So one of my other projects for 2008 is to start playing golf again. I used to play when I was younger, roughly from 10 yo to around 17 yo, that’s when I went to college. I had reached a 12 handicap, mostly from 10 to 16, after that I am not sure but I think I was not really motivated anymore.

After I entered college, I played a couple of times a year and until I got in the States, where I play about 1 time per year. Since golf is about training and confidence… Well anyway. I have now decided I will go down to a 5 handicap by the end of the year. I am playing the qualifying round of a national women amateur competition in May in NJ so I need to practice, hence this post and what I’ve found.

I actually cannot believe I have been living in NYC for about 3 years and the only place I had played was the Dyker Beach golf course located in south Brooklyn, not too far from Brighton beach.

Below, I will review what can be accessed by subway. We all can rent a car but if you are looking to play a couple of times per week, it can get expensive.

One thing you should know is you can get a New York resident ID that will allow you to play cheaper in most golfs of NY State. The card costs $6 and you can get it at any golf (bring a proof of address and an ID/or picture).

Manhattan (driving ranges)

I often wish I am given the project to dedicate and develop a part Central Park to a golf eden.

Chelsea Piers:

PROS:

• You can get good deals on the balls if you come off-peak hours. Good if you are a student or like to get up early.
• You can buy $ cards for balls and use them whenever you want (for instance: $50 for 323 off-peak balls and 197 peak time balls).
• Hours: open from 6:30 AM till 12 AM

CONS:

• Quite annoying to get there: located on the Piers (West manhattan), between 18th and 19th Streets.
• It gets busy and you usually have to wait to play, even if you come at 11pm (they give you a number and you wait till it’s you turn).
• The driving cages are on 3 different floors so don’t be scared of heights…

Randall’s Island: Currently closed, management has changed and they are waiting for the City’s green light. Will update when open.

So for Randall’s, it is hard to give a judgment as we only went there once and the place was closed. Actually we went twice and the first time we could sneak in when the second time, they had closed the open gate. Once this opens, I will go and update the below pros and cons.

PROS:

• Awesome view of the Triboro bridge, try to go when the sun is going down
• Although it was free for us, it seems the prices were cheap (from the board we could see)
• easy to get there from the Upper East Side / East Harlem neighborhoods

CONS:

• TBD

Bronx

Mosholu Golf Course

They only have a nine hole, which is very small (par 34). There is no par 5 throughout the course. The greens are very slow and easy to deal with. The course us pretty flat. The green fee is quite cheap, $15 for 9 holes (with the NY resident card) and the carts are also $15 (per person). But the course us is so small that you really don’t need a cart. Most golfers carry their bag. It is also easy to get there. Take the 6 train to the last stop, then there is a short 5 min walk to the golf. Ask directions at the MTA station if you are not sure once you get there.

Below, me at Mosholu! :)

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rRit90CwI7A]

Brooklyn

Dyker Beach Golf Course

I played this one about 2/3 years ago, with some people I had met through work. I barely remember it. I will have to go there again to re-explore. The quality of the course might also have changed since then so I will not comment on it. To get there, take the R train to 86th street stop.

For more golf courses around the city, go here. I will add more to this post as I explore more.

To be continued… Feel free to share your experience on these courses or others.

First of all, how does a solar watch work?

According to different sources, Solar watches were also very popular in the 80s with models for kids. If you are interested in vintage solar powered watches, you can check this link here. And if you want to learn the history of the solar wristwatches since the 70s, click here.

From what I have seen every solar watch uses lithium batteries, rechargeable for life. “Because watch batteries contain a small amount of mercury, [...] solar watch[es] [are] a green and non-toxic choice.” (Source: CBS News)

There are two main players in the solar watches market: Citizen and Casio.

All the Citizen watches are solar powered (eco-drive program) and when fully charged, can last for 180 days without being re-charged. Not a fan of their design especially as I don’t want to spend $795. My top budget is $200 and what Citizen has to offer at this price does not fit my aesthetics.

Casio offers the Casio Shock in several designs; very sporty look, not what I am looking for either.

Back to my search. There are many different watches available on the market, which incorporate the functions of a MP3 or 4 player, or of a USB device; HP is also working on a super cool communication watch device. But I am only looking for a simple solar watch.

Here are my solar watches findings:

	1. Healthy Sky Limited sells solar powered watches. You should be able to purchase on their site by emailing them. I sent them an email to know how much was this watch but haven’t received any response yet. Will update this entry when I do.
	2. Timex, Oceanus, Pulsar and Junghans also make Casio and Citizen style like watches, but I am not looking for this style of watches.
	3. Here you can find more solar watches. You can get a great wholesale price: 20 for only $97!! ;)
	4. At Deal Extreme, I found this very inexpensive watch: $8.37. I cannot believe the price, mostly justified because it is not a metallic watch, but who cares. The design is still not what I am looking for. They also have other models around the same price.
	5. The National Geographic Aviator II Watch, priced at $160.
	6. The Prada, only available in Europe and not out yet will be sold at €1500
	8. I also found a Solar Powered Braille Watch (shown left) which looks really great and was designed by a certain Jeonjun Cho. Also, a Solar Spy Watch Camera but could not find any retailer for neither of them. So if you happen to know how much they cost and where to find them, please share the info!!

That’s it. Unfortunately, no real solar watch to my taste so if you know some, share it. The one I will probably go with for now is the #4 from Deal Extreme. I wish solar watches would be like this, this or this. But it is not reality yet… :(

On this note, I will do a new search on other eco green watches, non solar powered.

Good night!

Before heading to the register, I noticed some organic beers: Peak Organic. We know that “by 2009, the European and US organic food and drinks market will be worth at least $49.2bn” (Source: Food Science Central). Organic alcohol, hum why not. Are alcohol companies also embracing the organic revolution? According to many sources, the Organic Beverages market has increased of 13% from 2006 to 2007.

