Archive for the ‘Green’ Category

Walk the Talk with Metal H20 Bottles

Saturday, August 1st, 2009

bottlesBWred

“Americans used about 50 billion plastic water bottles in 2006. However, the U.S.’s recycling rate for plastic is only 23 percent”

Running Pixels wants you to stop using plastic water bottles on location and in studio.  Let us know if you would like one of our new stainless steel water bottles.

One person at a time we can change the photo industry and stop sending billions of plastic bottles to landfills each year.

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“last year 16 million gallons of oil were consumed to make plastic water bottles.”

Wednesday, July 29th, 2009

“In 2006, we sent 38 billion plastic bottles to our landfills.  One bottle takes up to 1000 years to biodegrade and is manufactured from oil.  Last year 16 million gallons of oil were consumed to make plastic water bottles.”

http://www.green-blog.org/2008/05/26/plastic-water-bottle-advertising-campaign-from-brita/

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How to Brew

Saturday, April 25th, 2009

Here at Running Pixels we get a lot of questions about computers and cameras, but also about our home brew.

Yes, the home brew is good. And you can brew too.

It’s really not that difficult and if you made it through your 6th grade science project, you can make some excellent beer at home. Its rewarding and watching the fermentation process is simply amazing.

There are many books out there, but How to Brew by John Palmer has been highly recommended. I’m sure its great in print form, but John has also published the book online.

Being able to read through the important chapters online was an important help during our very first brew. Do check your local brew shops for demo’s. The brew demo we had by Erik Knutzen of Homegrown Evolution was extremely helpful when we started out. Don’t discount how watching someone brew can take the fear out of the unknown process. Its not difficult, but it definitely helps to watch someone go through the steps before you do it solo.

There is some basic brew equipment you must invest in, but it pays for itself with the first batch or two of beer you consume. Kits tend to run $70+ but have pretty much everything you need to get started. If you can swing it, we recommend glass carboys over the plastic buckets. Mostly because you can watch the fermentation process through the glass. The plastic is safe to use, but we feel better about glass.

Northern Brewer Starter Kit

We purchased our starter kit from Northern Brewer, but have also purchased supplies at a local place in Los Angeles called Culver City Home Brew. They have free intro to brewing classes and offer mail order starter kits.

Do look for local home brew supplies, I bet you will be surprised what is around the corner. Here is a Local Brew Supply listing online.

Yesterday we bottled our second batch of Hefeweizen and now have a Leffe Blonde in secondary which we’ll bottle late next week. Ordered more ingredient kits today so we can keep the flow going during the summer.

Home brew. Just do it.

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“40 Ton Tire” cracked open for Easter.

Friday, April 10th, 2009

Home brewing has been our latest office distraction. The fermentation process is awfully enjoyable to watch. The live yeast moving about the glass carboy is almost as good as our fish tank. Well, maybe better. We don’t get to empty and drink the fish tank. We’ll shoot a bit of 5D2 Video on the next batch.

After wrapping a great Adidas shoot today with Margo Silver, we cracked open a bottle of what we labeled “40 Ton Tire”.. a Fat Tire recipe from Northern Brewer.

The photo on the label comes from our days of exploring the Mojave desert with guidance from The Center of Land Use Interpretation.

40tirelabel

Only drawback we have found about Home Brewing so far is how fast it disappears.

40tireglass

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Stop the Water Bottle Madness

Friday, February 13th, 2009

Get yourself a SIGG bottle & use it.  We must stop producing all these plastic water bottles.  The below sad photo is from one day of a studio photo shoot.  As an industry we need to stop this madness.

 

water

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The Urban Homestead

Thursday, January 8th, 2009

Our new favorite book on Green matters is “The Urban Homestead” by Kelly Coyne and Erik Knutzen.  

Anyone interested in being a bit more self-sufficient and eco-responsible should check it out.  Addresses everything from raising chickens in the city to installing grey water systems to redirect waste water to your landscaping.

The book pushes reconnecting with our food sources and encourages everyone to grow food.  Excellent ideas are presented for apartment dwellers as well as those lucky enough to land to cultivate.  Bread-making.  Cleaning without toxins.  Making Yogurt.  Home brewing.  Rain barrels.  There is an unbelievable taste difference between greens grown in your yard and those in a plastic bag that came from where?

An easy read with excellent graphics, diagrams and resource lists, ”The Urban Homestead” will make you think about the usefulness of everything you touch.  We must reduce what is going to landfill.  Seen Wall-E ?  Cute, but a bloody scary view of our ever expanding landfills.

Buy a copy for yourself and get three more for friends.  

Evolution starts in your home.

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