Turning office paper into toilet paper Video

Turning office paper into toilet paper Video Transcript

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>> Mark Licea: Hey, I'm Mark Licea, and this week Disney and IBM want to educate kids on the environment, there's a low-tech way to save on energy, and we'll tell you where to go to pick fruit and maybe look like a crazy person. "The Green Show" starts now. ^M00:00:15 [ Music ] ^M00:00:24

>> Mark Licea: IBM's "Smarter Planet" exhibit opened at Disney World's Epcot theme park last week. I think of it as an arcade focused around environmental responsibility.

>> "Smarter Planet", presented by IBM, offers visitors to the park a behind-the-scenes glimpse of how technology is helping solve the world's most complex problems. From reducing road traffic and city crime to improving food safety and local water supply. Hands-on interactive kiosks offer guests a match game that demonstrates the societal and technological implications in creating "Smarter Planet". Guests will discover how more than two billion people are using mobile phones to open and use bank accounts for the first time. They'll also learn that by unplugging household appliances while not in use, homeowners can save cash, up to $286 every year. From the same kiosks, guests can take a "Smarter Planet" poll and compare their answers with those of other visitors. The exhibit's glass store front invites guests to peak into a functional IMB smarter data center that's responsible for running the "Smarter Planet" exhibit.

>> Mark Licea: Not all energy-saving adjustments need to include technology. A new study from the National Center for Atmospheric Research supports the idea that painting your roof white is effective at reducing temperature. Black surfaces absorb light and heat whereas white surfaces reflect the sun. As a result, you save on air conditioning. The study also says that painting every roof white could cool the world's cities by an average of 0.7 degrees Fahrenheit. And over the course of 20 years, that would offset all emissions from the world's cars. So despite being low tech, your local painting contractor [ping] could help save the world. Where else other than Japan can you find a shredder that turns paper into TP? Japan is experimenting with a recycling machine from a company called Oriental. It's called The White Goat. Like a goat, the machine eats your old documents, term papers, or bills, mixes them with water, and after about 30 minutes, fresh toilet paper. If you're really green, then you probably already substitute toilet paper with office paper, old envelopes [pop], Post-Its [pop]. People like me don't need don't need a fancy machine. I have yet to see a fruit-bearing tree around Times Square, but if I wanted to find one, I would go to neighborhoodfruit.com. The site launched an iPhone application called Find Fruit, and it tells you where to find fruit trees in your area. This covers public land so the app won't direct you to your neighbor's backyard blueberry bush. Instead, Neighborhood Fruit will pull up a Google map with locations in your zip code. You can join in on the fruit-picking party for 99 cents. The app works in 11 cities including New York, Honolulu, San Francisco, and Seattle. Some drives may be small, but some of them are made up of toxic materials. I don't think too many flash drive makers would advertise the use of toxic materials, but if the possibility bothers you, Eco Simple Flash Drives claim to have no toxic chemicals. They also claim to decompose faster than other thumb drives. Greenhome.com sells the 1 gig drive for $28. You can also just ftp your big files through the Web. That's the show for this week. Green Show at cnet dot com for questions and comments. I'm Mark Licea. Thanks for watching. [ Music ]