Archive for January, 2009
« Previous EntriesVictor! everydaytrash gains a voice
Submitted by everydaytrash
Victor, perhaps blogging
Dear Trashies,
Today is an exciting day for everydaytrash.com. The keen observer may have already noticed that the last post boasts an unfamiliar byline. Please welcome Victor Bernhardtz, eurotipster extraordinaire turned contributing editor extraoridinaire. Based in Stockholm, Sweden, Victor wears many hats: broadcast journalist, blogger, activist, all-around rockstar. He also shares my [...]
Swedish recycling crimes
Submitted by everydaytrash
Living in Sweden, one gets used to recycling. “To not recycle” is one of the things you just don’t_do, should you want to be able to blend in with your average crowd of people. We take it very seriously. A few years ago, municipal authorities brought a 77-year old woman to court for [...]
Weekend Discussion: How Will Farmers Cope?
Submitted by Aguanomics Blog
NOTE: This post will stay here until Sunday night. Posts for Saturday and Sunday morning go below this post.
Dear Aguanauts,
Discussion posts allow you to discuss your beliefs on a topic — to share your understanding, experience and opinions — without worrying about what’s right or what others think. (Check out last week’s [...]
The Cost of Rationing
Submitted by Aguanomics Blog
In previous posts, I have said that rationing (as a response to water “shortage”) is extremely expensive to businesses. This World Bank paper brings numbers to that thought:
The current paper, using firm-level data collected by a business environment assessment survey in 26 countries in Europe and Central Asia, estimates the marginal impacts [...]
End Agricultural Subsidies
Submitted by Aguanomics Blog
Watch this clip from Reason TV:
Among others, Dan Sumner (UC Davis) slams subsidies that waste resources, distort farming decisions and keep too many farmers MBAs in the farm business. But let’s not just end subsidies, let’s also kill the Farm Bill!
Bottom Line: Good farmers grow food to stay in business; bad farmers [...]
Age of Stupid’s fantastic trailer
Submitted by The Low Carbon Kid Blog
Age of Stupid is set to make its impact on March 15th with a London premier and then general release.
Oscar-nominated Pete Postlethwaite (In The Name of the Father, Brassed Off) stars as a man living alone in the devasted world of 2055, looking back at “archive” footage from 2007 [...]
Preparing for Failure
Submitted by Aguanomics Blog
Mayor Sanders of San Diego has announced [PDF] public workshops…
…to help prepare the public for potential cuts to water supplies.
The Department is staging the workshops to discuss and take input on how water allocations for City water customers are being developed.
Here’s what they should discuss — raising the price of water to [...]
Why the Peripheral Canal Will Happen
Submitted by Aguanomics Blog
The simple answer is that politicians want it to happen — no matter what the economists say. (The fact that some economists also support the PC is practically irrelevant; notice how Schwarzenegger is pushing for the PC without waiting for any scientific or economic justification.)
This case reminds me of when politicians ignored [...]
Groundwater Banks Bleg
Submitted by Aguanomics Blog
KD asks:
Our organization is examining potential conjunctive water management projects in the Sacramento basin and one of the issues that has been identified is the impact this will have on third-party groundwater users. I’m trying to look into how other groundwater banks (Kern, Arvin Edison, Semitropic, Yuba) have addressed this issue in [...]
Repost of TDP: The Next Big Thing
Submitted by R-Squared Energy Blog
Because of the upcoming IPO for Changing World Technologies (See this story at Seeking Alpha) the articles that I wrote on the company are getting quite a bit of traffic. I thought I would bump them to the top for a review of who they are, what they do, and where [...]
“Rubbish is our life.”
Submitted by everydaytrash
Regardless of the nuances of international debates, I think all sides can agree it sucks to live in Gaza.
Remeber the sewage floods a couple years ago? Or that story about the Red Cross having so much trouble bringing contstruction materials into the area that they turned to recycling rubble?
Ever-resourceful, the people of Gaza [...]
How Much Water Do Farmers Use?
Submitted by Aguanomics Blog
In my post yesterday, I questioned the meaning of “use” when farmers do not receive all of the benefits of the water they divert.
Today, I want to question the accounting for water diversions.
Say that a farmer applies 10AF of water to his fields. If 2AF are consumed and offgassed by the plants, [...]
Sludge on Your Veggies
Submitted by Aguanomics Blog
“A nationwide survey of sewage treatment plants shows that the sludge they produce–the residue from cleaning up wastewater–contains a wide variety of toxic metals, pharmaceuticals, flame retardants, and other compounds, including some antibiotics in surprisingly high concentrations. That’s significant because every year more than half of the roughly 7 million metric tons [...]
