What is a Hangelier? I’ll explain in just a second. But first let’s talk about being creative.

A huge part of building a sustainable world is creativity. It is what allows us to make comfortable transitions from using our standard, unsustainable products to the more eco-friendly versions.

For example, when people begin to use Ditto Hangers, there will have a lot plastic hangers that no longer have a purpose. And the last thing we’d want them to do is throw them away so they can sit in a landfill for a 1,000 years.

That being said, we are always looking for new and interesting ways that people can use there old hangers for something other than clothing. So we we’re excited to find out about this company called Organelle Design because they invented the Hangelier!!

A Hangelier is, essentially, a chandelier made out of hangers. I can’t really explain it much better than that. Along with this, Organelle also makes lamp covers out of re purposed hangers.

These are  2 very CREATIVE ways of reusing those gently-used hangers that might otherwise be shipped straight to the landfill from clothing stores that no longer want them.

Most people would probably assume its Vermont for obvious reasons.

But what most people fail to realize is that New York has a secret weapon: extreme population density

The average city resident consumes only about a quarter as much gasoline as the average Vermonter — and the average Manhattan resident consumes even less, just 90 gallons a year, a rate that the rest of the country hasn’t matched since the mid-1920s.

New Yorkers consume far less electricity — about 4,700 kilowatt hours per household per year, compared with roughly 7,100 kilowatt hours in Vermont and more than 11,000 kilowatt hours in the United States as a whole.

New York accounts for almost a third of all the public-transit passenger miles traveled in the United States.

54% percent of New York City households — and 77 percent of Manhattan households — own no car at all. In Vermont and the rest of the country, the percentage of no-automobile households is close to zero.) Eighty-two percent of employed Manhattanites travel to work by public transit, by bicycle, or on foot. That’s 10 times the rate for Americans in general, eight times the rate for workers in LA.

Population density also lowers energy and water use in all categories, constrains family size, limits the consumption of all kinds of goods, reduces ownership of wasteful appliances, decreases the generation of solid waste, and forces most residents to live in some of the world’s most inherently energy-efficient residential structures: apartment buildings. As a result, New Yorkers have the smallest carbon footprints in the United States: 7.1 metric tons of greenhouse gases per person per year, or less than 30 percent of the national average.

To make a long story short, dense urban centers offer one of the few reasonable remedies to fight climate change. That being said:

New York – 1, Vermont – 0

Here are 5 programs in the Bay Area that offer information, classes, and degrees in the field of sustainability. There are, of course, plenty more but these are some of the most dynamic, informative and well rounded programs in the field. Definitely check them out:

UC Berkeley Extension “Go Green”

These classes are ideal for basic knowledge on sustainability and how it connects with environmentalism. It also offers five separate certificate programs in various sub-fields of sustainable design, including corporate responsibility, energy, and transportation.

Dominican’s Green MBA

This is the first Sustainability focused MBA ever created. With a strong foundation of critical and systems thinking, the program teaches students the “how” and “what” of sustainability.  They offers a full/part time Green MBA program as well as a Sustainable Practices Certificate, which is composed of core courses, electives, and a capstone project or internship.

Presidio Graduate School

Presidio is one of the more notable Sustainable MBA programs in the country, with world renown faculty and alumni. They offer two graduate-level programs in sustainable management: a master of business administration, and a master of public administration. They also have a dual degree and an executive version of their MBA. They continue to be successful with a innovative curriculum and tight knit community which will make a them a premier MBA program for years to come.

PG&E Pacific Energy Center

This is a great resource for anyone interested in sustainability. Not only does it offer a wide breadth of classes, but they are all FREE!! So it is definitely good to take advantage of this great site. Most of the courses are online as well so it is ideal for anyone really.

Center for Ecoliteracy

CEL helps educators communicate the concepts of sustainability to their students. The center produces invaluable teaching resources (such as DVDs, books, and lesson plans), but they also offer on-site seminars with fabulous speakers and facilitators. Anyone would greatly benefit from this instiution and its resources.

Nike has recently left ts position on the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Board of Directors

The reason is because they disagree with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce on the issue of climate change and their recent action challenging the Environmental Protection Agency. They have gone on record to say:

“It is important that US companies be represented by a strong and effective Chamber that reflects the interests of all its members on multiple issues. We believe that on the issue of climate change the Chamber has not represented the diversity of perspective held by the board of directors.

Therefore, we have decided to resign our board of directors position. We will continue our membership to advocate for climate change legislation inside the committee structure and believe that we can better influence policy by being part of the conversation. Moving forward we will continue to evaluate our membership.”

The main incentive for this move was that Nike shareholders have been applying pressure for the company to leave the chamber. The Chamber recently made an incomprehensible challenge against new initiative by the Environmental Protection Agency to track emissions of heat-trapping gasses like carbon dioxide. They have since apologized for their appeal, but the damage has been done, as NIKE is the 4th company to drop from the board in the past few weeks.

NIKE’s new tag line: Just Do It…Sometimes.

In effort to create more exposure for the climate crisis, the World Wildlife Federation (WWF) has put up a very unique display on the steps of a Berlin square that. There are a thousand human shaped ice sculptures on the steps of the Berlin’s Gendarmenmarkt Square.

These sculptures have melted away in the hot summer sun in a statement and thus signified the frailty of nature and the power of human impact.

This very powerful artistic display should remind the world that the consequences of climate change affect all of us.