Stand As One

A Snapshot of "Do Nothing" Farming

2010-03-02T08:57:00.000-08:00

(Concept from the book "Biomimicry," covered in detail in the book "The One Straw Revolution")

I wanted to throw this out to highlight some of the positive actions going on that counter the destructive nature of mass-farming. Almost 60 years ago now, in Japan, a guy named Masanobu Fukuoka was weeding the family farm. He noticed a rice plant growing on its own in a ditch, coming up earlier than the rice that had been planted in the surrounding fields. The thing he noticed, besides it's early sprout, was that it was growing in a patch of fallen rice stalks, not on the bare, cultivated field.

Over the next 30 years he took this observation and molded it into one of Asia's premiere sustainable farming techniques. He's learned to maintain his farm with almost no labor while its yields are among the highest in Japan.

Starting with a standing rice crop, he seeds the soil with clover. A little while later he seeds the same area with barley and rye. When the rice is ready, he harvests it and throws the rice straw on top of the field. The clover is well-established at this time, and it works to keep weeds in check and maintain nitrogen levels in the dirt. Rye and barley come up through the straw and clover. Fukuoka then seeds the field with rice and harvests the rye and barley. Then the rice comes up and he repeats...and blammo! - he's got a self-running system that fertilizes and cultivates on its own.

No time spent weeding, cultivating, or fertilizing, Minimal water use. Fukuoka brings in 22 rice bushels and 22 bushels of winter grains each year on a quarter acre of land. Other farmers have picked this up and this method is used throughout Japan and on over a million acres in China.

This method works just like nature. His soil is rich, not depleted. The plants healthy, not in need of new chemicals every year. The dirt holds in the water, so the soil does not erode off the fields. And he's saved his own personal time, money and effort while he yields crops equal to or greater than conventional methods. Win/win all the way around.

It's odd that even though this technique is 30 years old, most of us are just hearing about it in the United States recently. But the good news there is that this method can be done on a small scale, in backyards and small farms around the world. It could also be done on a large scale, if there was a will to do so. Would provide a lot more labor jobs that could be paid for with money saved on fertilizers and chemicals.

A Brief Summary of Unsustainable Farming

2010-02-24T15:49:00.000-08:00

(Concepts from the book Biomimicry).

With the documentary Dirt: The Movie coming out, it seems relevant to throw around some topsoil ideas. Well, at least to me anyway. Humans started farming 10,000 years ago, and over that time we've co-evolved with our crops, to where they are now mostly dependent on us for their survival, and us on them. Over that time and especially in the last 100 years, we've inadvertently made them weak by using pesticides, we've isolated them from other biodiversity, and stripped the topsoil of most of its nutrients, replacing them with fertilizer.

I was surprised to learn that topsoil is not a renewable resource (in the relevant near-term). Once it is washed away or poisoned with pesticides and herbicides, it takes thousands of years to rebuild. Each time the soil is plowed, its complexity is diminished, and it is less rich. It also loses its ability to clump, which, in normal topsoil, allows water to run down to roots. Instead, farmed topsoil packs tight and cannot hold water. The ground dries and the topsoil blows away as dust. Since the rain can't go into the dirt, it pulls the soil with it to the streams and rivers. Worldwide, from 5 to 100 tons of topsoil per acre per year are lost.

Most topsoil on farms today is just a shadow of its former black, rich prairie or forest soil. Most of the fungi and microorganisms are gone. In many places we're already mixing into the layer of subsoil beneath the topsoil. So we add fertilizer, which runs off into our estuaries and poisons them. We attack insects and weeds with chemicals, something that worked in the short term but today insects and weeds are evolving around the chemicals. Each year a few survive, and those come back so that the more chemicals you use, the more chemicals you need to use. Since 1945, for example, pesticide use has gone up 3,300% to 2.2 billion pounds of pesticides each year - and crop loss from pests has increased 20% since then. So to boost production, we throw on 20 million tons of anhydrous ammonium fertilizer each year. All of this activity makes agriculture the number 1 polluting industry in the USA - doesn't that seem a bit odd? Growing food is the most damaging thing to our nation's land. Amazing, ain't it?

More later.

Confessions of a Radical Industrialist

2010-02-17T16:04:00.000-08:00

From base year 1996 through 2008, Interface cut net greenhouse gas emissions not by Kyoto's 7%, but by 71% in absolute tons. During the same time period, their sales increased by two-thirds and their earnings doubled.

