so that my studies would begin before rising."

This sounds like a beautiful dream, a beautiful impossible dream. But biodiversity because of its very nature is still within our reach. Favoring  biodiversity over monoculture, that is the crucial task at hand.

Here are some simple ways we can all foster green biodiversity:

1. Become informed about the historical biodiversity of where we live. Find out about local organizations that aid in the preservation of local endangered species, habitats and watershed. Learn what efforts are being attempted to restore these habitats and how we can help. Get the whole family involved.
2. Support worldwide conservation efforts whenever we can.
3. Research threatened and endangered plants species and provide some space in our landscape for them whenever possible.
4. Remove invasive species that may be choking out biodiversity on our small or large acre. Buy our seeds and plants from ethical organic sources. Plant heirloom varieties. Kick the pesticide/herbicide habit!
5. Support our local birds, they are great sowers of seed and plant a  butterfly/bee garden. Compost everything that you can.
6. Dedicate a "wilderness" area on our property where beneficial insects, birds and small wildlife may shelter and thrive. Plant a hedgerow habitat.
7. Buying our meats and produce from local ethical and organic farmers and markets whenever possible is so important.
8. Dialing back our fast food consumption sends an important message to companies that thrive on the devastating practices of monoculture.
9. Buy less stuff: use it up, wear it out, donate it, gift it. Reduce, reuse, recycle, upcycle, repeat!
10. If you are going to buy things, buy handmade things that support local economies, cottage industries and craftsmanship.
11. Whether we live in an urban or rural setting learning what we love about where we live is so important. Taking a walk in nearby nature, noticing that life is happening all around us, becoming connected, breathing...

Have a beautiful green day!

(Photo credit:ms.lume on flickr)

I daresay that climate change naysayers will be forced to sit up and take notice when the price of their beloved java rises through the ceiling, roof and beyond. Eventually we all may be dialing back our coffee consumption in the face of skyrocketing prices.

Global warming is having a devastating impact on coffee growers as they scramble to claim land at higher altitudes upon which to plant their crops.

According to Nestor Osorio, head of the International Coffee Organization "There is already evidence of important changes" he states that "In the last 25 years the temperature has risen half a degree in coffee producing countries, five times more than in the 25 years before."

Climate change has shifted the delicately balanced patterns of rainfall and aridity needed for coffee to flourish and prosper. From Brazil to Indonesia coffee is a mainstay export and one of the most important trade commodities in the world.

Fair trade coffee may be the coveted gift you want to give for any occasion as it becomes more and more precious.

Pero anyone?

(Photo credit:P.J. McAdie on flickr)

The frog was not talking about his garden when he sang "it's not easy being green" he was talking about his soul. Cultivating a green soul is not always easy but it is more worth the doing than just about anything I know.

When it becomes our goal to nurture nature we begin to cultivate a relationship that supports our entire ecosystem.

Remember, if it is poisoning the frogs, birds and insects, then it is probably poisoning us and our kids. So this year take a vow to ditch the pesticides and herbicides and grow a lawn and garden that the frog would be happy to sing his heart out in. Here are some helpful tips:

1. Let's begin by considering our home, garden and environs as part of our immediate family and treat them with the love and respect that they deserve.
2. Keep it simple, let some of the marginal areas of our small or large acre go native or wild. This makes less work for us and helps restore depleted habitats for pollinators and small wildlife. There is no shame in, as Jane Austen puts it, "a prettyish kind of little wilderness on one side of your lawn." You gotta love the style of those nature loving Victorians.
3. Growing grasses, flowers and vegetables that are suitable for our zone helps to maximize gratification from our landscape. Having our soil tested then amending it properly and organically is key.
4. Always choosing to go green with our dollar by sticking to organic and green gardening sites, seeds and supplies for our landscape, is easier now than ever.
5. Making Green Hour activities part of our family's daily routine helps us to build a healthy relationship with our environment. Remembering to dream green by visualizing our lives, our gardens and our planet greenly helps to reinforce their health via "ye olde power of positive thinking."

Happy green planning and I'll see you over the fence this spring with lots of green gardening tips!

(Photo credit:ms.lume on flickr)

It's almost the weekend! Set the mood with these eco-savvy and ethically aware artists. Check out our list of 15 green musicians for your playlist, or try our sampling of songs—from classic Joni Mitchell, to thought-provoking Cloud Cult, to the feel-good warmth of Bob Marley—below.

(Photo credit:uyo14, SXC)

Super Eco posts plenty about celebrity eco-philanthropists and do-gooders. Indeed, sites like Ecorazzi let fans follow the intersection of celebrity and environment. But here's a whole rafter of philanthropists who've managed to keep a much lower profile—and yes, we're fascinated. Who are these generous supporters of our planet's welfare? Treehugger recently dug up the goods on seven of them, including these quiet leaders you may never have heard of:

• Gordon (Intel) and Betty Moore give some $183 million each year toward environmental conservation, science and the San Francisco Bay Area. According to TreeHugger, they've donated to everything from the Alaska Conservation Foundation to the Woods Hole Research Center and developed initiatives to preserve the Andes-Amazon region, protect North Pacific salmon, and maintain marine ecosystems.
• Doug (Esprit and The North Face) and Kris (Patagonia) Tompkins have given some $275 million via two conservation organizations, Conservation Land Trust and Conservacion Patagonica, to preserve wild habitats in Argentina and Chile. As Kris told CNN, "'Buying land, conserving it, and shepherding it towards national park status, yes, it is probably legitimate to call us pioneers.'"
• The William and Flora Hewlitt (Hewlett-Packard) Foundation gave about $785 million in grants in 2008. Recent recipients include the National Resources Defense Council, Trout Unlimited, and the International Sustainable Systems Research Center.

