Archive for February, 2009
« Previous EntriesMore Reality Checks for Algal Biodiesel
Submitted by R-Squared Energy Blog
I have to admit, when I first heard about algal biodiesel, I thought it was really an incredible concept. As time went by and I learned a bit more, reality sank in. The reality was brought on by Krassen Dimitrov’s analysis of Greenfuel Technologies and their algae claims, as well as [...]
Pre-Consumer Plastic
Submitted by PlasticLess.com Blog
The profitability of food retailing is very dependent on maximizing efficiencies throughout the supply chain. One strategy that I have been noticing more and more is the use of heavy plastic shrink wrap to bundle individual items into one big armload.
Grouping items together like this is important for products that are shipped [...]
Weekend Discussion: Ecosystem Services
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 [...]
Awful Plastic Surgery
Submitted by PlasticLess.com Blog
Photo Credit: GregPC
The most fame that this little blog ever got was when I got criticized (I think) for suggesting a vasectomy as a way of reducing plastic consumption. This was in print in Mother Jones. A blogger who writes positively about the plastics industry read the article and wrote a post [...]
America’s soft toilet paper addiction
Submitted by everydaytrash
Eco-Libris (the company you can pay a modest fee to plant a tree for every book you read) is trying to get a conversation going around the latest installment of Greenpeace’s Recycled Tissue and Toilet Paper Guide. Check out the debate on the Eco-Libris blog.
Rating 3.00 out of 5
[?]
The Economist …
Submitted by everydaytrash
…has a very troublesome map over the plastic soup melange in the Pacific. Note that there are 100 million tonnes of trash floating around, dubbed “Eastern Garbage Patch” and “Western Garbage Patch”.
Posted in The Great Pacific Garbage Patch, beach debris, plastic
Rating 3.00 out of 5
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Home Dome
Submitted by everydaytrash
Check out 12-year old Max Wallack’s winning invention from Design Squad’s Trash to Treasure competition. It’s a homeless shelter made from trash (specifically shipping pallets and packing peanuts).
Man these kids today. Remember the teen who discovered the cure for plastic? Thanks for the tip, Joerg.
Rating 3.00 out of 5
[?]
Trashtastic Thursday with Cynthia Korzekw
Submitted by everydaytrash
For the latest installment of our periodic Tuesday (and sometimes Thursday) series of trash talks, I caught up with artist, activist and garblogger Cynthia Korzekwa of Art for Housewives—one of the first sites to blogroll everydaytrash back in the day. And a constant source of inspiration since.
Cynthia Korzekwa
everydaytrash: What is bricolage?
Cynthia Korzekwa: Bricolage [...]
Rural vs Urban in New Mexico
Submitted by Aguanomics Blog
The New Mexico legislature is debating a bill [PDF] that will limit municipalities’ ability to condemn water in rural areas, i.e., to claim water for urban use that is currently used for agriculture or the environment.
This prohibition makes sense to me, as I prefer voluntary transfers through markets to political grabs of [...]
Two-thirds Wrong
Submitted by Aguanomics Blog
“Two-thirds of the world’s population will face a lack of water in less than 20 years, if current trends in climate change, population growth, rural to urban migration and consumption continue, United Nations Deputy Secretary-General Asha-Rose Migiro warned today.”
Yes — and such an outcome can easily be avoided if we price water [...]
Environmentalists against Delta Exports
Submitted by Aguanomics Blog
This is a pretty strong opinion:
Increases in freshwater exports out of the California Delta, the operation of Shasta Dam and other inland habitat problems have not only led to the collapse of Central Valley salmon populations, but also threaten the southern resident killer whale population.
These were the conclusions of National Marine Fisheries [...]
Clearing the Backlog, Part VIII
Submitted by Aguanomics Blog
“Carbon emissions have soared far above the expectations of most climate scientists”
“Climate change will seriously affect the tropical Andes by the end of this century and could lead to water shortages”
“Scientists have developed a method to predict the spread of the dengue-carrying Aedes aegypti mosquito as the climate changes.”
“Nigerian farmers who tested [...]
