''Are You Eating Plastic?"

> Europe is proposing a ban on single-use plastic items such as cutlery, straws and cotton buds in a bid to clean up the oceans. - CNN

It is SO about time for this — we now know that tossed plastic gets washed into the world's oceans and starts breaking into tiny bits which fish eat and retain, and that we used to feel confident eating fish. So this is very, very late, but the proposal is a solid advance towards a practical overall solution, and in a prompt few-year timeframe. 

A good start, but here's a humble Suggestion: ban the manufacture of all single-use plastic products.  And no plastic product can be made without an end-to-end plan for re-everything: recapture or recycle.

Its vendors will naturally need to work the cost of all that into the product, and voila, it's not so cheap to produce anymore, which is one of the main causes behind our ever-growing problems with the damn stuff.
_________

> The European Commission wants to ban 10 items that make up 70% of all litter in EU waters and on beaches. The list also includes plastic plates and drink stirrers.

> The legislation is not just about banning plastic products. It also wants to make plastic producers bear the cost of waste management and cleanup efforts, and it proposes that EU states must collect 90% of single-use plastic bottles by 2025 through new recycling programs.

> On a global basis, only 14% of plastic is collected for recycling. The reuse rate is terrible compared to other materials -- 58% of paper and up to 90% of iron and steel gets recycled.  Research shows there will be more plastic than fish by weight in the world's oceans by 2050, which has spurred policy makers, individuals and companies into action.

> The Rethink Plastic Alliance -- an association of environmental organizations -- called the proposals "a leap forward in tackling plastic pollution,"

 …but said that since the proposals do not set targets for EU countries for reduction, it "could result in countries claiming they are taking the necessary steps as long as any reduction is achieved," however small.

"Europe plans ban on plastic cutlery, straws and more"
by Alanna Petroff, May 28, 2018

money.cnn.com/2018/05/28/news/europe-plastic-ban-proposal/index.html

_________

More good ideas to solve the scourge of plastic are going into practice, like this one:

> Starbucks also announced in March it was launching a $10 million grant challenge to solicit designs for a cup that's easier to recycle.

money.cnn.com/2018/03/21/news/companies/starbucks-cups/index.html

From this blog (2014) — "What Can We Do With All This Old Plastic?"
 rosswriting.blogspot.com/2014/09/another-try-at-how-can-we-use-all-this.html

  (Photo by Bill McN. Ross)

Does Amazon Own Google Now?

On a laid back Sunday morning, when I'm most likely to feel the room to indulge curiousities that float by when you're buttering the toast, I was looking up how little you could get the third season of 30 Rock for on DVD at this point.

On Google, after a lead ad,

• the first three (3) pure search returns were Amazon pages,
• then one from Wikipedia,
• then we get three more in succession from Amazon.
• That's followed by one from Bestbuy,
• one IMDB,

then an ad by Amazon and one by Target. Even better, the third result of the leadoff 3-in-a-row for Amazon is for Season 4, when my search for "30 rock season 3 dvd" pretty much couldn't be simpler or more specific. What's the logic there?  (Maybe "rationale" would be the better word.)

Overall, of nine (9) pure search results, six (6) were from Amazon.  Dear Google, how smart does that look?

I realize of course that your Shopping tab will give me what I want.  But most people, and it's been this way since the earliest days of Web search (based on having worked at the original AltaVista Search in the late 90's), just go a search engine, type a one-word search and pick something from the first page. Google's default search page should be much smarter than this; and, inevitably, it makes me wonder what other subjects they're screwing up in similar ways.

On the identical search within the hour, Yahoo did much better, although with two each for Amazon and Ebay, it's still plainly skewed towards the Big Boys. That's anti-competitive, a principle that is not only common sense, but deeply entwined in the law. (Sure sounds a lot like whistling in the wind in this era, doesn't it.)

So, am I complaining about a flaw in their search algorithm ("Such mistakes have always been traced back to human error, Dave,") or Amazon's dominance?

Both.  First, we not be many, but there people like me who clearly choose not going to Amazon except in a pinch, and for all the reasons.

Like, Shop Local for everything possible, because Small Is Beautiful and human-scale, and you have a voice in it.  Unlike the alternative, where Too Big is a Failure of society, and Amazon in particular sounds pretty brutal to their workers, both white- and blue-collared?
That last part may not be such a problem in the near future, though, because here's a tip: if you're a robot, go see them about a job.

