Archive for January, 2010
« Previous EntriesCotton Swabs on Plastic Sticks
Submitted by PlasticLess.com Blog
The majority of cotton swabs these days are made using plastic for the stick. The packaging is also usually plastic. If you are looking for a greener alternative, I saw some organic cotton swabs with paper sticks and cardboard packaging at The Body Shop.
I did a bit of research on cotton swabs [...]
Flashback: Jan 24 — 30 2009
Submitted by Aguanomics Blog
These posts are still relevant, so please comment!
BEST: Why the Peripheral Canal Will Happen
BEST: How Much Water Do Farmers Use? Not as much as you think. In this post (Farmers Don’t Use Much Water), I estimate that they “use” about 16 percent of developed water.
Pigouvian Tax Fail? A discussion that policy wonks [...]
That’s not a waterfall!
Submitted by Aguanomics Blog
This is a waterfall!
(Wangi Falls, Litchfield National Park, Northern Territory, Australia)
Rating 3.00 out of 5
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Travelblog: Salty Showers
Submitted by Aguanomics Blog
The showers on Nusa Lembongan (an island to the south of Bali, in Indonesia) are salty. So is the tap water. That’s because the “fresh” water comes from wells, and the aquifers that they draw on are being polluted with salt water. This salt water-intrusion is a recent problem in areas of [...]
Speed blogging
Submitted by Aguanomics Blog
How to discuss food and ag like an adult.
An Italian-American delivers clean water in Afghanistan, by avoiding the big budgets of aid agencies and working with locals on their scale.
“A project to boost water resources in southern Africa, first announced in 2003, held its first executive meeting last month.” Guess they’re in [...]
Poll Results — Shoot the politicians!
Submitted by Aguanomics Blog
Hey! There’s a new poll (McFood?) to the right —>
Politicians are…
…part of the solution to water problems
40%
27
…have nothing to do with water problems
3%
2
…the reason for water problems
57%
39
68 votes total
I agree that politicians are involved, and I think that they are part of the problem:
They benefit from prolonging it, due to lobbying for [...]
Our Tax Dollars at Work
Submitted by R-Squared Energy Blog
First off, a couple of announcements. After being able to stay at home for the past two months, I have a very heavy travel schedule over the next two weeks. My participation here will probably be limited. I am off to Seattle tomorrow, on to the Netherlands from there, will visit [...]
Fast Food Nation — The Review
Submitted by Aguanomics Blog
Although Eric Schlosser wrote this book in 2001, I just got ’round to reading it. I was familiar with its themes from The Jungle, Bowling for Columbine, Roger and Me, The Omnivore’s Dilemma, Super Size Me, and other works on food, business, and culture, but this book still taught me quite a [...]
Weapons of the Weak — The Review
Submitted by Aguanomics Blog
I like reading James C. Scott in the same way that I like reading Bill Easterly, Nassim Taleb or Hernando de Soto. His books contain good ideas, carefully explained, that change the way I see the world; see this post on his masterful Seeing Like a State.
In Weapons of the Weak: Everyday [...]
The Corporate State
Submitted by Aguanomics Blog
JWT writes:
The U.S. Supreme Court removed all limitations and restrictions on campaign contributions. The U.S. Congress has now been turned over to any one with deep pockets, not just corporations. Individuals have no restrictions so people like Warren Buffet can buy any Congress person he wishes. The Arab Prince who owns most [...]
Distance learning about economics, politics and the environment
Submitted by Aguanomics Blog
I was planning to “re-run” my EEP100 class between Jan and May this year, but I am too busy. I am thinking of doing it in the fall, but only if there are at least 50 people committed to participating. Commitment requires that you pay $100 each, with a $50 rebate for [...]
Top 10 Sources for U.S. Oil for 2009
Submitted by R-Squared Energy Blog
It has been two years since I posted the Top 10 oil exporters to the U.S., so I thought I would update that list. In 2007, the U.S. imported just over 10 million barrels per day (bpd) of oil, with our top three suppliers being Canada (1.90 million bpd), Saudi Arabia [...]