The Nuclear Comeback
Submitted by R-Squared Energy Blog
The natural gas crisis caused by the cutoff of supplies from Russia earlier in the year crystallized for many nations the threat of being overly dependent on another country for their energy supplies. Over the past decades, countries in Europe have shut down nuclear reactors, which caused them to turn to [...]
Water in Focus
Submitted by Aguanomics Blog
I met one of the Outside the Lens organizers of this interesting project [.doc]:
Water in Focus… calls students to action as they examine environmental justice issues centered on the theme of water… in San Diego [where] they explore the issues of water conservation, water shortage, water pollution, and accessibility to water through [...]
Learn Something!
Submitted by Aguanomics Blog
UC Berkeley Extension is offering these courses:
Short, Intensive Water Management Courses
Practical Water Sensitive Urban Design Toolkit - February 28 in San Francisco
Overview and Sustainability of California River Ecosystems - March 5 and 6 in Berkeley
California Water Management Practices and Sustainability - March 13 in Berkeley
California Hydrology - March 20 and 21 in [...]
Community Support
Submitted by Aguanomics Blog
This text (via JWP) is from a county manager out in the western part of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan after a severe snow storm last winter:
Up here in the Northern part of Michigan we just recovered from a Historic event — may I even say a “Weather Event” of “Biblical Proportions” [...]
Green Laces
Submitted by Aguanomics Blog
Green Laces has a two-part business strategy:
Make a promise to the planet
Wear green laces and show that you’re a fan of the planet.
As Natalie would say: Just do it!
Bottom Line: The only way to save the planet is to change individual behavior. Change yours — and help people change theirs. [I promised [...]
Sugar
Submitted by PlasticLess.com Blog
The very large jar that you see in the picture was a solution waiting for a problem. Actually, it spent a week or two as a problem. It seems that a lot of useful looking manufactured goods these days are modeled on good old fashioned design but they scrimp on the materials. [...]
Poll Results — Buy American!
Submitted by Aguanomics Blog
Hey! There’s a new poll (reader demographics) to the right –>
RSS readers — please visit the blog to tell us who you are…
I would “Buy American” to support the economy
yes
39%
26
no
18%
12
that’s a stupid question!
42%
28
66 votes total
These poll results are interesting. Basically the same share of people say they would buy [...]
Farm Subsidies
Submitted by Aguanomics Blog
DH sent me thing VERY interesting link on WHO gets farm subsidies. Here are some California facts:
$6.24 billion in subsidies 1995-2006.
California ranking: 10 of 50
91 percent of all farmers and ranchers do not collect government subsidy payments in California, according to USDA.
Among subsidy recipients, ten percent collected 73 percent of all subsidies [...]
International Water Pricing
Submitted by Aguanomics Blog
PW sent me International Water Pricing: An Overview and Historic and Modern Case Studies [PDF], which gives a thoughtful overview of water issues and several case studies from the Transboundary Freshwater Dispute Database at Oregon State University.
They cover water as a social, economic, ecologic and cultural good; discuss water as a human [...]
Clearing the Backlog, Part VII
Submitted by Aguanomics Blog
“On April 20th Pepsi will start selling versions of Pepsi and Mountain Dew that use real sugar, rather than nasty high fructose corn syrup. The drinks will only be available until June.” If we didn’t have farm subsidies, we’d already be drinking sugared Pepsi…
Speaking of which… “Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, and Nestlé are trying [...]
Private vs Public Water Provision
Submitted by Aguanomics Blog
Readers will know that I favor neither public nor private (investor-owned) provision of water, since the problems of ownership structure are less important than the problems of monopoly. (And the solution to monopoly — if not competition — is careful community monitoring.)
For more evidence on what does and does not matter, read [...]
San Diego’s Water Purchases
Submitted by Aguanomics Blog
San Diego is looking north for water this year, working out a number of smaller option agreements with Sacramento Valley Districts. I looked into one 10,000 AF transfer with South Feather Water and Power to get a handle on numbers for this year.
San Diego is paying $10 per acre-foot for the option [...]
Peak Demand Before Peak Oil?
Submitted by R-Squared Energy Blog
There has been a lot of talk in the media lately about the possibility that oil demand will peak soon (or has peaked already), which will render a geologically-induced peak in oil production irrelevant. In other words, peak oil is a non-issue because people won’t be demanding as much oil as [...]