Bigger Is Better – for the Bigger.  Not necessarily for anyone any smaller.
___

Yahoo - pure search results, not incl. ads - one each of:

• Amazon
• EBay
• Wikipedia
• dvdempire.com
• Bestbuy
• Overstock.com
• EBay (2nd)
• Amazon (2nd)
• dvdizzy.com
• barnesandnoble

___
"Inside Amazon: Wrestling Big Ideas in a Bruising Workplace
- The company is conducting an experiment in how far it can push
white-collar workers to get them to achieve its ever-expanding ambitions."

New York Times, by Jodi Kantor and David Streitfeld, Aug. 15, 2015
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/16/technology/inside-amazon-wrestling-big-ideas-in-a-bruising-workplace.html

UNDO-ing Plastic: At The Source

As I've been documenting just one small corner of our problems with plastic pollution — the fact of the vast patches of plastic garbage in the world's oceans — it's equally important to keep the focus on solutions.

They do exist (Bucky Fuller said so), and while we don't expect any particular new deconstruction of technology to restore the planet back to Eden overnight, it's almost always a much better use of our time and attention to be part of a solution.  That's even if its effect is no more than a nudge in the right direction (which, let's be realistic, may be the best we can expect at this point).

But it is still worth doing – any part of the right direction feels better than just moving further into the wrong ones.

Trying to address the source of the problem is usually a good way to go.  So here is just such an effort:

The "Think Beyond Plastic Business Accelerator," in Menlo Park, California, (of course,) calls itself the world’s first such incubator to focus on eliminating plastic pollution.  The company helps startups to develop affordable, sustainable alternatives to plastic, meeting the specific needs of large companies.

"Plastic may be toxic, and it lasts forever, but it’s also extremely convenient.  ...If you want companies to stop using plastic, you need to offer viable alternatives—and provide assistance to the startups coming up with them."

"A NewBusiness Accelerator Takes on Plastic Pollution"
By Caroline Winter, Businessweek, July 14, 2014

In here:
The OceanS' Floating Garbage PatcheS – Yes, it's worse than you thought

Fun Facts' About The Great Pacific Garbage Patch & Co.

The OceanS' Floating Garbage PatcheS – Yes, it's worse than you thought

Recently, the conclusion has come to me that the mere fact of the five gigantic "floating garbage patches" in the world's oceans means we'd better start figuring out how to capture waste plastic in the wild, and to reuse or break it down to its original elements, among other things.

North Pacific Gyre World Map (by Fangz)

(That's right: it's not just the one in the northern Pacific, the first one spotted in 1997, said to be twice the size of Texas.)

I mean, really – shouldn't the world collectively feel the shame of this, and the responsibility?

(Okay, I know the world I've mostly chosen to live in is a Frank Capra movie, but,)
How come as soon as the news first hit the big media, had its 15 minutes — now probably down to around 3-5, hm? —an immediate worldwide action movement didn't spring up to do something about it?

Could it be that maybe all the plastic they say has leached itself into our systems has influenced us to be more sympathetic to plastic!? (Okay, I'm kidding... I sure hope I'm kidding.)

But for the moment, rather than dive any further into another depressing round of grim facts about all our plastic-coated problems, two basic questions:

What can be done about it?
What can we do?

Maybe we could start with an insight of R. Buckminster Fuller's, who had the right idea when he wrote, decades ago,

“Pollution is nothing but the resources we are not harvesting. We allow them to disperse because we've been ignorant of their value.”

(Pollution seen simply as unharvested resources – this idea would work as an brilliant example of Genius, or vision, something really grand like that.)


An End-to-End Range of Solutions

Beyond that, of course, the full product lifecycle has to be dealt with. The main point first will be to reduce demand and production to the level where it can all be recaptured and somehow processed.  Reducing demand will require learning how to produce good alternatives to the functions people like to use plastic for.

=0=

The Buckminster Fuller Institute  http://bfi.org 

The Guardian's environmental news index on plastic bags:  (http://www.theguardian.com/environment/plasticbags) 

The "Great Pacific garbage patch" on Wikipedia  

Here: posts tagged "appropriate technology"

Steve Jobs' Parents' Garage Now A Landmark

The Los Altos, California, Historical Commission recently voted to designate 2066 Crist Drive -- the house where Steve Jobs grew up, with the legendary garage where Apple Computer was born -- as an "historic resource."

It's not the only famous garage of its kind in Silicon Valley, but between Jobs' astonishingly long line of successful breakthroughs and the fact that Apple has been bobbing in and out of the top spot of most valuable company in the world (jostling past Exxon Mobil and the stragglers, Microsoft, Wal-Mart and IBM), it'll do for the symbol of them all.

That garage, built in 1952, would 24 years later become the lab where he and co-founder Steve Wozniak assembled the first 100 Apple I computers. "Woz," of course, was the engineer who imagined and created the working computer that put the stars in Jobs' eyes, and made them both stars in the process.


