A group of scientists visited the garbage patch in the Pacific that is the size of Texas, some say it is larger. The patch mainly consists of plastic products but many other products are there, entangling sea life in a floating garbage grave. This link has a video to watch and the highlight in the video is the phrase "benign by design" which is a call to manufacturers to create products that have the full life cycle of a product in mind. Products become trash, instead they should be an input into a natural system, like forks created from biodegradable material. Along with biodegradable products a residential food-waste pick-up system is needed.
The Economist holds debates on its website, this session the debated claim is: tackling climate change means leaving fossil fuels behind. On this link are links to articles relating to this debate. 60% of respondents say yes, fossil fuels should be left behind (The debate is sponsored by Dow Chemical). From my glance at this what is missing is the broader conversation that climate change is just one part of the equation when it comes to pollutants that relate to climate change; we have species die-off, contamination of water used for human consumption, toxic-chemical contamination of humans, top-soil degradation, and more to worry about. We should switch from a fossil-fuel economy for more then the reason of Climate Change.
A study claims that a greater return on investment for reducing carbon emission is experienced when money is spent on contraception in the unindustrialized world than on green technology. Most of the growth in population (3 billion more people) in the next 40 years will be in the unindustrialized world, but the industrialized world pollutes so much more than the rest of the world so a focus on reducing the wealthy peoples' consumption will actual do the most for combating environmental degradation.
In an article by MotherJones Obama is criticized for his lack of dedication to tackling Climate Change during the recent UN meetings. Is Obama not doing enough, or is there a lack of popular support for him doing a lot followed by a political climate focused on economic recovery of large corporations that will only make small changes in the next decade to mitigate climate change? Blame Obama, or blame the business and political system? Remember that ExxonMobile just finished a costly advertisement campaign against climate change science, and we just had 8 years of an executive administration that denied climate change is anthropogenic. Non-scientists are being required to make scientific judgments and thus far many of them are confused and unprepared for the task.
And some news about the melting of the ever-so-important Greenland ice-shelf.
Friday, September 25, 2009
Monday, September 21, 2009
Water, Oil & UN Climate Change Summit
Scientific American asks the question: How much does fossil fuels get in subsidies from the American Government? The answer is $72 billion between 2002 and 2007.
The Economist has a go at explaining the challenges facing the global automobile industry. People no longer want gas-guzzlers that are over-sized and have a short life-time, and the industry will be reeling from this. USA and Europe propped up their automobile companies during this last year of recession, but these companies have not made very large changes yet. When they sell cars that we should have due to our environmental challenges they will probably return to making large sums of money. Smaller, more efficient, alternative fuels, alternative materials- this is want we need.
The Environmental Defense Fund makes a concise case for a Climate Bill in 2009. Obama wants one passed before the UN Climate meeting. A lot is expected from this UN meeting and while China and the US have not been dedicated to change before China is picking up the slack. China may eclipse the US in promises and effort, but ears and eyes are still on the US.
Water has been cheap in the USA and people are using this resource as the market predicts; liberally. Some Californians use their water with few conservation efforts. The times will change, will people's water use change proactively?
Globally, this summer was not as hot as other recent summers, this means ice in the Arctic has had its life extended, but it will melt away in the next couple of decades.
Environmental Justice for the Ivory Coast concludes; a company dumped 500 tons of sludge from refining oil in 2006 and automatically people died and became sick. The settlement arrives but the company still denies responsibility for the incident.
People can now off-set the carbon emissions from their plane flights, this article tells you how, another organization that supplies this service is www.carbonfund.org.
The Economist has a go at explaining the challenges facing the global automobile industry. People no longer want gas-guzzlers that are over-sized and have a short life-time, and the industry will be reeling from this. USA and Europe propped up their automobile companies during this last year of recession, but these companies have not made very large changes yet. When they sell cars that we should have due to our environmental challenges they will probably return to making large sums of money. Smaller, more efficient, alternative fuels, alternative materials- this is want we need.
The Environmental Defense Fund makes a concise case for a Climate Bill in 2009. Obama wants one passed before the UN Climate meeting. A lot is expected from this UN meeting and while China and the US have not been dedicated to change before China is picking up the slack. China may eclipse the US in promises and effort, but ears and eyes are still on the US.