Do you consider yourself a "successful" business person? Are you a "cutthroat" industrialist? A cold-eyed, shrewd, bottom-line, profit-driven capitalist? Great! Now, are you tuned in to sustainable business, what it is, and how it works? If you're thinking "not so much," or "treehugger bullcrap," or "Al Gore," then you definitely need to stop thinking those things and check out this book - or you won't be competitive for long and you'll be easily outmaneuvered in the market.

Ray Anderson is the founder and leader of Interface Global, a $1B+ company that has been manufacturing floor carpet tiles since 1973. Making carpet is an industry that relies heavily on oil for petrochemicals and transportation, and on fossil fuels that run manufacturing equipment. For 20 years Interface ran like any other manufacturer, using cheap oil and adhering to the required governmental environmental regulations, which it saw as a pain and a liability. It polluted and did not consider any environmental factors in its production cycle. If you're familiar with manufacturing or business in general, you know that this is the norm.

In 1994, however, Anderson set the goal of being completely sustainable by 2020. They didn't have a clue where they were going, or if the technology existed or not, or even what they meant by sustainable at the time. They knew it had to do with their raw materials, the energy they used, materials they wasted or threw away, scrap, and where their product ended up (landfills). Anderson set high level, general goals for all Interface associates. "We need to be 100% sustainable by 2020." By harnessing the creative power of the people at Interface who are intimate with every aspect of day-to-day business, they are almost there. From base year 1996 through 2008, Interface cut net greenhouse gas emissions not by Kyoto's 7%, but by 71% in absolute tons. During the same time period, their sales increased by two-thirds and their earnings doubled. The main financial drivers for their increased ability to compete in their market have been driven by their sustainability goals.

Anderson has written a road map for any business to follow, based on nearly 20 years of proven bottom line results in the pursuit of sustainability. Do you hear people say a manufacturing plant can't run on solar power for a profit? They already are. How about a plant that harnesses landfill/methane gas from under a landfill at a profit? Interface is doing it in Georgia, turning a government liability into a local government revenue stream and a for-profit power source for manufacturing. Have you accepted the fact that business has to pollute to make a profit? It's interesting to note, then, that there are manufacturing plants today where the water leaving the plant is cleaner than the water entering.

Interface has also looked to the discipline biomimicry - examining nature for engineering solutions - to solve engineering challenges, and have come up with far-reaching new products that opened up new markets and new revenue streams, such as eliminating the need for glue during carpet installation by researching how geckos walk on glass and ceilings.

For those that might think that this is just some freak $1B+ company, Interface has been instrumental in influencing companies like Walmart, who are now starting to walk down the same path to sustainable operations. Walmart is the third largest company in the world, and few if any would argue that they are not profit-minded and profit-central in their outlook. So when Walmart decides to change (and change all of its suppliers), then it has far-reaching implications in how business is done. And luckily there are many more examples each year. Sustainability makes a company lean, tight, more competitive, more marketable, a better place to work (thus drawing the best talent), and years ahead of any government regulations, even decades. Sustainability looks at the people who live where your materials come from, the people that work for you, your customers, and all the people you impact in any way.

The bottom line is that when a company looks at sustainability variables, they find new revenue streams and more efficient operations. If you're in business, whether in an office, or manufacturing, or service, then this book is a must read to keep your long term competitive edge.

Pale Blue Dot

2009-08-11T06:58:00.000-07:00

I grew up reading and watching Carl Sagan. This short segment of the Cosmos television series represents some of the best content ever developed for TV, and sums up the idea behind this small blog effort.

Fungus Attacking Bats

2009-03-12T17:37:00.000-07:00

Photo Credit: New York Department of Environmental Conservation

One of the points of this blog is to learn, show, and communicate about how things are linked together and thus why they matter to humans at all. "White-nose syndrome" is a fungus that is attacking and killing bats in the US northeast, starting in New England and over the last year spreading down into PA and West Virginia. It was found that 11,000 bats died in Albany NY in 2006. As the disease spreads, researchers are finding that as many as 90% of the bats in a given cave are dying after infection.

So who the hell cares? I mean, bats! Stupid flying night mice!