Definition of “Organic”: Involving the use of fertilizers or pesticides that are strictly of animal or vegetable origin. Raised or conducted without the use of drugs, hormones, or synthetic chemicals.
Source: Answers.com

I am from France, and from 14 years old to my 18 years and a half birthday, I was living in Bordeaux; the best wine region in the whole world. Pardon my chauvinism… So what about these awesome wines I know? Are they organic, or grown with pesticides and other disgusting chemicals? Let’s look at Château Margaux, one of the finest wines in the world.

According to their website, until the 80s, they were in fact using chemicals, but starting from that time, they decided to change things around and to care about the environment.

“After a number of years of patient work and calculated risks, we have come back to a stable situation in which all these populations live together and self-regulate, without it almost ever being necessary for us to intervene, and if we do so, then an environmentally-friendly solution is used. Nature is indulgent, provided we show it a little respect …”
Source: Chateau-Margaux.com

When looking at organic viticulture, there are 3 ways of going about it. I am going to translate and paraphrase from a French website:

The Reasoned Viticulture
The Objective is to limit interventions by choosing the right time, limiting used molecules to the most ecologic ones and to reduce doses. Here, you can use any product available on the market.

The Organic Viticulture
No chemical molecule can be used. The objective is to push for a balance between the different diseases and insects from the vineyard.

The Biodynamic Viticulture
In addition to the notions related to organic viticulture, the idea is to boost the vineyard helping it to resist by itself to outside aggressions (diseases, insects, etc) through natural products used at homeopathic doses, such as nettle or horsetail, while choosing the right time for each action made on the vineyard.

For more information on organic wines, you can check The Organic Wine Journal.

I hope by now you are getting thirsty for some organic alcohols. So let’s go have a good time, drink healthy beverages and protect our little planet. Below, some ideas for you to get local organic beverages. Hum I said local? Chateau Margaux was an horrible example in regards to carbon footprint. We are very limited with alcohols: Beers, Spirit and especially Wines and Champagnes. I will never find a local Chateau Margaux like wine in New York… as it involves not only the making techniques, the age of the vineyard but also the ground and weather :(

Organic Beers

• Click here to find local beer makers.
• Learn how to brew your own beer at Brew Organic!
• Beer Brands: Anheuser Busch, Butte Creek Brewing Co., Goose Island Beer Co., Peak Organic, Wolavers.
• West Coast Beer Brands: Bison Brewing, Crannog Ales, Eel River, Fish Brewing Company, Hawk’s Brewery, Pacific Western Brewing.
• Midwest Beer Brands: Kraftbrau Brewery, Lakefront Brewery.

Organic Spirits / Liquors

• Cognac: Organic Spirit.
• Gin: CapRock, Juniper Green.
• Tequila: 4 Copas Tequila, Purus.
• Vodka: CapRock, Orange V, Rain Vodka, Square One Vodka.
• Whiskey: Benromach Organic.

And if you happen to be in the Bay Area, you can try Elixir, a green bar serving only organic cocktails.

Nokia has been focusing its research on green products, from handset development to shipping, use and End-Of-Life practices.

With almost 10 billion customers, Nokia certainly can help make a difference in educating their users, producing energy efficient products in many ways and more.

Educating customers and helping them do the right thing

Power Consumption

“Nokia has set the target to reduce the average no-load consumption of its chargers by 50%, and the no-load consumption of its best-in-class chargers to close to zero, by 2010″. No-load consumption is evidently when your charger is plugged in the power outlet with no phone on the other end. Nokia is also pushing its customers to think about un-plugging their chargers when not in use.

In fact, in 2007, Nokia has launched the first devices with “reminder alerts for consumers to unplug chargers once the battery is recharged”. Nokia has estimated this could save enough electricity to power 85,000 homes a year.

Recycling devices and packaging

Nokia is pushing its customers to recycle their old phones. If you are a Nokia user, click here to find the closest drop off location. Most likely if your phone is pretty new, you should have found a prepaid envelop inside the packaging of your phone. If so, use it to ship your device.

Look below to see how a recycled phone will be broken apart and all its pieces used towards:

Producing Energy Efficient Products

I love this graph below. Basically it shows each step, from the production of a mobile phone to its consumption bt the consumers and how much waste, non-eco substances, water, energy is used and could potentially be saved. We looked above at the Use and at the EOL (End-Of-Life) practices. We are now going to look at all what’s happening before the product gets into the customers’ hands.

The Making of

The first Nokia building to receive the LEED green certification was in White Plains, NY. For every new building, Nokia is seeking this level of sustainability. This can hopefully help in setting new standards for the industry.

“Management Systems (EMS) at Nokia production sites are ISO 14001 compliant”. Nokia works on the following factors: Energy consumption, Water Consumption, Air emissions, Non-Eco Substances, Waste management and Packaging. Nokia also requires its suppliers to respect a set of guidelines.
Nokia should reduce its overall energy consumption of 6% by 2012 and plans to increase its use of green electricity from 25% to 50% by 2010.

Clean and Recyclable Materials

Nokia has banned a list of substances that are not environmentally friendly and stopped using this list in the technology they produce. More info here.

Smaller products for smaller packaging, fewer shipping trucks

Nokia has considerably be reducing the amount of material used for their packagings. Smaller phones, smaller packagings, more packages on each truck and therefore less truck on the road.

More green stuff Nokia is working on

The Nokia Eco Sensor Concept. A personal assistant to “monitor your health, environment, and local weather”, powered in part by solar energy.

I want to see more companies that try not only to produce green goods, but also work on increasing the public awereness and its education about green matters.