Water has been cheap in the USA and people are using this resource as the market predicts; liberally. Some Californians use their water with few conservation efforts. The times will change, will people's water use change proactively?
Globally, this summer was not as hot as other recent summers, this means ice in the Arctic has had its life extended, but it will melt away in the next couple of decades.
Environmental Justice for the Ivory Coast concludes; a company dumped 500 tons of sludge from refining oil in 2006 and automatically people died and became sick. The settlement arrives but the company still denies responsibility for the incident.
People can now off-set the carbon emissions from their plane flights, this article tells you how, another organization that supplies this service is www.carbonfund.org.
Thursday, September 3, 2009
The State of Oil
Oil prices have been in the $70s region, slowly rising with the recovery of the economy, they fell recently to $71.82 a barrel and this low price has multiple implications. The lower the price the less incentive there is to invest away from using oil, and the higher the price the more incentive there is to explore for more oil using more costly sources; this means that where ever the price of oil goes we will produce a lot of it. People living next to the tar sands in Alberta, Canada (containing 178 billion barrels of usable oil) are hoping for low future prices to make the extraction operation there unprofitable due to the cancerous effect it is having on the citizens. And in the Gulf of Mexico oil is found under deep water, putting 3 billion more barrels into the global oil reserve.
Electric Cars are the most likely proposed alternative to the combustion engine, The Economist assesses the situation and comments on what governments need to do to assist the creation of this new market.
Have a lesson on water use and availability on Planet Earth.
One study on climate trends supports the idea that our recent warming stands in the face of the cooling of the past couple thousand years, we could be delaying an ice age.
Electric Cars are the most likely proposed alternative to the combustion engine, The Economist assesses the situation and comments on what governments need to do to assist the creation of this new market.
Have a lesson on water use and availability on Planet Earth.
One study on climate trends supports the idea that our recent warming stands in the face of the cooling of the past couple thousand years, we could be delaying an ice age.
Thursday, August 27, 2009
Renewable Energy and a New Economy- Here We Come
I have just returned from a 2 month vacation and this blog will now be updated at least once a week. Thank you for reading.
PG and E is trying to start a project near San Francisco that would store energy from renewable sources in an underground facility so it can use energy during times when the sun is not shining and the wind is not blowing, this would make sources like coal less vital and neccessary.
National Geographic comments on sustainable agriculture, and on the page is links to a lot of other great stories and information sources.
Rocky Mountain Institute provides a great interactive map showing where we have received all of our oil in the US for the past 4 decades. Currently, in the NW of the US 17% of all oil at the gas station comes from the TarSands in Alberta Canada, a source that is greatly inefficient compared to our historical returns from investments on petroleum production, we are certainly using up all of the cheap sources of quality, known oil.
Amory Lovins, one of the frontmen at Rocky Mountain Institute recently received another reward, this time for energy efficiency. He is well aware of all the obstacles to his plans and ideas, most of them being politics and lack of knowledge on the part of engineers and other planners of our economy and infrastructure. An issue with increasing energy efficiency has been that the cheaper and more accessible it is the more a single person will use thus wasting the gains of increasing efficiency.
Mass Media Environmentalism focuses on Global Warming but much else is going on, is this monofocus good? I would say that the monofocus is often productive, but of course more needs to be explained to the public about the many environmental threats that exist today.
Wind energy is on the rise, but remember we can only receive a small fraction of our energy demand from wind, and each turbine takes a colossal amount of steel which carries a heavy environmental price.
The solar cell is becoming more efficient everyday, this is vital to using the sun's energy as a power source. A new solar cell efficiency record was set, it is expensive now but hopefully not in the near future.
Japan continues on with its economy, strengthening itself through technologies of the future, solar cells and big in Japan and on the rise.
PG and E is trying to start a project near San Francisco that would store energy from renewable sources in an underground facility so it can use energy during times when the sun is not shining and the wind is not blowing, this would make sources like coal less vital and neccessary.
National Geographic comments on sustainable agriculture, and on the page is links to a lot of other great stories and information sources.
Rocky Mountain Institute provides a great interactive map showing where we have received all of our oil in the US for the past 4 decades. Currently, in the NW of the US 17% of all oil at the gas station comes from the TarSands in Alberta Canada, a source that is greatly inefficient compared to our historical returns from investments on petroleum production, we are certainly using up all of the cheap sources of quality, known oil.