Well here's an interesting way to look at it:

There's a communicable disease currently attacking a mammal population with a 90% fatality rate (something like Ebola to humans).
Bats make up fully one quarter of all mammals on the planet Earth
Diseases can jump from bats to humans in several ways, either direct, or bats can serve as a host for a virus, a reservoir for a virus like Ebola, for example.

I'm not directly implying that humans will start to get itchy white noses and then fall down dead 90% of the time (although it could be remotely possible). But...disease can mutate and spread between species, or it could open disease opportunities in bats for something else that then mutates to a direct or indirect infection in humans or our livestock. Bats are currently threatened by many different human activities as well, as is very well detailed in this article, and therefore should this disease help to speed their demise, then as bats die they will leave voids in their respective ecosystems. When a void occurs in nature, other organisms move in to fill that gap, and the population exponentially expands for whatever moves into the void. That organism(s) could be dangerous to humans and/or our food crops.

Then, think of all the insects that bats eat. Bats help keep insect populations in check. Take away the bats, and insect populations may explode depending on the location, and if mosquito or other harmful insect populations swell, then harm to humans increases and if the bats don't come back, the threat may become permanent, expand, and evolve into new opportunities for disease.

Additionally, bats contribute largely to plant pollination. Since plants are the main source of food (directly or indirectly) for all animals, then this is a pretty obvious concern, especially when coupled with the mysterious illness that is attacking another great pollinator, the bees.

Like a football game, or a competitive company, or just working hard, it's the small things that add up to a win or a loss. And now, many little things are piling up on the world's bat populations (as with bees and thousands of other species). And these things will, over time, begin impacting people, as many have already. Then the little things will begin piling up on our backs.

No illness related to white-nosed syndrome has been linked to human sickness, so there is no need for people to run out and begin mass-murdering bats. The main point, I think, is that, when researchers figure out what's causing the disease, that we work to help bats and prevent the disease from decimating bat populations, because they are valuable to the ecosystems that we are evolved to live in, and if they go away, the ecosystem will change, and most likely that won't be in our favor. We're losing bats, bees, songbirds, frogs...too much too fast, and we may not just miss these animals, we might find out--too late--that we needed them.

Here are a few places that I'm just beginning to investigate:

Bat Conservation International: http://www.batcon.org/
Organization for Bat Conservation (must be tough to answer the phone there) http://www.batconservation.org/
Bat Conservation and Management http://www.batmanagement.com/

And then there's tons of stuff in state governments and other places too, you can find more info based on your location. I think I'll start with something easy like a bat house.

Electric Vehicles and 2-Way Grid Closer Than Thought

2008-11-14T20:34:00.000-08:00

Great article in Forbes on the smart garage concept going to market in two years or so. The idea behind smart garage is that people drive electric or plug-in hybrid vehicles that we not only charge up at night, but also sell energy produced by the vehicle back into the grid. The consumer will also be able to specify what type of electricity they want to purchase for their vehicle, for example, solar and wind only. The article explains it better than I can here, definitely worth the read.

More on the smart garage concept here at RMI Move, the folks that developed it.

New Honda Insight

2008-10-23T23:42:00.000-07:00

I can't rave enough about my 2000 Insight, which now has about 180,000 miles on it. So, even though I likely won't be buying one the first year (since mine is paid for), I like the direction Honda is going with its newly designed Insight. Sales of the 2-seater, teardrop-shaped Insight were dropping steadily with 2,000 units in 2005 and only a thousand in 2006, despite the vehicle's 59-high 60's mileage and terrific performance, and the car is no longer in production. So, Honda updated the car, as you see above, and has scheduled an April 2009 release.

The new Insight should come on the market around $19,000, which is pretty affordable, especially if there are Federal and State tax incentives in place. Where the original Insight was a perfect commuter car, the new Insight is more practical. It has plenty of room for 5 passengers, and is a hatchback. Honda has launched a blog for the Insight as it moves into production for those who want to keep current on all the happenings. Otherwise check back here and I'll update with bigger news items.

EOL Using MS Photosynth to display species

2008-09-19T18:43:00.000-07:00

The Encyclopedia of Life (EOL) teamed up with Microsoft Photosynth to help document the details of species so that others can remotely view details of various species from anywhere around the world. It's pretty cool. You can zoom in to see the scales on a butterfly, or the minute details of a beetle, as well as nice shots of microorganisms, etc.

