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QuickTime vPIP The Solar Decathlon is a competition between 20 international (but mostly US) universities to build a solar, green and sustainable house that could be practically duplicated for the marketplace. Sponsored by the US Department of Energy, the contest requires teams to ship their entire house to the National Mall in Washington, DC for a week long, public exhibit and to be judged on ten sustainable areas. We got the chance to check out the Santa Clara University team house before they shipped it to DC. It was definitely inspiring to see students so passionate and excited about building sustainably. Here s to hoping the Department of Energy will take queues from all these talented students building for the future. Runtime- 3:47 Technorati Tags: solar decathlon, santa clara university, santa clara, silicon valley, solar house, solar, sustainable building, ryanishungry

QuickTime | | | by: Embed (copy re super determined to continue the worm composting process with a homemade bin. We took the tray from our old bin (a big kitty litter pan) and gathered some scrap wood from our communal backyard at the and got the process going again. The basic set up for a healthy, homemade bin is plenty of ventilation, damp paper bedding, food scraps, green plant stuffs, red wiggler worms and some shredded dry paper topping. We ll keep monitoring our bin to see how it s going and hopefully, cross your fingers, our worms survive and make us rich worm castings for our plants. If you make your own bin, let us know how it s going and what your secrets are! Music: by Runtime- 3:08 Technorati Tags: , , , , , ,

QuickTime | Flash | iPod | Ogg share by: vPIP Embed (copy could (and did) power a small village variety. It was great to see electric art cars charging off the sun! Waste Veggie Oil diesel conversions were also a favorite among burners for powering art cars and generators too. Thanks to Maestro, David and Nick for sharing their desert energy oases with us! Runtime- 3:21 Technorati Tags: burning man, black rock city, solar energy, wvo, svo, veggie oil, biodiesel, electric vehicle, ev, green, diy, ryanishungry

QuickTime | | | Embed (copy Free as in Freedom Software holds. If you re looking at this on the web, you ll see that our site is a pimped out blog- a free and open blogging platform. There are lots of and that we ve helped to build through our collaborative . All of this is possible because of . Free is the idea (and the reality) that people should have the right to use their software in any way they see fit. Modifications, hacks, customizations and copies-lots of copies- should be allowed. If you re using any operating system besides (this would be Mac and Windows and a huge percentage of the population) and proprietary software made by these companies and many others, you literally don t have the right to change, copy or distribute any of it. That CD you made your friend of that cheesy FTP program? Nope, that s totally illegal. Unless of course it s Free Software (like my favorite FTP app, ), then it s wholly encouraged for you to share and even open up the code and modify it and share it some more. We love free software because as people with big imaginations and some techy, smart developer friends, we can build things the way we want them rather than wait for a big corporation to build them for us. We have the Freedom to share our code and encourage others to modify and share alike. Much like , embraces which gives both creator and user the freedom to work together. Check out our new and subscribe in your favorite free video aggregator or check out ! Runtime- 3:34 Technorati Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,

QuickTime | Flash | iPod | Ogg share Embed Format: Flash QuickTime iPod Ogg close Embed (copy ve ever attended the annual desert gathering 100 miles north of Reno, Nevada in Black Rock City of artists, hackers, hippies and yuppies alike, you know what I mean. Burning Man is an experiment in temporary community in the middle of nowhere with no resources except for the stuff you bring. Food, water, shelter, transport and whatever hacked together art or science project you can imagine- these are your life for seven days in the desert with 50,000 new friends. This year was themed The Green Man though it seems that the Burner crowd is generally pretty darn savvy when it comes to recycling the world s trash into amazing, awe inspiring art and functional pieces of technology, shelter and transport. Here are some snippets of our fun time at Burning Man. Stay tuned for some interviews with Burners making their own renewable energy and sharing it with fellow camps. Runtime: 1:08 Technorati Tags: burning man, burning man 2007, black rock city, nevada, ryanishungry