Amory Lovins, one of the frontmen at Rocky Mountain Institute recently received another reward, this time for energy efficiency. He is well aware of all the obstacles to his plans and ideas, most of them being politics and lack of knowledge on the part of engineers and other planners of our economy and infrastructure. An issue with increasing energy efficiency has been that the cheaper and more accessible it is the more a single person will use thus wasting the gains of increasing efficiency.
Mass Media Environmentalism focuses on Global Warming but much else is going on, is this monofocus good? I would say that the monofocus is often productive, but of course more needs to be explained to the public about the many environmental threats that exist today.
Wind energy is on the rise, but remember we can only receive a small fraction of our energy demand from wind, and each turbine takes a colossal amount of steel which carries a heavy environmental price.
The solar cell is becoming more efficient everyday, this is vital to using the sun's energy as a power source. A new solar cell efficiency record was set, it is expensive now but hopefully not in the near future.
Japan continues on with its economy, strengthening itself through technologies of the future, solar cells and big in Japan and on the rise.
Thursday, June 18, 2009
Hiatus
I will not be posting on this blog until the beginning of September.
Check out the last post made before this one though.
There are many posts however and you can search through old posts to find good information and great articles.
Check out the last post made before this one though.
There are many posts however and you can search through old posts to find good information and great articles.
Peruvian Jungle
This was sent to me by a friend living in this jungle in Peru.
Dear Reader,
Espiritu de la Selva (in English, “Spirit of the
Jungle,”) is a group of healers who practice the healing traditions of
the Shipibo culture. The Shipibo are an indigenous group native to the
Peruvian jungle. Currently, Alan Garcia, president of the Peruvian
government, is selling the jungle.
Espiritu de la Selva is dedicated to the preservation of this sacred
land, its people, and natural medicinal plants. This ancient healing
tradition is a product of the interconnectedness between people and
their land. These cultures are currently at risk of destruction.
The Atalaya, Baguas, Loreto, and Ucayali regions of the Peruvian
jungle have always been home to these indigenous communities and have
never been owned or sold before. The land is being divided into 20
regions of 5,000 hectares, a total of 100,000 hectares of unbroken
jungle to be sold bit by bit. This land holds more than 1,850
communities and 3,800 natural medicinal plants.
An oficial version of the conflict states that 9 indigenous peoples
and 35 police officers have died in indigenous terrorist acts of
violence. Alberto Pisango, chief of all native Peruvian tribes, is
said to be the intellectual coordinator of all the attacks. Due to
orders to capture Pisango if he enters the country, he is under the
poitical protection of the Nicaraguan government. Protesting natives
throughout Peru state that they act in defense of themselves and their
land and are considered terrorists. However, a mass burial of 197
natives has been found, 40 natives remain missing, while the actual
toll of police dead is 12. On June 22nd, the government begins sale of
100,000 hectates of the jungle. This land, home to 1,853 indigenous
communities, would be sold to Plus Petrol to be bombed to enable the
extraction of petroleum and natural gas.
Espiritu de la Selva is organizing to buy as many 5000 hectare plots
as it can to create a reserve in which these plants and communities
will be protected. In addition to maintaining the ecological stability
of the regions we seek to protect, we wish to create a shamanic
healing center. Preserving this land and creating this center is the
retiring wish of a respected Shipibo healer who was been practicing
for over 70 years. To make this happen we need your help. Please share
this with those close to you. All donations you can share, small or
great, go directly to buying the land.
Sincerely,
Espiritu de la Selva
Further Reading:
Peru moves to ease Amazon crisis, BBC
http://news.bbc.co.uk/nol/ukfs_news/hi/newsid_8100000/newsid_8104700/8104787.stm
Simon presenta propuesta para derogatoria de DL 1064 y 1090, La Republica
http://www.larepublica.pe/politica/17/06/2009/simon-presenta-propuesta-derogatoria-de-decretos-1064-y-1090
Protesters Gird for Long Fight Over Opening Peru’s Amazon - New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/12/world/americas/12peru.html?_r=1
Dear Reader,
Espiritu de la Selva (in English, “Spirit of the
Jungle,”) is a group of healers who practice the healing traditions of
the Shipibo culture. The Shipibo are an indigenous group native to the
Peruvian jungle. Currently, Alan Garcia, president of the Peruvian
government, is selling the jungle.
