Life Expectancy - Inside Bay Area
Asthma, heart disease and cancer rates are highest in ZIP codes closest to dirtiest roads and businesses.
Toxic Cleaner Fumes Could Contaminate California Classrooms | Environmental Working Group
I hate the smell of cleaning products and have always suspected this sort of thing!
Living the Real Simple Life (ABC Nightline)
family grows all the food they need on a fifth of an acre around their house. they buy no food….
solar panels on the roof, solar powered shower
hand cranked blender
biodiesel car
they sell food to their neighbors
they live on 30K a year - 4 a family of 4
edible flowers
they need rain
they throw potluck dinners to meet other farmers because they want marry off their kids
Environmentalists Seek to Wipe Out Plush Toilet Paper
I am particular about my toilet paper. This story rubs me the wrong way. Some of us like comfort. Forestry isn’t a bad thing. You tax the hell out of it. I’ll still buy it. Just don’t outlaw it.
rumble strips
you know rumble strips are better than speed bumps.
lots of communities have speed bumps to slow traffic, but if you have these cool products that generate energy when cars go over them, that serves a dual purpose, generating energy and slowing traffic
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/10/16/MNR01A6CNT.DTL
solar power can make the desert hotter
kind of funny;
build solar in the desert, and you have lots of black (because the panels are black), which then creates heat, making the desert hotter;
if you put solar panels on a roof that’s already black or darkly colored, you don’t get this problem.
Some Coal Plants Cleanse the Air at the Expense of Waterways - Series - NYTimes.com
residents here complained about the yellow smoke pouring from the tall chimneys of the nearby coal-fired power plant, which left a film on their cars and pebbles of coal waste in their yardsI hate coal plants because of things like this…
So three years ago, when Allegheny Energy decided to install scrubbers to clean the plant’s air emissions, environmentalists were overjoyed.
But the cleaner air has come at a cost. Each day since the equipment was switched on in June, the company has dumped tens of thousands of gallons of wastewater containing chemicals from the scrubbing process into the Monongahela River, which provides drinking water to 350,000 people and flows into Pittsburgh, 40 miles to the north.
no federal regulations specifically govern the disposal of power plant discharges into waterways or landfills.
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The ecological disaster that is dolphin safe tuna
Wow; crazy environmentalists! Look at the data. I love the environment, and I favor a lot of pro-environment type policy, but this well intentioned policy actually seems to be worse for the environment. How does something like this happen?
Inhabitat » Algae-Covered Buildings Boost Biofuel Production
I’ve heard of houses with vines, but this is a new twist - all sorts of possibilities open up if you do this…Could the plants clean the indoor air? Could they produce fuel? Would they restrict your view, and how would you construct a building so that they don’t.
About That CO2/Greenhouse Gas/Cap N Trade Bill-Harvey Waxman
17% reduction in CO2 + equivs by 2020 is a lot.
in that time population grows 10%+
even with the 20% renewable mandate (power plants are only 21% of emmissions)
and the increase in vehicle efficiency (transportation is 14% of emissions)
so where is the rest of the cut gonna come from?
(got those #’s from wikipedia - ha http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenhouse_gas)
It’s tough to think about how to tax carbon. I’ve always liked the European idea of a gas tax, but that doesn’t fly so well here. I also like taxing carbon generated by power plants and home heating fuels but that’s not really a comprehensive solution. So I guess what I’m saying is I’d prefer a tax to a cap n trade thing, and of course, I’d like to tax imported goods too if they fail to come from carbon untaxed countries…but that’s kind of a nightmare to administrate. Tough problem.
Tar Sands and "settlement ponds"
The Oil Drum: Canada | Tar Sands: The Oil Junkie’s Last Fix, Part 2
Tar sands plants typically use two to four barrels of water to extract a barrel of oil. Currently, the water consumption is enough to sustain a city of two million people every year. And after it’s been through the process, the water is toxic with contaminants, so it cannot be released into the environment. Some of it is reused, but vast amounts of it are pumped into enormous settlement ponds to be retained as toxic waste. … And sometimes the fumes coming off the slurry ponds are so bad that the schools have to be shut down.”
Much water is already being recycled using current technology, but current production techniques require 1-2 barrels of “makeup” water per barrel of product.
Surface water flows, principally from the Athabasca River, are simply inadequate to meet forecast needs. And deeper water, from underground aquifers, is saline and must be diluted with fresh water or otherwise desalinated.
a lot of people see tar sands as supplying us with our oil and gas needs as conventional resources dwindle….but this is just gross environmentally. … I’m glad Canada taxes it bigtime, but it still leaves a bit of stench, just reading about it.
And I’m unclear on if that lost water can ever be reclaimed and used again….starting to dislike tar sands more and more…which of course implies a higher and higher tax on them to offset all these environmental issues.
Illuminating the Future of Energy - NYTimes.com
Concentrating solar power stations in deserts, for example, can produce 15 or 20 watts per square meter, on average, year-round, day and night. Germany’s famous solar parks in Bavaria produce about 5 watts per square meter of land area, on average. A hydroelectric facility in Scotland has power per surface area of 11 watts per square meter of lake. Wind farms, if they are in windy locations, produce roughly 2.5 watts per square meter of land or sea, on average. The best energy crops in Europe deliver about 0.5 watt per square meter.
Interesting stats on energy :)
“ More than one quarter of the carbon dioxide from burning fossil fuels enters our oceans, where it makes the water more acidic. Scientists have just recently discovered that this rising acidity is threatening ocean life as we know it. … Ocean acidity has increased an average of 30 percent since the industrial revolution. If we continue to dump carbon dioxide into our seas, ocean acidification could result in a “global osteoporosis,” harming not only commercially important shellfish, such as lobster, crabs, and mussels, but also key species in marine food webs such as corals and plankton. That could send shock-waves up the food chain, threatening fish, birds, and mammals.
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Sigourney Weaver: Taking Acid Test, Our New Documentary, To Capitol Hill
Scary stuff… and who said CO2 legislation was just about climate change?
“ Sheep are being used to trim the weeds around the solar panels, so they are kept completely receptive to the sun. Sheep contribute less to global warming than do gas-powered lawn mowers. The practice of grass and weed management via sheep reportedly comes from Europe. (The United Nations in Geneva is also using sheep to keep its grounds well-manicured, and last year, the city of Turin, Italy brought in sheep to trim their parks, instead of using conventional lawnmowers.) Sheep can reach tight places between solar panels not easily touched by landscaping equipment. Using the shaggy herds could also carry the benefit of creating wool, depending on the type of animal selected.
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Solar Panels Kept Efficient by Sheep! : CleanTechnica
Makes me wonder if people who live in rural areas should sometimes consider livestock in lieu of lawnmowers. I kind of like the idea.
Mosquito Bites: The Real Reason Some People Are Immune - WSJ.com
researchers have identified a handful of the body’s chemical odors—some of which may be related to stress—that are present in significantly larger concentrations in people that the bugs are happier to leave alone.
I like the idea of using natural odors to repel mosquitos.