The garage's other historic function was as the office -- the space where Jobs met with their first investors.

The first 50 computers created by Jobs and Wozniak were sold to an electronics store in nearby Mountain View for $500 each. The rest were assembled for their friends in the Homebrew Computer Club, part of the tech ecosystem the two Steves were nurtured by. Today, original Apple I's sell for tens of thousands. One was auctioned off a few years ago for more than $200,000.

That little garage simply reminds us that the power of a great idea -- put into effect with a committed team, solid planning, and persistent followthrough -- can create the largest effect out of very humble beginnings.

___

(This post first appeared in Mitch Ditkoff's "The Heart of Innovation," one of Guy Kawasaki's top blogs on innovation on Alltop.com.  Mr. Ditkoff also writes for Huffington Post.)

(Photo by gflinch, on Flickr, under Creative Commons license)

"Green" Lights in Europe, Asia, But Not U.S. (Except...)

The new Peekaboo version of The New York Times ran an excellent overview of the state of "green" business in the U.S. vs. the rest of the world, which pretty much explains what we're seeing today.

European and Asian governments had good game plans and put them in play effectively, while, until the last few years, the oil-bound U.S. stood alone bravely claiming that the science on climate change wasn't in yet. As a result, other countries have raced ahead in developing and implementing sustainable technologies on a wide scale.

"Many European countries — along with China, Japan and South Korea — have pushed commercial development of carbon-reducing technologies with a robust policy mix of direct government investment, tax breaks, loans, regulation," and emissions either capped or taxed, author Elisabeth Rosenthal writes. "Incentives have fostered rapid entrepreneurial growth in new industries like solar and wind power, as well as in traditional fields like home building and food processing, with a focus on energy efficiency."

Tighter energy-efficiency standards in Europe, Japan and China have incented companies there to dive into design and development with more gusto than their American counterparts — with the notable exception of California, whose standards are equivalent to Europe's.

The story contrasts insulation jobs on a single, four-story home each in the U.S. and Britain: $5,000 vs. $1,000, with the English tapping that 40-to-60% subsidy from their government, thus being able to recoup their full investment in 12-18 months in fuel saved. (Poor people and seniors got theirs done for free.)

"U.S. Is Falling Behind in the Business of ‘Green’" – NY Times, June 8, 2011, by Elisabeth Rosenthal

"California's Energy Efficiency Standards for
Residential and Nonresidential Buildings"

3 Great Green Bills in NYS Limbo

As long as the price of petrol is low, it doesn't appear that free markets will do much about reducing our dependence on it. Gas doesn't look too awfully expensive now, so people stop buying hybrids and companies see too long a payback on converting to renewables.

With mixed feelings, then, we look to the avenue of government to advance urgently necessary causes that are otherwise blocked or stalled. Unfortunately, when the New York State legislature adjourned July 1, they left behind at least three bills with the potential to "make New York a real leader in solar power development."

Those same rascally lawmakers are back tonight for the special session Gov. Paterson called, but "expectations are that nothing will actually get done," according to the Albany Times-Union, due to continuing political gridlock. Nevertheless:

The Solar Industry and Jobs Development Act

The Solar Jobs Act would require New York State's electric utilities to get 2.5% of their power from solar energy by 2025, enough electricity to power one million homes. That's starting from the current merest sliver of a percent. Backers say the bill would generate $20 billion in economic activity, including 22,000 quality jobs in an array of fields, all while costing ratepayers an average of 39 cents a month. (From a report by the Vote Solar Initiative, an industry advocate).

In a July Op-Ed in the Times-Union, Jeff Jones claims, "Solar energy represents less than one tenth of one percent of our state's energy mix, yet creates more jobs per megawatt than any other electricity resource," and then he gets specific:

"Think of the glassmakers that have lost auto contracts but could be covering solar panels; semiconductor factories that no longer make computer parts but could be making solar cells; public and private educational research and development facilities ready to partner with industry and foster the next generation of solar technology."

Getsolar.com's blog had a great crack that, " As if that weren’t enough to motivate New York lawmakers, the report’s authors emphasize that inaction on the bill equates to losing to New Jersey: 'New York is already losing solar trainees and economic output to neighboring New Jersey, which installs nearly five times as much solar annually.”

Lose to Joisey! Say it ain't so, Joe.

(Two more to come in follow-up posts…)

A CLEAR-Headed Idea for Reducing Emissions

Two U.S. Senators have proposed what looks like a brilliant framework for not only reducing carbon air pollution, but putting some money directly into our pockets, and doing it with what sounds like a refreshingly simple system.