Photosynth is free and takes a short time to download, and you can use it to make your own synths of whatever objects you want. You can download digital images of documented species from the EOL site.

Discussion with a Nuclear Engineer

2008-09-19T11:47:00.000-07:00

So I happened to run into a nuclear engineer the other day who works at one of our great nation's nuclear power facilities. To make a long story shorter, we had not met before but were cleaning up debris from Hurricane Hanna, and were raking in the same general vicinity. He kept looking over and not raking, which of course is the universal human signal for "let's take a break." So I walked over and introduced myself and we talked about storms, health care, the military, biological weapons, American presidents, Russia/Georgia, and on most of these topics we generally agreed. Then we got to "energy."

This guy's a nuclear engineer, so he starts talking about nuclear power and how great it is. You could store all the waste of the world's plants on/in the space of 4 football fields. Nuclear power is clean. Many people are against nuclear power but they don't understand the details and just listen to the biased politicians and media. I asked him to elaborate on each of these points, and when he got to "Nuclear power is safe," I sort of pushed that one a bit. After 2 "oh sure it's safe" comments, he gave up and edged a bit closer to me, squinching up his nose a bit, "Look, of course it's not safe. It's not safe. But there are no alternatives." I found this point of view just fascinating. First of all, the guy is a nuclear advocate and has worked in nuke plants for a very long time. Then, after minimal prodding from a stranger, he burps out that nuclear power is not so safe after all.

But then to add that there is "no alternative," well that was too much for me just to smile and agree with everything, so I asked about combinations of wind, solar, conservation, design improvements, etc. Nope, he says, none of that stuff works. Solar is no good. I said that I knew folks - in Washington state, further north than Germany - who were running fully on solar power and solar/wind combinations and selling their excess power back to the grid, and he's like "no." I say, "Yes, it's true. And that's in a cloudy place! Think of what they could do in Vegas, Arizona, Florida, places like that."

And he says, "Well, I really need to get back to my raking," and ends the conversation. Just like that.

The point of that story is simply to share my observation of the discussion. Here's a guy who's career is squarely in the energy field - I would call him an "Energy Professional." And he's either completely ignorant of the performances of various energy forms, or is blatantly lying about them. After saying that nuclear power is misjudged in the media, he promptly agrees (off the record, of course) with what the media charges, then goes on to try to smear alternative forms of energy that are actually being proven to work in the field.

And this, my friends, highlights one of the core problems in human society today. Informed people are taking advantage of uninformed people. And it's like a game where they just keep saying the false message over and over enough times that people who are too busy, lazy, or ignorant to learn about it will eventually say, "Nuclear power is safe and clean, and wind and solar are just pie-in-the-sky technologies and will not work." This tactic of misinformation, in times when the complexity of technology is growing exponentially and everyday people find it harder and harder to keep up with it, is setting up the human race for catastrophe. And we're headed down this path not just in the energy field, but also in terms of climate change, warfare, disease, economics, justice, health care, and just about every major branch of science.

I think we need not just a more educated population in the US and abroad, but we also need more transparency. Above all, we need to start to see that we are all stuck together on the same globe. At some point, competition at all costs will negatively impact humans instead of helping to strengthen the herd.

Co-habitating with unlikely native species

2008-09-12T13:19:00.000-07:00

This summer, a hornet nest started under the eave of the roofline closest to our front door, perhaps 10 feet from the door itself, so pretty close. Since people and dog play under this location, I originally thought I would have to exterminate the nest to eliminate any risk. This led me to search for and find an non-toxic wasp and hornet killer, which was a good find. It's made by Victor and you can get it at Ace Hardware. This product uses mint oil to kill all wasps in the nest without any toxic risk to humans or pets. So, I was ready to go to war, but each time I stood piosed beneath the nest after dark, ready to deal death, I hesitated , and went back inside.

Thing is, they weren't bothering us in the least. The nest started out as a small attachment that quickly grew to a ball about the size of a soccer ball, but they curved the entrance of the nest away from the front door, and towards the woods, where they would file off throughout the day to find food. They would look at us once in a while but not in the wierd way that a single wasp does when she's guarding her young. These guys were just too busy, fanning the nest in the heat, talking, running to the woods, and entering the nest. So I just let it grow and grow, with the idea that if they drew first blood, they would immediately die a minty death.