QuickTime | Flash | iPod For my last birthday, I received a big, old box of fancy handmade soaps and lotions as a present from my mom. She lives in New Bedford, Massachusetts and is big into the local arts and crafts scene, as she was a crafter herself my whole childhood. This luscious cornucopia of products on my doorstep was cultivated and created by Diane Dupont of One Love Body Care, an independent grower and craftsperson making her living out of a workshop in her apartment. I was able to track her down for an interview while I was in town for a visit. Diane is a lively business woman with a knack for telling a good farmer s market/craft show story. Making a living by growing and perfecting your own product is no small feat, but given the choice to return to a 9-5 office job, Diane tells me she d never go back in a million years. Runtime- 3:07 Related Videos: Technorati Tags: gardening, soap, diy, handmade soap, independent business, crafter, farmers market, diandupont, onelovebodycare, westport, ryanishungry

QuickTime | | Anyone who knows Ryanne, knows she s extremely thrifty when it comes to utilities. Growing up in cold wintered New England taught her to keep that thermostat to a minimum or else when spring rolls around, you ll be in heating bill debt. Living in California allows us to keep our heating bill low to nonexistent. So why are we paying almost $20 a month ($240 a year) for gas? We don t even have a gas stove! Find out how we were able to cut this amount in half through a little furnace investigation. If you have a newer gas heating system, you might not have this problem. Newer systems have electronic gadgets to help drastically reduce gas usage. Thank Goodness! Our system is from the late 50 s early 60 s, back when energy was cheap(er)! Runtime- 3:29 Technorati Tags: , , , ,

QuickTime | Flash | iPod We ve been composting in our homemade worm bin for 5 months now. Through trials and tribulations, we ve learned a lot about the right environment for worms! In fact we experimented so much, that we managed to decimate our entire worm population. *Sigh*. Master composter and Freshtopia diva, Barb Finnin, came by to see how our worm bin was doing after all this time. Thank goodness she was so encouraging! She helped us haul our semi-composted compost (and dead worm population) to our new backyard composting bins where it can still be useful. We also get a look at a Wriggly Wranch-a multi-layered worm bin that our neighbors purchased at a discount from our county waste management. Seems that if you can get the discount, the layered method is the way to go. We will try again using homemade methods, but this time we ll have a little bit more knowledge to keep our worms alive. Thanks Barb! Runtime- 5:04 Follow our Process: Technorati Tags: compost, composting, Vermicomposting, worm bin, worms, dirt, barbfinnin, freshtopia, wriggly wranch, ryanishungry, sanfrancisco

QuickTime | Flash | iPod Jason Harvey, director of The Oakland Food Connection, has an exciting vision for bringing real examples of practical gardening, food security and nutrition to urban schools. With the help of community leaders like Lisa Blair, principal of EC Reems Academy, an elementary charter school in East Oakland, Jason has been able to create projects like this rooftop vegetable garden. Utilizing a valuable, unused space on the roof of EC Reems Academy, Jason s crew of local high school gardeners get down to business and build a half dozen garden boxes soon to be filled with plant and vegetable seeds. These vegetables will serve as more than just a healthy meal, they ll help educate kids and their parents about the possibilities that exist beyond processed, packaged foods and the often limited variety of produce sold in stores. Runtime- 4:33 Related Videos: Technorati Tags: rooftop garden, urban garden, permaculture, green, sustainablility, gardening, vegetables, oakland food connection, ec reems, jason harvey, lisa blair, ryanishungry, oakland

QuickTime | Flash | iPod The book Cradle to Cradle by William McDonough and Michael Braungart has been a good touchstone for the new green movement. Ideas like zero waste and designing products that have an almost infinite life cycle were crystalized with it s publication. Many times during RyanIsHungry interviews, this book is mentioned. We thought we d help expose it more by showing how the book really sparks conversation and gets the green wheels turning in our heads. Grab the book for cheap on Amazon or go to your local library and borrow it for free! Runtime- 6:34 Related Videos: Technorati Tags: cradletocradle, williammcdonough, michaelbraungart, zero waste, green, sustainability, book review, ryanishungry