(Are you kidding me? Can I be forgiven for fearing, in these nutty times, that it's too good to be true? Well, I just read this morning that the White House and Senate allies decided this week, "to press ahead with a scaled-back energy bill," and they didn't mention this one, so it might turn out to be. Nevertheless:)

In December, Senators Maria Cantwell (D-Washington) and Susan Collins (R-Maine) introduced the Carbon Limits and Energy for America's Renewal (CLEAR) Act. They wrote,

"Our concept is simple: Instead of cap-and-trade, our approach is 'cap-and-dividend,' with the dividends going where they belong: into the pockets of hardworking Americans."

"The legislation would set up a mechanism for selling "carbon shares" to the few thousand fossil fuel producers and importers through monthly auctions. Seventy-five percent of the auction revenue would be returned to every citizen and legal resident of the United States through equally divided rebate checks -- averaging $1,100 for a family of four each year. The remaining 25 percent would finance clean-energy research and development…" and more.

This would be done "without disrupting the economy, using a gradually declining 'cap.' The concept is to gradually accelerate emission reductions," aiming to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 20% by 2020, and 83% by 2050.

Quotes from "A cap-and-dividend way to a cleaner nation and more jobs," Cantwell and Collins' Op-Ed piece in the Washington Post, Friday, 6/18/10.

There are literally a host of good ideas contained in this one bill, beyond the obvious lure of a check from the guv'mint, for a change: transfer money directly from those who profit from polluting to those who suffer from it the most. Set a predictable price for carbon that everyone can plan on, one that's market-driven within set limits, and all with a minimum of government involvement since an independent trust would be set up to handle the auction. (A few nods to the Republican side of the aisle, there — bully! Let's get everybody on board.)

And how about these perks? "We create a level playing field instead of providing pollution credits to whichever entities have the best lobbyists," the Senators write. "The act cuts out Wall Street speculators and price manipulators. It minimizes destructive price volatility."

And, perhaps most radically of all, the actual bill is only 39 pages long! That means all those members of Congress will be able to actually have a concept of what's in there, for a change. (Candid Representatives have admitted there's no way you can know all the provisions in your common 2,000-page bill.) Between the few pages and the mechanism proposed, it also means that special interests wouldn't have anywhere in the system to hide big payouts to themselves.

The idea is that now that companies will have to pay for the carbon they allow into the atmosphere (that we're all breathing, and in effect swimming in together), they will be economically incented to reduce that output. At long last they'll find the will and the way to do what they'd put off for as long as possible, simply due to the cost. Polluting did not figure into their bottom line — aside from compliance costs during earlier eras when the EPA was actually on the job. Now it would.

By golly, they even made a cute little video for YouTube to explain it:

"How the CLEAR Act Works" (PDF, from cantwell.senate.gov/)

First saw it here:
"Double Dividend: Make Money by Saving Nature"
George Lakoff, Huffington Post

Photo from Wikipedia —
the controlled demolition of four giant coal smokestacks, known locally as the "four sisters," in a Toronto suburb (2006). The plant was labelled a heavy polluter by the Ontario government; and we who live downwind, to the east, thank you.

VIDEO: Tim-berrrr! (53 sec., no sound)

Related, here:
Posts tagged "Green tech"

Giant Shipper Finds "Slow Is Better," Cheaper

Now that oil is back in the news with a vengeance, exacting the price for our dependency on both the fuel and the money to be made from it, I kept thinking about this piece from earlier in the year about a revolutionary move of the leading container shipping company.

"Slow Trip Across Sea Aids Profit and Environment," Elisabeth Rosenthal, NY Times, 2/16/10.

The world-spanning Danish line Maersk, socked with $145 barrels of oil in 2008, cut their fuel consumption by almost one third with a daring manuever: cutting the top cruising speed of its ships by half.

"Reducing engine load dramatically decreases fuel consumption," a Maersk presentation explains, because, "fuel consumption and CO2 emissions increase exponentially with speed." Maersk was able to cut their fuel needs on major routes by as much as 30 percent, a major savings. But just by that, the company also managed an equal cut in their ships’ emissions of greenhouse gases.

On many routes, it doesn't even take any more time(!) — cut-off, transit and arrival schedules remain the same since technology now allows for a better distribution of speed, thus gaining back what had been wasted "hurry up and wait" time.

(Of course, when you think of it, this isn't really an entirely new principle to any of us, because we've all heard from way back that driving at 55 gives you the best fuel efficiency and gets you there just some minutes later. But that doesn't mean some of us aren't still looking for the chance to really open 'er up anyway.)