But they never bothered us, and since we don't have any bee sting allergies in our house, we let them stay. One day in early September, the nest was quiet and a small hole (visible in photo) seems to show where the queen left to find a spot to overwinter, since they don't winter in the nest. Therefore, I think that with this particular species of wasp (which I have yet to identify), I can let them summer on the house, which is just another small step I can take to make our house more friendly to the native species that we have displaced. This winter I'll go up and carefully cut the nest down to use as a natural history study aid for our son.

Overall, seems like a win/win, where before I was hell-bent on just eliminating the nest when it appeared. This situation is compounded when I read that most if not all bees, wasps, hornets, etc. are overall beneficial to your yard and to the ecosystem in general. The more native species we can keep around the house that don't pose a threat, the less of a negative impact our living has on the land that we've taken from native species. Our goal is to bring/keep as much of the plant and animal life that lived there before we got there living alongside us. This is a small way to maintain biodiversity in whatever area in which you live.

Botanical Architecture (I guess)

2008-09-05T08:09:00.000-07:00

Not sure what the formal title for making walls and roofs with plants on them, but it includes green roofing. This is a subject I'm just starting to learn about, but this building is particularly interesting both architecturally and sustainably, so makes a good example.

This structure is a store in Seoul, Korea for clothing designer Ann Demeulemeester. It was designed by Mass Studies and more pics can be seen here. I can't find too much detailed information on it as far as maintenance or numbers, etc.

The exterior on the sides shown are comprised of a geotextile that supports soft, green stemmed (not woody) perennials. In a cold climate these plants will die back in winter but return each spring.

New milk jug design

2008-08-07T14:54:00.000-07:00

Okay, maybe not the most exciting entry, but it's the little things that add up dammit. Smart design is the best way to squeeze out efficiencies in a system, in this case, milk in the refrigerated supply chain. If you shop at Costco or Sam's Club you've seen these already.

The new design eliminates plastic milk crates, which is a huge materials and shipping weight/space savings off the bat. (If the crates go away, I'm not sure what kids will use to build shelves out of, but there's always cinder blocks.) Since the new jugs stack relatively flat, they can be stacked up on a pallet and shipped with simple wrapping procedures.

Costco estimates the new design cuts water use in half and has a large impact on shipping fuel costs. For example, 224 gallons of milk can now be stored in a space that used to only be able to hold 80 gallons. This means more milk stored in less refrigerated space on a truck or in a warehouse or store, further saving on energy used in each store and coolants used with each refrigeration system in the supply chain.

What I find surprising is how much people are whining about these things. I agree, the first time you see them you're like "What is that?" Then, you buy it, take it home, and you try to pour it, and you spill a bunch on the counter. Frustrating, yes. But, being primates that learn very quickly, all one has to do is try to pour it again, using a different method, and Bammo! you find that you can pour it. Just takes a little change in technique. Consumer confusion and anger is so great that Sams' is actually giving CLASSES on how to pour milk from the new jug, the method of which is simply to leave the bottom of the container on the counter when you start pouring from a new jug. I mean, you could print that on the dang label.

A lot of the folks complaining sort of illustrate the problem we humans face as we grapple with ever-speeding technologies. You hear things like "I know they're doing it because they're easier to stack and it's more convenient, but these are hard to pour and I like the old jugs." So, they not only misunderstand the implications of why the new design exists (lower water use, fuel use, plastic requirements, labor, reduced energy consumption, etc.) but they just don't like change either. I was shocked by all the blogs that go on and on about these jugs, making comparisons to Borg spacecraft and whatever else, and worried to death that children won't be able to pour milk from them. Look, if children can learn to shoot an AK-47, or operate a video game at age 4, they can learn to pour some milk from a new-fangled jug. Ya know? You'd think we'd have bigger fish to fry. Let's just accept the new design, and get on with our lives.

It's no wonder global warming, nuclear war, starvation, disease, biodiversity, and a host of other issues are so elusive to so many of us - we have folks in the herd struggling with a new milk jug. But I'm not making fun of the people (too much), because ultimately people have to adopt change in the free market, or things won't change.

The overall point is that these are the types of non-glamorous design improvements that, little by little, add up to improved efficiencies. All of the small improvements then make things like hyrbid tractor trailers, which Wal-Mart is working on, provide larger returns on investment, which makes their costs come down towards profit margins higher than existing technologies, which means the free market will use them to compete better.