QuickTime | Flash | iPod A few months ago we did a story about California s primary utility company, PG E s, Let s Green This City campaign. The green posters were all over the city of San Francisco. Our initial reaction was, Cool! A corporate utility company is actually talking green! These posters suggested many things that individuals could do to green their lives like ride a bike instead of drive, switch your lightbulbs to fluorescents etc. But what about PG E going green? Why weren t any of the posters advertising how much renewable energy they were buying? After a while we started to notice counter messages advertising PG E s environmental record. Posters and stickers with the slogan Let s Greenwash This City and statistics citing PG E s purchase of renewables at less than 4% started showing up all over the city as well. This counter message was initiated not by a competing billion dollar utility corporation, but by a group of citizens called Green Guerillas Against Greenwash. Their purpose was to counter PG E s million dollar ad campaign with the simple truth that no matter how many bikes Californian s ride, companies like PG E could make a massive systemic difference by just making cleaner energy purchases. So far the Green Guerillas have helped successfully pass The Community Choice Energy initiative through the city legislature and over to Mayor Newsom s office (where it was not vetoed!). This plan would give the residents of San Francisco a choice of where they can buy their power instead of having to settle for dirty PG E energy. In the near future, they hope this will force PG E to look at the greater picture and take their own advice to really help green this city . Runtime- 3:52 Related Posts: Technorati Tags: green guerillas against greenwash, letsgreenwashthiscity, letsgreenthiscity, pge, renewable energy, green, san francisco, ryanishungry

QuickTime | Flash | iPod Nikki Martinez and Oren Jaffe started EcoTuesday as a chill networking event for Green business folk to interact with each other. Structure is the key to success at EcoTuesday. The event opens with speakers from various green backgrounds- a good topic to spark conversations later. Next, everyone has a chance to introduce themselves and what they re passionate about- second great topic to chat about. Finally, it s walk around and mingle time- introduce yourself to the CEO of that small solar business, get an interview with some potential employees or start a business revolution with other fellow green upstarts. EcoTuesday strives to be a place for green and sustainable partnerships to form helping to strengthen the larger green movement with the proper economic strength and business savvy. Runtime- 4:45 Other Green Entrepreneurs: Technorati Tags: ecotuesday, green business, green drinks, happy hour, green networking, networking, nikki martinez, oren jaffe, san francisco, ryanishungry

QuickTime | Flash | iPod We ve been thinking a lot about how much trash comes in and out of our apartment. We recycle and compost a lot of stuff, but some things, like plastic wrappings, just have no where to go but the garbage. Thinking on a more micro level, we are trying to analyze and reduce those miscellaneous items of trash from even reaching our doorstep. How do you do that when everything you buy, especially your weekly groceries, come in some kind of packaging? Number 1: Stop buying so many packaged foods and supplement them with things you make instead. Number 2: Anything you do buy should be in a recyclable or compostable container. Number 3: Make PANCAKES from scratch! Yes, make pancakes! Runtime- 4:12 Other DIY Green Videos: Technorati Tags: eliminate waste, pancakes, compost, cast iron cookware, green, cooking, DIY, ryanishungry

QuickTime | Flash | iPod We are constantly bombarded with images and advertising pushing us to buy more, buy better, buy often. What happens when we stop buying so much and start making? More innovation, more creativity and more knowledge can be shared. Wendy, founder of Swap-O-Rama-Rama, explains her thinking on consumerism aptly: It s easy and even mundane to say, This is as good as it gets. It is such a more exciting place to say We can do so much better with everything. This should be a never ending thought. Runtime- 4:43 Related Videos: Technorati Tags: swaporamarama, wendy tremayne, clothing swap, recycle clothes, recycling, green, sustainable, gift economy, san francisco, ryanishungry