"Where the previous focus has been on 'What will it cost?' and 'Get it to me as fast as possible,' " Maersk’s director of environmental sustainability explains in the NYT story, there's now a third dimension: 'What’s the CO2 footprint?' " Maersk's pitch to shippers includes the offer that, " We will significantly reduce your carbon footprint," claiming that, "Super Slow Steaming alone easily reduces a customer’s whole annual supply chain by 13%."

"Slowing down from high speeds reduces emissions because it reduces drag and friction as ships plow through the water," says the NYT's story, and points out that the same holds true for airplanes, which could easily reduce their emissions by taking it slower, say by 10%.

This is an especially welcome innovation at a time when worldwide consumption is growing so fast; the container ship trade grew by eight times between 1985 and 2007, especially long-haul shipments of goods from Asia. Maersk says their fleet of 545 ships makes a port call every thirteen minutes. So their shift to Slo-Mo has an impact, even more so as a gauntlet thrown to their competition — not, God forbid, because it's the Right Thing To Do or anything, but because it'll save them money, too.

Hey, whatever it takes.

But here's another excellent and really intriguing example of how progress doesn't always come from charging ahead — maybe just as often, it can be achieved by dropping back a step.

• Maersk vessel photo page

Related, sort of, here:
On Slow-blogging
Posts about Green Tech

Look, Ma — Actual Green Jobs!

After hearing so much about all the jobs that sustainable energy development is supposed to create, 'tis indeed a welcome sight to see a building opening in the region this month with at least 600 of them.

General Electric's new Renewable Energy Global Headquarters and Remote Operation Center in nearby Schenectady, New York, an existing GE building with a $45 mil green refurbishing, is now monitoring over 6,000 wind turbines all over North America. The building itself features efficient boilers, air conditioning and windows, water-pinching faucets, and its best parking spots are reserved for hybrid cars.

"Local leaders say this is huge victory from a company that once pulled jobs out of the area," writes Albany ABC affiliate News10's Demetra Ganias, and WNYT's (NBC) Abigail Bleck adds, "especially at GE Schenectady, where the once enormous staff has been routinely let go or transferred over the years."

GE used the occasion to announce that they've now installed 13,500 wind turbines globally, with revenues from their wind energy industries of over $6 billion, from $200 million when they began in 2002.

"GE renewable energy HQ brings 600 jobs to Schenectady"
News10, Albany (ABC), 2/1/10

"Renewable energy renews GE in Schenectady"
WNYT-TV, Albany (NBC)

"GE opens new renewables HQ; marks wind turbine milestone"
Recharge (Oslo), by Benjamin Romano

Related, here:
Stimulus $'s Start Flowing Into Weatherization (2/4/10)

(Actually unrelated, but I can't resist:)

Since GE is selling NBC, this counts among their last chances to be mentioned alongside the rebirth of intelligent comedy on network television, which they inadvertently backed in 30 Rock.

(The link's to the show's page on Hulu, where you can watch the last five episodes, in herky-jerky Web TV style.)

Stimulus $'s Start Flowing Into Weatherization

The mighty spigot of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), the fabled Stimulus, is now opening wide enough that more of the general populace is finally getting a drink, in this case by sponsoring energy-saving retrofits for homes.

Here's a program that certainly looks like not merely a win-win, but a veritable triple play: as in the earlier post here on "Cash For Caulkers," it promises to save people money, help the climate by reducing energy use, and create some useful work for under-employed people. Low-income residents can receive energy audits of their homes, sealing and insulation, and replacements of old equipment with energy-saving versions, for free.

The New York State, "with its long, cold winters and large stock of drafty homes," in the words of John Sullivan on Recordonline, received $395 million in stimulus money for weatherization programs, from the national act's 5 billion total. The Hudson Valley's Ulster and Sullivan Counties each received from $1-3 million; including Orange County to the south makes that a total five million for the region.

The state's complementary Green Jobs/Green New York program for "the missing middle" — somewhat higher-than-low-income owners, you might say — extends the benefits for those better off, but not so much that they could afford to get this work done themselves. Between the two programs, the plan is to retrofit at least a million homes over the next five years.

New York's Weatherization Assistance Program is being managed through the state's Regional Economic Community Action Programs (RECAP), for Ulster, Sullivan and Orange Counties. (Those links go to their respective contact information.)

"Cash flows in for home weatherization — NY garners $395M, most of any state"
By John Sullivan, Times Herald-Record, 2/1/10

"Weatherization Assistance Program (WAP)" — NYS Division of Housing & Community Renewal

Related, here:
"Cash For Caulkers" (12/10/09)
Posts tagged "Green Tech"

Green VC Investment Rose/Fell In 2009(?)