Water lawyer bleg
Submitted by Aguanomics Blog
A loyal reader asks:
Do you know a lawyer in property rights and takings who might be inclined to write about how owning shares of water might become a more effective guard than regulation against pollution because of lawsuit threats to proptect value of water property?
If you have a name, email me or [...]
Monday Funnies
Submitted by Aguanomics Blog
via JWT:
When his 38 caliber revolver failed to fire at his intended victim during a hold-up in Provo , Utah would-be robber Jason Ellison did something that can only inspire wonder. He peered down the barrel and tried the trigger again. This time it worked.
The chef at a hotel in Switzerland lost [...]
Travelblog: Death and social insurance
Submitted by Aguanomics Blog
In Toraja, Sulawesi, the local people are Christians, but they retain customs from earlier times. One of them is the “big funeral,” which will last 4-5 days. This funeral takes place weeks or months after someone’s death. (They are buried soon after death, but everyone knows that this, second funeral is the [...]
Flashback: Jan 17 — 23 2009
Submitted by Aguanomics Blog
These posts are still relevant, so please comment!
BEST: Ethics and Water and the lack of ethics of water managers. Speaking of that, Pat Mulroy’s idea of Something Outrageous does NOT include charging more when water is scarce
BEST: The End of the Western Population Boom? aka, the end of abundance (of [...]
Be careful what you ask for
Submitted by Aguanomics Blog
California is being pummeled by heavy rains and snow fall that are flooding land and blocking roads.
This is ironic as a change of pace from three years of drought, but it’s also consistent with higher variation in climatic patterns (due to global warming) and heavier impacts due to the intensity of human [...]
Speed blogging
Submitted by Aguanomics Blog
“From the Florida Everglades to the bluffs overlooking the Deschutes River in Oregon, conservationists are snapping up prime property for preservation, often at a fraction of what the asking price was at the real estate market’s height.” Supply and demand work!
100 Best Blogs for Socially-Minded MBAs
The straight dope on compostable plastics. Surprise! [...]
Net loss pork
Submitted by Aguanomics Blog
No, it’s not a new diet product, it’s a reference to the costs and benefits from a pork infrastructure project.
A lot of communities are willing to support pork coming to their areas, and to a few people in their areas, because they think that they are overall, net gainers. The net losers [...]
Water cops waste $75,000 each
Submitted by Aguanomics Blog
I’ve ridiculed the “water cops” idea (see this, this and this) for a long time.
They are a fascist mechanism — telling you want to do, when and where.
They are a visible form of “education” more than an effective way of increasing water conservation.
They divert resources from more pressing matters. (Even though I [...]
Speed blogging
Submitted by Aguanomics Blog
Here are the top ten blogs (according to someone) on green innovations, and this blog gives video reviews of green products. Better yet, ten words you need to stop misspelling.
“The state is blocking four landowners on two Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta islands from taking water that officials say they don’t have permission to [...]
Prices of Various Energy Sources
Submitted by R-Squared Energy Blog
As we continue to develop biomass as a renewable source of energy, it is important to keep the cost of energy in mind, because this has a very strong influence on the choices governments and individuals will make. I sometimes hear people ask “Why are we still using dirty coal?” You [...]
Subsidies are NOT sustainainable
Submitted by Aguanomics Blog
Tracy Mehan says [pdf] that a “subsidized water or wastewater system is not a sustainable one. He says it certainly is not sustainable for the federal taxpayers doing the subsidizing and argues that the wastewater grants program in the Clean Water Act is an obsolete model…”
Hear hear!
Rating 3.00 out of 5
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Climate Debt
Submitted by Aguanomics Blog
BP asks what I think about “the idea that poor countries are owed a debt or reparations by rich countries due to the climate change that is adversely affecting poor countries, but has been cause primarily by rich countries.”
I am broadly in favor of this idea. If someone destroys your property, then [...]
Monday Funnies
Submitted by Aguanomics Blog
Rating 3.00 out of 5
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