QuickTime | Flash | iPod You might recognize Wendy Tremayne from our Green Acre Series here on RyanIsHungry. Wendy founded Swap-O-Rama-Rama as a way to break out the consumer cycle of shopping for clothes. Utilizing the abundance that just a few people s closets can bare, adding a little creativity with fancy sewing machines and silkscreen artists for custom modifications, Swap-O-Rama-Rama makes recycling clothes fun and social. This particular swap was part of Maker Faire, an event to celebrate makers of all kinds from robot artists to crafters to computer hackers. As Wendy says here: There is no creativity in consumerism makers don t make good consumers. The less you know, the less you can make, the more you re going to buy. Want to produce a Swap-O-Rama-Rama where you live? You can! Because it s Creative Commons licensed! Contact Wendy through the site and she ll get you started! Runtime- 4:53 Related Videos: Technorati Tags: swaporamarama, wndy tremayne, clothing swap, recycle clothes, recycling, green, sustainable, gift economy, maker faire, san francisco, ryanishungry

QuickTime | Flash | iPod It s not every day you get to hack your dinner with an anarchist, computer whiz, chef- unless you are one like Marc Powell. We had the pleasure of attending a Unicorn Precinct 13 Supper Club and hanging out for a bit before the cooking frenzy. Marc shares his views on cooking/eating as social networking, anarchy, everyday revolution and why good food is essential for political motivation. A thread we ve been noticing with a lot of the folks we ve been interviewing has been community building through simple green actions. Cooking, composting, creating energy- all this knowledge needs to be shared and built with a support network of people. It just depends on the strategies that allow you to make time to get there. As Marc says here: A lot of people came out here in the dotcom days they spent all their life, 80 hours a week, working on computers and when they got laid off, they had no support networks but if they had spent 40 hours a week, they could have spent that extra time making a social network maybe we all just cook together. You have to have those survival strategies and you can t do that when you re working 12 hours a day. Runtime- 6:02 Related Videos: Technorati Tags: food hacking, marc powell, unicorn precinct 13, anarchy, cooking, community, green, san francisco, ryanishungry

QuickTime | Flash | iPod Marc Powell is an anarchist, hacker chef who opens his kitchen up to strangers and friends every Thursday to cook up some amazing, hacked food creations. Attending a food hacking supper club is a mind expanding experience that teaches folks not to be afraid of experimenting with your cuisine. You can t cook wrong if you have the right friends to help you out! During this particular five course meal, we had, among many things, the most amazing savory mushroom soup, fava bean soufflé, candied bacon wrapped scallops and a citrus meringue your grandma would have been proud of. The synchronicity of friends- old and new, of food knowledge- a lot or a little, made this one of the most unique food and friendship building experiences we ve ever had. Marc fully believes that sharing knowledge through experimentation and cooking truly is revolutionary social networking. We would have to agree. Thanks Marc! Runtime- 6:02 Related Videos: Technorati Tags: food hacking, marc powell, unicorn precinct 13, anarchy, cooking, community, green, san francisco, ryanishungry

QuickTime | Flash | iPod A beautiful day in the park, a fresh homemade meal, some free clothes and books- what could be better? The Really Really Free Market, as opposed to the Not-So-Free Free Market, breaks down the myth of scarcity and encourages us to take advantage of the abundance all around us. Kirsten Brydum, RRFM organizer, gave us the low down on how great it feels to get rid of your stuff, share knowledge and maybe find that odd item you ve been searching for. This is not a barter situation, where you re still weighing your stuff against what you think it could be worth in dollars. This is about giving and receiving through a gift economy which encourages sharing without the expectation of payment. The Really Really Free Market is like hanging out on Freecycle or Craigslist Free Listings, except you re breathing fresh air and seeing people f2f (face to face) instead of p2p (peer to peer)! Imagine that! Check out the Wikipedia entry on The Really Really Free Market to find one in your area, or start your own! All you need are some friends, some stuff or some knowledge to share! Runtime- 3:12 Technorati Tags: really really free market, rrfm, gift economy, barter, trade, san francisco, dolores park, ryanishungry