Fun with Statistics:
It was amusing to see these two reports next to each other on BusinessWeek's Green Energy news index. The first headline was:

"Cleantech Takes A Bigger Slice Of VC Pie, Again"

Promptly followed by:

"Green-tech venture investing cools off in 2009"

A quick read reveals, unsurprisingly, the classic apples and oranges comparison between percentages and hard numbers. The 'Bigger Slice' story, from BusinessWeek's subsite Businessinsider.com, stated that, "close to 20% of all dollars invested by VCs in 2009 went into clean technology, up from roughly 14.4% in 2008."

Ah, but 20% of what, exactly? That story never did get around to the size of the pie and hence of a slice, probably because then they'd have to come up with another, less appetizing headline.

That fell to the story that followed, from CNet's Green Tech blog, which explained that, "The amount of venture capital that went toward green-technology companies fell to $4.85 billion in 2009, compared to $7.6 billion in 2008. Solar continues to garner the most attention, having brought in $1.4 billion with 84 deals in 2009."

Biofuels received $975 mil, with energy efficiency and the smart grid, automotive, and batteries and other types of storage divvying up the remaining half.

"Greentech Media analyst Eric Wesoff predicts that there will be a wave of IPOs in green tech as well as more mergers and acquisitions, particularly in the crowded solar market.

"There will be more money available for expansion in 2010, but investors will remain cautious and focus on companies with the most potential, largely investing in emerging leaders and high-potential outfits."

"Green-tech venture investing cools off in 2009"
by Martin LaMonica, CNet, 12/30/09

Looks like I'm not going to be able to resist invoking Mark Twain's famed and mildly profane judgment on the subject of statistics:
"There are three kinds of lies. . ."


Related, here:
25 Posts tagged Green Tech

An Informative Mind-Twister Involving Oysters

Okay, here's one for you, one of those you-gotta-be-kid'nme type facts, from a story about reseeding New York City's waterways with once-plentiful oysters. These are not intended as delicacies for the table, though, but as prodigious pollution digesters:

"Oysters act as natural water purification systems. 'Think of oysters as the catalytic converter on your car,' Fabian Cousteau, the grandson of Jacques Cousteau, explained. One adult oyster can filter up to 24 gallons of water in a day…"

"You Say Oyster," by Katherine Stirling, Sept. 21, 2009 issue, The New Yorker, in "Talk of the Town"
(Note: The New Yorker doesn't have that article online except with a paid subscription)

Besides being just plumb amazing, this is only one more example of how the big new wave of activity for re-greening our world could best be guided.

There's a great principle of accomplishing anything that states, Work From Your Strengths. It would hard to overestimate all the strengths that nature provides, this stupifyingly deep, rich web of life that is always in motion and regenerating itself, spontaneously growing things that we can eat to live(!), and just coincidentally manufacture oxygen which we need to breathe, and all this without requiring a single btu's worth of energy from our vaunted infrastructure.

Even purebread bottom-liners must understand the appeal of the savings in power and electricity alone when you can harness a system that is self-sustaining. You don't have to buy any fuel for the engine!

Don't get me wrong, I'm on board with the whole human evolution thing, the idea that we've got this brain and imagination and opposable thumbs so we can be creative, and respectfully customize and extend our physical circumstances here. And I love my Mac and my Honda, and all their family forebears.

But, going back to the oysters, have human engineers ever designed and built anything which was both that efficient at a job and completely self-perpetuating, and each over extremely long product lifecycles? Have they instead, in the process of going too far out on a limb (probably mostly due to the incitement of grants or investments, let's say), produced maybe as many horrors as upgrades?

(We do have to keep inventing, of course, because aside from any common speculations about our destiny, there's a rumor going around the scientific community that our planet is slowly losing momentum and being pulled closer to and eventually will be sucked right into the Sun. It's surface temperature is said to be around 6,000 degrees — Celsius. So, let's make sure funding for NASA is in good shape, too, cuz we're gonna need 'em.)

The pocket-guide conclusion: To whatever extent possible,

Work With Nature.

=========
Related, here:
"Where do Great Ideas come from?" (One guess, based on the above...)
Posts tagged appropriate technology

Sustainable New(s) York, October 2009

This week, a range of good news on New York State projects and initiatives for renewable energy:

$10 Million Stimulus For NY State Solar Projects
New York's Governor Paterson announced that $10 million in federal stimulus funds are now available for solar energy projects. The grants will be distributed through a competitive statewide solicitation to accelerate the installation of photovoltaic systems.

Separately, this winter the New York Power Authority plans to request bids to develop 100 megawatts of solar generating capacity, increasing New York's solar generating capacity five-fold. The generators would be owned and operated by the developers, with NYPA buying electricity on behalf of customers.