Encyclopedia of Life

2008-07-30T21:39:00.000-07:00

I heard about the Encyclopedia of Life (EOL) through an appearance by E.O. Wilson in Seattle last year. EOL launched in February, but I'm just now getting caught up with it. This site is a world-wide collaborative effort to document all of the species of life on Earth. Everyone from established institutions to dedicated individuals are encouraged to contribute.

The overall goal of the site is to "Increase our collective understanding of life on Earth, and safeguard the richest possible spectrum of biodiversity." Biodiversity is a critical element of long-term survival of humans on Earth.

More on this as I learn about it, but it's pretty cool that anyone can research and learn about all the known species of life on the planet. I think in February the site launched with 30,000 listings. For now, enjoy this small image of Nelson's Anchovy.

Honda Insight

2008-07-29T23:09:00.001-07:00

Since I have an Insight and people ask about it, I thought I'd post some general information about our experience so far. I got this car in 2000, recieving state and federal tax breaks, and it currently has 175,000 miles on it. The vehicle is a 2-seater that weighs 1,887 lbs. We have maintained larger cars for family requirements, so this has been used as a commuter in the Balt/DC, western PA, and WA state areas.

Miliage varies depending on terrain and maintenance. The lowest has been 49 mpg, the highest average 62 mpg. I was getting 49 mpg in western PA where the terrain is very hilly, there's a lot of snow, and where I needed to repair an O2 sensor and some other items that were bringing miliage down. The overall average has been between 59 and 62 mpg. I have a heavy foot as well, but if a driver follows speed limits, for example, then miliage goes up just like with any vehicle.

The car drives and maintains like any gas car. It has a 3 cylinder gas engine and an electric engine that pulls energy from a battery. The battery is powered by friction/heat energy captured from the front axle when the car slows down in gear, so the electric is all free power that is otherwise wasted as friction/heat. Maintenance can go every 7,000 miles, but I take it in every 3,500 or so. Oil change costs the same as other cars, and it uses synthetic oil.

As far as speed, I can merge into traffic with ease since the Insight accelerates very rapidly, and I can cruise smoothly at high rates of speed. I’ve driven tens of thousands of miles on the Baltimore and DC beltways, up and down I-95 on the east coast, and on I-5 in WA, and have excellent performance at speeds up to and exceeding 85 mph. Many small cars shimmy and sway over a certain speed and I’ve not found that with the Insight.

After 175,000 miles, I’ve had one major repair on the Insight, the replacement of the large battery above the rear wheels. To Honda’s credit and my pleasant surprise, the manufacturer replaced this battery free of charge. The replacement came when the vehicle was at 130,000 miles. Many critics site battery replacement as a major hurtle to buying a hybrid, however at 130,000 miles this car had already outlived my three previous vehicles. Therefore, even if I had chosen not to repair the battery, the Insight would still have beaten the best of my previous three cars by over 25,000 miles. On all three previous cars, engines eventually died and were either replaced or the car was scrapped. So, a person has the option of simply trading the car in or scrapping it when the battery fails, or repairing it like they would a transmission, engine, or other major problem that so many cars have as they approach/exceed 100,000 miles.

Complaints are mostly directed at the interior. The seats are nothing like, say a VW Passat's, and they can hurt your back on long rides or day after day. Also, the interior is a bit on the cheap side. But that's about it. Overall, I'm glad I bought and will drive it as long as I can or until I can afford something that performs better.

Fabrik Bamboo and Recycled Aluminum Hard Drive

2008-07-28T08:44:00.000-07:00

Fabrik has announced a new hard drive that sells for around $150 that has an external chassis made from bamboo with other components made from recycled aluminum. The design has changed so that rippled sides act as a heat sink and therefore the unit does not require a fan, lowering energy requirements as well. Bamboo is a renewable resource that is stronger than maple and many other types of wood. The unit's packaging is made from recycled materials and has been re-engineering to be just the minimum necessary to package the hard drive.

Read the press release here and think about supporting these guys if you need a new drive.

RMI's MOVE Solutions and BET

2008-07-25T20:55:00.000-07:00

The Rocky Mountain Institute is one of the organizations that really puts its money where its mouth is and delivers hardcore results. RMI was one of the leaders in the development of hybrid-electric cars and is currently leading the charge into the world of the ultra-light vehicle that meets or exceeds current safety requirements. RMI works directly with industry and government for everything they do, and develop profit-based solutions, not push-down government regulation.