Flash | QuickTime | iPod The Solar Living Institute, home of Real Goods (one of the first Green Catalogs), is like a big, green playground. The 12 acre plot was developed as a demonstration site for renewable and clean technologies like solar and wind power, green building and permaculture. We were excited to be able to spend some time on the campus while participating in a workshop on how to build an electric vehicle. Although the workshop turned out to be a wee bit overwhelming, we felt we got a pretty good primer into the world of electric vehicles. That said, we encourage y all to take a workshop or class on some of these green ideas. Meeting people and gathering resources for getting started on this stuff is a good motivator for really making change. Runtime- 4:25 Other DIY Green Videos:

Flash | QuickTime | iPod Continuing our time with Sunny Johnson of WildFoodPlants.com, we explore her past experiences eating ultra local foods for a year, why she started blogging and vlogging and her outlook on what the future hold for humans and the earth together. We love Sunny s videoblog, go check it out and learn how to eat of your own backyard! Thanks Sunny! Runtime- 4:36 Related Videos: Technorati Tags: wild foods, foraging, sunny johnson, food forager, wildplantfoods, sustainability, sustainable, green, topanga canyon, ryanishungry

QuickTime | Flash | iPod What if the price of gasoline spiked to $10 a gallon? What if we couldn t get all the food we needed trucked into the supermarket like we re used to? Plant enthusiast, wild food harvester and videoblogger, Sunny Johnson of WildFoodPlants.com, shows us that there are abundant, nutritional foods available all around us. With a little bit of knowledge and some keen eyes, you can find plants to replace almost anything you could buy at a store. Sunny shares with us her thinking behind the wild foods movement, that it can be a great supplement to the food and supplies you might first think of buying. Check out Sunny s Videoblog for some of the most creative recipes we ve ever seen: Curried Cattail Soup, Saguaro Cactus Fruits and Quinoa ‘n Yucca. Runtime- 8:31 Related Videos: Technorati Tags: wild foods, foraging, sunny johnson, food forager, wildplantfoods, sustainability, sustainable, green, topanga canyon, ryanishungry

Flash | QuickTime | iPod Many people strive for the freedom that working for themselves and freelancing brings. You can work odd hours in your pajamas at home, travel to exotic locals but still be on the job, not have to clock in at an office. After the initial exhilaration of being independent cools a bit, there is something missing- co-workers and the social environment that working for a company can bring. Enter Co-Working. Co-Working is an idea that independent workers still want and need social interaction and structure during working hours. Going stir crazy working in your living room? Can t stand that Madonna remix album they keep repeating at the cafe? Want to bounce your ideas off some other geeks? Co-Working! We started our Co-Working experience at The Hat Factory here in San Francisco. The most unexpected benefit, besides meeting great people, was the ability to separate work time from relax time- not an easy task for a freelancer. Our day schedule looked like this: Get up, go to Hat Factory, work for 6-8 hours, come home, put the computer to sleep, cook dinner, watch a movie. Hey, we didn t end up working for 12 hours today! We have a sustainable, not-burnt out life outside our work! Thanks Co-Working! Thanks to Brad Neuberg and Chris Messina and Tara Hunt, from Citizen Space, for sitting down with us and explaining how Co-Working got started and what it all means. Get involved in starting your own Co-Working space by connecting to the folks already doing it! Check out the Co-Working Wiki, Blog and E-mail list. Runtime- 6:31 Related Videos: Technorati Tags: coworking, barcamp, brad neuberg, chris messina, tara hunt, citizen space, citizen agency, san francisco, ryanishungry

| QuickTime | Gregg Gillis aka is best known for his , super hot beats and, most controversially, that his music is entirely derived from other popular artists. Under current copyright law, Girl Talk s blatant use of samples is considered stealing. Gregg considers it fair use and positive promotion for other artists. As are fueled by the ever growing remix, mashup and digital sampling culture we now live in, we have to ask ourselves- Is it ok to have so many restrictions, with the threat of legal action, on what is fair game for making art? Check out Brett Gaylor s project for tons more Girl Talk clips. Thanks Brett for connecting us! Runtime- 5:58 Related Videos (on and ):

