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Green Golfing

- Adam Clare 1 Comment

Golf courses are notorious for their obnoxious water consumption and fuel use to keep the grounds looking artificial. A new golf course where the US Open will be played in 2015 is the environmental gem for the U.S. Golf Association (USGA).

It’s really good to see that golf courses are understanding the importance of sustainable design.

Thompson, like many other visitors, eventually discovered that the municipally owned course is a leader in the golf sustainability movement. Its 85 acres (34 hectares) of turf are covered with fescue grass, which requires less watering–half that of nonfescue courses–less mowing and smaller amounts of chemical fertilizers and pesticides. While the grass is not a good fit for every climate, it works well in northern Europe and the Pacific Northwest–although Chambers Bay decided it was too delicate to handle being trampled by golf carts. (Cue the caddy-job-creation program.)

The course also has 74 acres (30 hectares) of dunes and 91 acres (37 hectares) of bunkers, features that need almost no maintenance. “There is no irrigation, no fertilizer, no chemicals, nothing,” Larry Gilhuly, a USGA sustainability expert, says of the dunes. Plus, the sandy soil, which drains freely, allows the course to retain all storm water on-site.

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Here’s more good news on green golf courses.

Be Happy by Working and Spending Less

- Adam Clare

We first looked at curbing consumerism for better living theme back in 2007 and now the idea is spreading. Now, thanks to the ongoing recession, people are learning that all the stuff they bought didn’t really make them happy so they are getting rid of all their stuff.

When you start buying less you have more disposable income to spend on experiences, and that, my friends, is the key to happiness. What are you going to talk about and remember fondly in ten years, the concert you went to or the new shoes you bought?

Here’s a story about a person who downsized their junk and upsized their fun!

Tammy Strobel wasn’t happy. Working as a project manager with an investment management firm in Davis, Calif., and making about $40,000 a year, she was, as she put it, caught in the “work-spend treadmill.”
…
Today, three years after Ms. Strobel and Mr. Smith began downsizing, they live in Portland, Ore., in a spare, 400-square-foot studio with a nice-sized kitchen. Mr. Smith is completing a doctorate in physiology; Ms. Strobel happily works from home as a Web designer and freelance writer. She owns four plates, three pairs of shoes and two pots. With Mr. Smith in his final weeks of school, Ms. Strobel’s income of about $24,000 a year covers their bills. They are still car-free but have bikes. One other thing they no longer have: $30,000 of debt.

Keep reading at the New York Times.

Here’s some info on how to stop shopping.

Safe Toys

- Adam Clare

Chris Coleman has written in to tell us about toys, and what’s more fun than toys? Nothing.

From Chris:

“Ableplay.org is a toy rating system and Website that provides comprehensive information on toys for children with disabilities so parents, special educators, therapist and others can make the best choices for the children in their lives with disabilities.

Developed by the National Lekotek Center, the leading nonprofit authority on play for children with disabilities, AblePlay will provide parents, and the professionals who work with them, access to the most useful, product-specific information about the top play and learning products and toys for children with disabilities. ”

Conversely, BoingBoing linked to a list of the most dangerous toys.

Clean Water for Rural Africa? It’s Child’s Play!

- Benny Powers

Here’s some good news from South Africa! A Non-for-profit company called PlayPumps International has developed a children’s merry-go-round that also doubles as a water pump for villages in rural Africa.

As the children play on the merry-go-round, clean water is pumped into clean reservoir for use later by villagers. It’s a creative and fun way to help kids with very little to help themselves.

Right now, half the people in developing countries are suffering from water-related diseases. 1.7 million children under the age of five die from diarrhea each year.

For more information or to donate, see the PlayPumps website

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