“The statewide interest in developing our solar energy production is proof that New York is fertile ground for the clean energy economy," says the Governor, whose goal is to meet 45 percent of the State’s electricity needs by 2015 with more efficient and renewable energy. It's been estimated that clean energy technologies will create some 50,000 new jobs in New York.

"But That's Not All" — Green Hotels Sprouting
In a third (!) story, the state's Department of Environmental Conservation has launched a program to certify hotels and inns as "green." 43 of them are already signed up to be certified by the Audubon GreenLeaf program, which will award them one to five green leaves based on their performance in saving energy, reducing pollution and waste, and conserving water and other resources. The program joins another one to promote "green restaurants" under the New York State Green Hospitality and Tourism Partnership.

Can we say that the ball has begun to roll in earnest? We'd certainly like to think so.

"NY governor says $10M available for solar projects" — AP, 10/7/9
"New York state launches program to market green lodgings" — AP, 10/8/09

Related, here:
Posts tagged "Green tech"
Our Sustainability 'Heat' Map of the Hudson Valley

A Pair of Local Green Meet & Greets

I'm interested to see what the mood will be of tomorrow's (9/23) Entrepreneur's Breakfast series. The regular stand-up looks to be a sit-down this time around, the "Community College President's Roundtable on 'Alternative Energy, the impact on our region.'"

Curious about the mood since, while we all remain more hopeful than ever, at this point we're still looking for enough real impact to measure.

This will be moderated by Dr. Arthur Anthonisen, with presentations by Don Perry of the WindPower Initiative and Les Neumann, the Managing Director of The Hudson Valley Center for Innovation, which is the host of the event.

The Center for Innovation holds these breakfast presentation/networking events on a regular basis, now at the seven21 Media Center (map: 721 Broadway, Kingston.) A $15 donation is asked. These sessions always make for a good connector.

‘Green’ real estate development conference, October 28

ScheinMedia, publishers of MetroGreen+Business, is sponsoring a conference this fall on the future of sustainable development in the area. TechCity, the former IBM plant in Ulster town and perennial hope of the area for a hot business-magnet, will host this "Hudson Valley green real estate development conference" on October 28th.

Experts and representatives of green tech businesses will hold a half-day of presentations and panel discussions on residential development, economic development, architecture & design and more. The conference’s goal “is to bring green jobs and responsible development to the Hudson Valley for long-term, sustainable economic growth,” according to Daniel Wieneke, president of TechCity, already the home of The Solar Energy Consortium and other green ventures.

Sponsor MetroGreen+Business is an information website for sustainable business and real estate in the greater metro New York area. Publisher Jonathan Schein writes that they're in the business and holding the conference because "the Hudson Valley is considered to be at the forefront of green sustainability. It has an outstanding job talent pool and offers developers, tenants, and employers many opportunities."

This one'll cost you $145, $120 per in a group. Info at (845) 340-9600, ext. 100.

‘Green’ real estate development conference - ScheinMedia

"TechCity to host ‘green’ development conference" - Daily Freeman
(— which said the conference is on the 29th, btw. We're taking the word of sponsor ScheinMedia's site that it's Wednesday, Oct. 28th.)

Related, here:
Posts tagged "Green tech"

Sustainability 'Heat' Map, Hudson Valley NY

Here is the happy result of hearing myself tell someone that I was in the midst of mentally constructing a "heat map" of what's being done in the region to promote sustainable businesses and life. Fortunately, a spark flew: customized Google Maps! I could create my mental map on the freakin' Web, adding one more small node of nutritious info to the area's green network.


View Sustainability 'Heat' Map, Hudson Valley, NY in a larger map

On its own page in Google Maps, of course, you'll see the column on the left listing all the institutions that lie behind the droll icons. (I worked with what they had, which explains why TechCity is represented here by a tent, usually denoting a campground, and utility Central Hudson is left with the campfire. But for Congressman Hinchey, what better symbol than the House?)

This will very much be a work in progress for some time to come, and of course I'd be glad to incorporate related links that are suggested, that I can do some research on, of course. That's because it's really only useful to pass along information that you've qualified somehow, sifting out the low-to-no value stuff, as opposed to those endless lists you find on the net that people seem to have thrown up on the wall with their eyes closed.

Map © 2009 by Bill Ross, Rosswriting.com
but free for use when attributed
and linked to, please.

Related, here:
Posts tagged Green tech
and Appropriate technology

Some Regional 'Green' Forces: newspaper, nonprofit, and gov't

When I set myself the task of finding out what was happening with renewable energy and things Green in general in the Hudson Valley, I was frankly not prepared to find as much as I did. I'm going to be writing more about some of these efforts that are underway, but there's far more than I'll be able to find time to discuss in me own little blog.