Flash | QuickTime | iPod Have you ever cooked with a non-stick skillet and had the non-stick surface flake off after a few months? That super slick surface is made up of many harmful chemicals that should absolutely not be eaten! What s the alternative to cheap-o, toxic frying pans? Your grandma s grandma had the secret in her kitchen- Cast Iron! You might be thinking Hey isn t cast iron archaic cookware from the pioneer days? . Well, yeah, but they had the right idea, cook with heavily oiled metal and never have nasty non-stick chemicals peeling off into your food. Cast iron cookware has been used for generations because it literally lasts that long! It s also fully recyclable since it s one big hunk of iron which can be melted down by a scrap yard. You can nab a high quality cast iron skillet for under $20 and it will probably have at least a 10 year warranty. What other frying pan can top that? Runtime- 3:58 Other DIY Green Videos: Technorati Tags: cast iron, cast iron cookware, green, cooking, DIY, ryanishungry

Flash | QuickTime | iPod San Francisco s Department of the Environment is leading the initiative to fully redesign Treasure Island- a 400 acre human made island in the San Francisco bay. Originally built for The World s Fair in 1939, it s been used as a movie studio, a naval base and now for residential housing. By 2020, the city plans to have this little plot of land revamped and functioning as green as possible. Jennifer Kass, from the Dept of the Environment, explains the city s process of planning holistically with all aspects of urban living in mind. Treasure Island could possibly inspire future models of sustainability because of its unique geographic challenges. From transportation to green open spaces to building and construction to where you get your groceries- if it can happen self sufficiently on a 400 acre island, maybe it can happen anywhere. Runtime- 4:57 Other Green Building Videos: Technorati Tags: treasure island, sustainable, sustainability, cradle to cradle, green, green building, ryanishungry, sanfrancisco

Can you tell that we re into our worm bin? As you saw in our last worm bin update, our bin had been getting a little sludgy and unproductive. Jay went online and found a source to buy red wigglers for cheap so we could bump up the composting production of our bin. Keeping an eye (and nose) on your bin will help you get a feel for how things are going in your worms world. Since our first vermicompost video with Barb Finnin, we ve been getting lots of feedback from old friends and new about how they re making their bins happen! Like Rachel from Chicago, who sent us this picture of her new bin. Thanks Rachel! Keep up the composting! Runtime- 3:09 More Composting Videos: Technorati Tags: compost, composting, Vermicomposting, worm bin, worms, dirt, ryanishungry, sanfrancisco

Siel aka Green LA Girl, has been blogging about her personal experiences with green since 2005. Using her blog as a journal, a conduit and a clearinghouse for practical green information and advice, she urges her fellow Los Angelites (and beyond) to think critically about the choices they have for their lives. Siel explains that writing in the first person helps her to distribute information that she s learned in a non-obtrusive or judgmental way. We ve also found that this is particularly important when exploring new concepts or ways of living that might seem a bit strange at first to a new comer. It s so much more appealing to encourage and teach rather than berate and judge! Thanks Siel! Runtime- 8:01 Related Posts: Technorati Tags: green blogger, blogging, green, sustainabilty, los angeles, siel, green la girl, ryanishungry

We re constantly thinking about sustainability- in the environment we live as well as in the way we work and produce media. Creative Commons is a non-profit organization trying to change the way people use copyright and licensing for media and intellectual property. Instead of the traditional all rights reserved model for distributing works, Creative Commons continues to educate creators about the advantages that come with the some rights reserved model. Jon Phillips is an artist, educator, open source developer and Creative Commons evangelist who loves to school companies and the general public on the freedom that can be created by a true participatory culture. A culture of sharing and respectful negotiation between maker and taker. Catch Jon speaking at The First Annual Pixelodeon Festival, June 9-10 at The American Film Institute in Los Angeles. Technorati Tags: creativecommons, jonphillips, sanfrancisco, pixelodeon, ryanishungry, cc