They have launched two new web sites to communicate information, one for transportation, called MOVE, located here http://move.rmi.org/

and another one called Built Environment Team (BET) that I have to research before I post on, but it's here http://bet.rmi.org/

More on both later.

Plastic Grocery Bags

2008-07-16T19:19:00.000-07:00

Heck, I 'members me back in 1983 or 84 being a bagger/stockboy at Safeway, when all's we had was the paper bags, y'know. Then came 'long plastic. Plastic was supposed to be better than paper, because paper was killing trees. Then they say plastic is bad because of the oil consumption and also the endless long-term litter and impacts on wildlife. Some people point to to things like this and say "See? Environmentalists don't even know what the hell they're talking about!" When really the issue is, disposable bags, not what they're made out of. And the bigger issue is just consumption of resources, in general.

So I remember hearing that platic bags are harmul a number of years back and thought, "Whatever," because what the hell can you do? Well, I still don't know what to do, but I'm thinking about it for a few reasons.

One is the numbers. 5 trillion plastic bags are used worldwide annually, and they end up everywhere. They're also filling up landfills. That tied in with this PPT that I'm sure many of you have seen, that I got from my sister last week, located here: http://www.mobilebaynep.com/site/Forefront/TheDangersofPlasticBags.pdf

After I viewed that, I remembered that, in the Pacific Ocean, there is a floating island of plastic and trash that is estimated to be twice the size of Texas. That's frickin' big. Texas takes a long time to drive across going 80 mph. Imagine that times two, floating around in the damn ocean. I can barely imagine it. More on that here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Pacific_Garbage_Patch and another good article here http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2007/10/19/SS6JS8RH0.DTL&type=politics The crazy thing is that nobody has photographed this thing, or at least I can't find any pics easily.

So, all those things added up in my head, and now I'm going to look for, select, and implement and substitute for disposable food shopping bags. Then I'll post an update here.

Folks are switching back to paper because that recycles better, so for now that's a start, but I'm wondering about bags you take to the store and use over and over. I think I'll start by looking at hemp bags.

Reframing the Oil Debate

2008-07-16T10:46:00.001-07:00

Currently the oil debate is framed into two sides. One side says oil is $4/gallon and rising, so that means we need to tap into domestic sources including ANWR and offshore drilling. This side also tries to go to large oil producing nations and asks them to please lower their prices. This side also states that China and Cuba are allowed to drill in our offshore waters, but that, due to environmentalists, we’re not allowed to. Today the ban on offshore drilling was lifted by the President, even as his own White House spokesman admitted to reporters that it would have no impact on either drilling or gas prices (But the President strongly suggested that it would lower gas prices, and that only Congress stands in the way of lower gas prices now. In the same press conference, Bush acknowledges that we need to move away from oil but falsely states that this new direction doesn’t help anything short term so we need a short term fix – offshore drilling – even while he knows that will not impact prices or supply. This type of game-playing with factual information, regardless of what party does it, damages the human race).

The other side says oil is $4/gallon and rising, and we need to explore alternative sources of energy. There is not a lot of substance on this side of the argument either, but it has this general flavor to it of some sort of new direction.

One thing that’s interesting is that, no matter which side you’re on, you can see there is not much in favor of oil. At one time, it was a great energy source, back when it was cheap and plentiful and safe to acquire. Now, it’s expensive and getting more so, it threatens U.S. national security on multiple levels, it’s damaging our environment, and on top of that the supply is running out. Also, an oil economy keeps new jobs stagnated, except any created for new offshore oil rigs.

But it seems to me that the debate, like so many debates in this country, is about the wrong aspect of the problem. The question to me seems to be “Do we want more oil?” and based on what I can see, we really don’t. What’s the point? Since supply is limited, we’ll be here again X years from now. And it’s obvious that we’re throwing money away when it comes to oil security spending, and in fact are spending billions to chip away at our nations’ security over the course of decades, and of course speeding up with the latest Iraq war.

The debate should really be about effective transportation that provides more benefit than loss. It should be about increasing national security instead of eroding it. It should be about creating new jobs, new technologies, and a new international competitive edge for the U.S., instead of continuing to retard that growth.

I’ll post more on this topic as far as solutions.