Find out who else made the list of seven surprising eco-philanthropists at TreeHugger.

(Photo credit:svilen001, SXC)

Happy hump day! Take a few minutes out of the weekly climb to see what is going on around the green and sustainable world.

Australia uses cat food in fight against cane toads University of Sydney researchers found that cat food left next to ponds in the Northern Territory attracted meat ants, which then attacked baby cane toads emerging from the water.It is the latest idea in the battle against the cane toad, which was introduced from Hawaii in 1935 in a failed attempt to control beetles on sugarcane plantations. Their population, now in the millions, threatens many native species across Australia. (Guardian)

E-waste problem on our doorstep Sales of household electrical gadgets will boom across the developing world in the next decade, wreaking environmental havoc if there are no new strategies to deal with the discarded TVs, cell phones and computers, a U.N. report said Monday. (The New York Times)

Sea lions trickling back to San Francisco's Pier 39 While their numbers are currently in the dozens, as opposed to the record 1,700 jockeying for place on the docks mere weeks before disappearing completely, the famed sea lions of San Francisco's Pier 39 may be in the beginning stage of a return to their crowd-pleasing hangout of the past two decades. (Tonic)

Pete Wentz tapped for UNICEF Tap Project Breaking News! UNICEF announced today that musician/social entrepreneur Pete Wentz will be the national spokesperson for the 2010 UNICEF Tap Project. The UNICEF Tap Project is a grassroots initiative that will take place during World Water Week 2010 (March 21-27) and invites individuals to donate $1 or more for tap water at participating restaurants to provide clean water to children around the world. (Ecorazzi)

Alleviating factory farm-associated suffering? We are most likely stuck with factory farms, given that they produce most of the beef and pork Americans consume. But it is still possible to reduce the animals’ discomfort — through neuroscience. Recent advances suggest it may soon be possible to genetically engineer livestock so that they suffer much less. (The New York Times)

Al Gore and Richard Bronson team up on GreenRoad Rather than rubbing elbows together on a daily basis, the environmentalists are both channeling sizable sums of money into GreenRoad — $10 million from Al Gore’s Generation Investment fund and approximately $40 million from Richard Branson’s Virgin Green Fund. A seemingly simple two-inch long dashboard mounted light (conceived of by an Israeli entrepreneur in response to the harrowing experience of nearly being run off the road by kids with apparently nonexistent driving skills) is at the heart of the GreenRoad concept. (Ecorazzi)

(Photo credit:ks, SXC)

An international ban on bluefin tuna trade? An inconvenience to be ignored, says Japan. Japanese fishing negotiator Masanori Miyahara told The New York Times this week that Japan “would have no choice but to take a reservation”—that is, to ignore a United Nations ban and continue to accept bluefin tuna imports—if the bluefin tuna were granted most-endangered species status. “It’s a pity,” he told the Times, “but it’s a matter of principle.”

A proposed ban on the bluefin trade, requiring a two-thirds approval by 175 of the U.N.'s member countries, is slated for next month.

Japan, which consumes about 80 percent of Mediterranean bluefin tuna, lays the tuna issue squarely at the feet of economics. Miyahara says a U.N. ban is the wrong way to go about managing bluefin tuna fishing and that the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas would provide more appropriate oversight.

Scientists estimate that at current rates, the bluefin tuna will have disappeared within three years. The Sea Shepherd has announced that once its whaling campaign is complete, the organization will turns its focus to disrupting illegal bluefin tuna poaching in the Mediterranean.

(Photo credit:mtkopone, flickr)

Today's environmental mission: join the Twitter campaign to stop mountaintop removal mining in the Appalachian Mountains. During mountaintop removal, coal miners literally blast off the entire tops of mountains in order to reach the coal inside. Mountaintop mining has wiped out more than 1.2 million acres of Appalachian forest in the process, notes the Rainforest Action Network (RAN), burying more than 2,000 miles of rivers and streams in debris.

RAN is fighting back today with a Twitter campaign pointing the finger at mountaintop mining funder and super-bank JP Morgan Chase. "Instead of bankrolling this brutal, toxic and irreversibly destructive practice of destroying mountains for climate-killing coal, Chase should put their money on the right side of history," writes RAN. "It's time for Chase to stop making millions from destroying Appalachia's mountains."

You can help raise awareness of this issue by retweeting the facts, sharing this article on Facebook, and relinking within your other online social networks. Let RAN know you're participating at their Social Media Day of Action page.  (If you're not already tweeting with the green crowd, we can help you get started. We'd love to chat with you at @supereco, and you can follow our news feed at @supereconews.)

(Photo credit:[sic], flickr)