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July 31, 2006
A new category
A good friend of mine once responded to my fretting about the fate of the earth by observing that the earth will survive. We might not. I've opened a new category, which I'll call 'Nature Wins'.
Here is an interesting link that might give us pause: http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/health/bal-latimesoceans1073006,0,478398.story
You know how an untended bit of paving will gradually give way to vegetation? Or how about the Mayan temples, gradually yielding to nature's forces (a few hundred years, or even a few thousand years, is not very long in earth terms)
We will probably be safe in claiming the title for the dumbest species to face extinction. We understand what we're doing, but we can't seem to control ourselves.
Maybe a 12-step process...
Then again, maybe there's an up side to this: we mine the methane and hydrogen sulfide and burn it to produce electric power.
Posted by aquacura.com at 03:08 PM | Comments (0)
July 25, 2006
New Belguim's commitment to sustainability
Check this link: http://www.newbelgium.com/sustainability.php
The efforts New Belguim describes in wastewater management and alternative energy generation and use are pretty impressive.
Posted by aquacura.com at 09:52 PM | Comments (0)
July 18, 2006
Cost of gasoline
A recent study by Sperling's Best Places presents the cost of gasoline for a number of metropolitan areas in the U.S. And the winner is...Atlanta. Big surprise.
The study (see this link: http://www.bestplaces.net/docs/studies/gasstudy.aspx)suggests that a family with two commuters would use 3.3 gallons of gasoline per day. At May 2006 prices, the annual cost of gasoline would be $5700. Other metropolitan areas:
*Birmingham - $5464
*Orlando - $5404
*Jacksonville - $5360
*Pensacola - $5173
*Raleigh-Durham - $5066
*Nashville - $5033
*Los Angeles - $4890
*Cape Coral, FL - $4890
*San Diego - $4739
Posted by aquacura.com at 09:59 PM | Comments (0)
Yet more on biofuels
In a recent press release, Lester Brown offered some observations regarding competition between humans and automobiles for food resources. See http://www.earth-policy.org/Updates/2006/Update55.htm
I share his concern. American society might be expected to opt for biofuel production instead of food production, but the situation becomes separated from this kind of choice when investors get involved. Instead of a cars vs food decision, there is an impersonal decision to invest in a biofuel facility. The investor, if he or she even thinks about the ramifications, probably feels kind of good about doing something that seems to be sustainable. But the business created with the investor's money simply bids in the grain market for feedstock, driving up the cost of food.
The immense disconnect here is that people probably think biofuels can replace gasoline gallon-for-gallon. No way can that happen. Increased fuel economy has to be part of the solution, and -- get ready for the really bad part -- we have to drive less.
Grist Magazine -- you must subscribe! -- has a pair of articles today: http://www.grist.org/news/daily/2006/07/18/#2
Scroll down to the first one, which tells the woeful tale of fuel (dis)economy in automobiles sold in the U.S. A little farther down is an article about the threat to the Amazon rain forest posed by soy farmers selling to Cargill.
Posted by aquacura.com at 02:48 PM | Comments (0)
July 14, 2006
More on biofuels
This link to the PA DEP Daily Update offers an interesting summary of some of the ethanol and soybean-derived diesel issues:
http://www.depweb.state.pa.us/news/cwp/view.asp?Q=509435&A=3
I am standing by my guess that we need to reduce our driving by something like 90% if we want biofuels to meet our personal transportation desires.
It's interesting to see a research group assigning a positive energy benefit to ethanol - we have probably all heard that ethanol's energy balance sheet is negative. But we shouldn't get too excited about a 25% energy dividend. Note that much of it comes from assuming the spent corn mash would be used as animal feed. And how eco-logical is it to feed animals corn anyways? And what about the water demanded by the feeding operations that use this corn mash. And on and on.
But the important points of the article are that biofuels are not going to do much to reduce greenhouse gas generation. Driving a lot less will reduce greenhouse gas generation, but our society hasn't gotten there yet.
Finally, cellulose-fed ethanol production remains to be perfected (and the energy balance of producing ethanol from cellulose remains to be defined), and then we have to figure out how to harvest the feedstock. It's easy to say 'switchgrass'. Even W has figured out how to say that. And it's easy to say that we can harvest said switchgrass from otherwise marginal lands. Marginal to whom and what? And what does harvesting entail, and what does it cost?
Which gets back to driving less. Damn!
Posted by aquacura.com at 12:57 PM | Comments (0)
Global report on happiness
Have a look at this link:http://news.independent.co.uk/environment/article1173235.ece
The premise that an economy (or a business within that economy) has to grow constantly to 'be successful' has seemed odd to me for a long time. Why do we measure success of a nation by the growth in GDP it generates?
I'll have to check in my copy of Jared Diamond's book, Collapse to see if Vanuatu is one of the sustainable Pacific Island societies that he cites (in contrast to the self-inflicted disasters on Easter Island, Pitcairn Island and others.)
Posted by aquacura.com at 09:46 AM | Comments (1)
More cautious hopefulness about WalMart
The retail behemouth I love to hate continues to move me to ambivalency. Check out this link to Grist Magazine (Btw, I recommend you get on their daily email list. It's free, and a great source of current environmental news and views.)
Here's the link:http://gristmill.grist.org/story/2006/7/12/152241/484?source=daily
Posted by aquacura.com at 09:34 AM | Comments (0)