Espiritu de la Selva is dedicated to the preservation of this sacred
land, its people, and natural medicinal plants. This ancient healing
tradition is a product of the interconnectedness between people and
their land. These cultures are currently at risk of destruction.
The Atalaya, Baguas, Loreto, and Ucayali regions of the Peruvian
jungle have always been home to these indigenous communities and have
never been owned or sold before. The land is being divided into 20
regions of 5,000 hectares, a total of 100,000 hectares of unbroken
jungle to be sold bit by bit. This land holds more than 1,850
communities and 3,800 natural medicinal plants.
An oficial version of the conflict states that 9 indigenous peoples
and 35 police officers have died in indigenous terrorist acts of
violence. Alberto Pisango, chief of all native Peruvian tribes, is
said to be the intellectual coordinator of all the attacks. Due to
orders to capture Pisango if he enters the country, he is under the
poitical protection of the Nicaraguan government. Protesting natives
throughout Peru state that they act in defense of themselves and their
land and are considered terrorists. However, a mass burial of 197
natives has been found, 40 natives remain missing, while the actual
toll of police dead is 12. On June 22nd, the government begins sale of
100,000 hectates of the jungle. This land, home to 1,853 indigenous
communities, would be sold to Plus Petrol to be bombed to enable the
extraction of petroleum and natural gas.
Espiritu de la Selva is organizing to buy as many 5000 hectare plots
as it can to create a reserve in which these plants and communities
will be protected. In addition to maintaining the ecological stability
of the regions we seek to protect, we wish to create a shamanic
healing center. Preserving this land and creating this center is the
retiring wish of a respected Shipibo healer who was been practicing
for over 70 years. To make this happen we need your help. Please share
this with those close to you. All donations you can share, small or
great, go directly to buying the land.
Sincerely,
Espiritu de la Selva
Further Reading:
Peru moves to ease Amazon crisis, BBC
http://news.bbc.co.uk/nol/ukfs_news/hi/newsid_8100000/newsid_8104700/8104787.stm
Simon presenta propuesta para derogatoria de DL 1064 y 1090, La Republica
http://www.larepublica.pe/politica/17/06/2009/simon-presenta-propuesta-derogatoria-de-decretos-1064-y-1090
Protesters Gird for Long Fight Over Opening Peru’s Amazon - New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/12/world/americas/12peru.html?_r=1
Monday, June 15, 2009
A world looks ahead to a world that will look behind to try to mitigate the decisions that we make today
Peak oil is a public discussion that lacks clarity, the economist gives a short explanation of the economics of oil reserves.
To advance our "sustainable" economy we need hardworking, educated, intelligent people and in the USA we have the institutionally and educationally laziest kids in the developed world.
The "Green Economy" is looking better than other types of job sectors in this recession. I could not find a deffinition for "green jobs" in this article, maybe you can find it.
Water, another resource that we abuse. The positive feedback loops for our resource use is picking up speed and people are beginning to feel the effects of the overuse of water.
Indigenous tribes are usually the recipients of the negative effects of resource exploration and Peru is receiving the current round of indigenous-energy-exploration drama.
Bjorn Lomborg is a climate change skeptic that still cares about humans and the environment, and while sometimes I disagree with him sometimes this article is a great piece on the climate change exaggeration that prevents intelligent public debate.
The US is drafting its first climate change bill and it is not even close to ideal, but it is at least doing something.
To advance our "sustainable" economy we need hardworking, educated, intelligent people and in the USA we have the institutionally and educationally laziest kids in the developed world.
The "Green Economy" is looking better than other types of job sectors in this recession. I could not find a deffinition for "green jobs" in this article, maybe you can find it.
Water, another resource that we abuse. The positive feedback loops for our resource use is picking up speed and people are beginning to feel the effects of the overuse of water.
Indigenous tribes are usually the recipients of the negative effects of resource exploration and Peru is receiving the current round of indigenous-energy-exploration drama.
Bjorn Lomborg is a climate change skeptic that still cares about humans and the environment, and while sometimes I disagree with him sometimes this article is a great piece on the climate change exaggeration that prevents intelligent public debate.
The US is drafting its first climate change bill and it is not even close to ideal, but it is at least doing something.
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