Clearing the Backlog, Part I
Submitted by Aguanomics Blog
Here are some quickies:
IID ranchers complain that they need more water. That sounds like BS to me. Why are there 400,000 cows in the desert?
Engineers are going to cut down 900 trees (many native oaks) to build levees to protect real estate developments in a flood plain. Why are people living in [...]
Climate change, George Monbiot, Agas, oil, blame, and guilt
Submitted by The Low Carbon Kid Blog
Unusually for this blog, I’m directing you to a poem - on my other blog - about climate change - I like playing games - but not the Blame Game . The attitudes of some greenies really pisses me off. So this is about climate change, George Monbiot, Agas, [...]
dash weh yuh trash
Submitted by everydaytrash
I just saw this amazing reggae recycling video on Visible Trash. Little Shiva always finds the quirkiest stuff. And why does everything sound better in a Caribbean accent??
Rating 3.00 out of 5
[?]
Tire Furniture
Submitted by everydaytrash
Brazilian nonprofit makes furniture from scrap tires
Keith R. over at The Temas blog sent me this link to photos he’s posted from a Brazilian organization called Vida Amiga whose members take old tires and fashion them into furniture, then sell the furniture. Recycling plus skills building = double sustainable. I love stories that [...]
Climate Change & Coastal Ecosystems Workshop
Submitted by Aguanomics Blog
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service & U.S. Geological Survey are sponsoring a free Workshop on Climate Change, Natural Resources and Coastal Management. It’s in San Francisco THIS Thursday and Friday. Looks like a lot of science but no social science…
Rating 3.00 out of 5
[?]
Poll Results — Oil Prices
Submitted by Aguanomics Blog
Hey! There’s a NEW POLL (water wasters!) to the right —->
Oil Hit $140/bbl because of (choose 1 or more)
US politics
14 votes
Iraq
3 votes
The Strategic Reserve
1 vote
Spectators
46 votes
Oil Companies
14 votes
Oil Exporting Nations
10 votes
Supply-Chain Problems
11 votes
Politics elsewhere
4 votes
Surges in Demand
26 votes
Animal Spirits
13 votes
These poll results [...]
Farmers Don’t Use Much Water
Submitted by Aguanomics Blog
This post is important and perhaps paradigm shifting. Let’s see if you agree…
It’s conventional wisdom that farmers “use” 70-80 percent of all developed* water supplies. But farmers do not use water in the same way as municipal and industrial (M&I) users do. When I use water to flush the toilet, that water [...]
Sparse Rain and Bad Management
Submitted by Aguanomics Blog
The Weather and Climate Newsletter from California’s Department of Water Resources has the bad news:
a few showery days, and 6-12″ of snow (2-3″ water equivalent) aren’t going to cut it. Estimates are we’d need another 20-30″ of liquid (upwards of 20-30 FEET of snow) by April 1st to reach average runoff. That [...]
Why Gas Prices are Rising Again
Submitted by R-Squared Energy Blog
Every time gas prices start to go up, my essay “Why Are Gas Prices Rising?” gets a lot of hits from Google searches by people looking for an explanation. Because the supply/demand dynamics have changed, that essay needs dusting off, especially in light of stories like this:
Pros puzzled by gas prices
Fuel [...]
Emission allowance auction to be held as price crashes
Submitted by The Low Carbon Kid Blog
The second auction in Phase II of the European Union’s Emissions Trading System will be held on behalf of the government on 24th March.
But the scheme has come under attack again, as the owners of registered installations - large energy generators, cement manufacturers, chemical plants and the like - [...]
Pigouvian Tax Fail?
Submitted by Aguanomics Blog
NW asks:
I understand very well the rationale for taxation to reduce pollution such as greenhouse gases. However, from an economics point of view, is that the only arsenal for controlling pollution? Are there instances when Pigouvian taxes just don’t work, and that an outright ban is needed? If so, how do you [...]
Mos Def’s “New World Water”
Submitted by Aguanomics Blog
These lyrics cover a lot of ground….
There’s nothing more refreshing (that cool refreshing drink)
Than a cool, crisp, clean glass of water
On a warm summer’s day (That cool refreshing drink)
Try it with your friends
New World Water make the tide rise high
Come inland and make your house go “Bye” (My house!)
Fools done upset the [...]