So I thought I'd just start listing and linking to some of them, to share some of the relevant, mostly very hopeful stories found in only the last few months or ongoing. All deserve more in-depth treatment, since this is some exciting stuff when you care about the world being built with the long term in mind, but better to do a little now than wait for the big day.

To lend some sense of rhyme or reason to the selection, I decided to pick out entities from different fields and slants on the subject. So for now, here is a newspaper's coverage, a non-profit campaigner/facilitator, and a government program.

Green Living index, on Recordonline.com

We'll start with the heroically embattled Fifth Estate, in the form of the Green Living index on recordonline.com. That's the "Web press," we might say, of the Times Herald-Record, which seems shy to admit it's published in Middletown, where it traces its lineage of daily editions back to the middle of the 19th century.
By whichever nameplate, they do a good job of covering all the major green-tinged news in the Valley and State.

"Local coverage of the green revolution" - Times Herald-Record

Sustainable Hudson Valley

Next, a non-profit that's been promoting sustainability in this area since the mid-90's, Sustainable Hudson Valley is currently working with many partners in the region as "a resource broker, a consensus builder, and a source of both technical and moral support, assisting each community with achieving its unique goals" towards "an environmentally advanced and restorative 'green' economy".

This year, besides advising local governments on getting positioned for clean-energy stimulus funds — and managing to stir up a bit of a ruckus — Sustainable Hudson Valley is focused on the Kingston Green Trail. It's a partnership of agencies to try to stimulate interest in " a transformed urban environment, where people can move by cycle and on foot... gardens, parks and tree cover are abundant... renewable energy and recycled materials create economic advantage... and these activities form the base of a vibrant knowledge economy."

Plus, I liked this part: "Our work is to stimulate a home-grown green economy that gains security from a base of businesses with loyalty to this place."

New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA)

New York State has been fairly progressive with forward-looking energy programs. NYSERDA supports "energy-efficiency programs, research and development initiatives, low-income energy programs, and environmental disclosure activities," such as their Residential Green Building Program (RGBP), currently in development, "to provide incentives to owners of new and substantially renovated residential buildings," and many more.

www.nyserda.org

Related, here:
How Green Is The (Hudson) Valley

Photo from Flickr by Philip McCluskey
(that's from the old firetower on top of
Overlook Mountain, with the Hudson
River that slight band in the distance.)

Pres. Obama on the Tonight Show

In observance of the fact that this man practically IS the news these days, given the mind-boggling situation that our society is in, here's the full interview of the Prez by Leno on the Tonight Show. Obama spends much of the time speaking plainly about all the issues of the day, the nature of the overall financial crisis, the AIG and other bailed-out bonuses, and the whole sordid lot. It's a great opportunity to hear directly and at length -- not just in soundbites -- how he's thinking about what he's doing for the country.

Sure enough, two months into the job and the man is getting loudly criticized all over the place -- and not just by the Party Of No, but by all those whose job it is to stir things up and get people arguing with each other. So much for bipartisanship; but who could possibly be surprised, in a culture that's become so intensely critical and uncooperative?

In here, Jay asks Barack (who's been a guest on the show before and seems right at home,) how he's adjusting to his new life, and Obama tells us that Washington is like a reality show where everyone is Simon. Ouch! Towards the end of the interview, pressed for news on the urgent, much-discussed issue of the new White House Pet, he relates a Beltway aphorism: "They say if you want a friend in Washington, get a dog."

Appendix: found this excellent defense of the President's efforts on the link tree today:
"Obama's multitasking with a smile is driving detractors crazy"
By Bob Ray Sanders, McClatchy Newspapers

Related, here:
"10 Most 'Accountable' Big Companies"

Barack Obama, President-Elect of the United States(!) (Nov. 5, '08)

The Last Three Weeks in the Financial System: Quotes & Observations

Like pretty much everyone else, I've been watching the news unfold about the financial world, and the bit of a sticky wicket they've gotten themselves (and us all) into, with the sense that I was watching an utterly surrealistic drama. Being no whiz on high finance, I’m not going to attempt any big analysis. But I still wanted to simply record a few phrases that I saved, ones that leapt off the screen as I read them, crystalizing the profound hard-to-believability of what's just gone down.

Let's hope we can look back at this, someday not too far off, and say, "Whew! Good thing we got out of that one in not too bad of a shape. Thank goodness we escaped the worst of that!" Not that I see that as exactly likely, but hey, let's be positive! : - 0

Specifically, here at last is a moment when doing business mainly by constructing all these houses of cards, trying to build prosperity and/or wealth based on no productive work, investing in mental constructs not tied to any physical correspondence, is shown as the empty and ultimately useless approach it is. Oh, and even better, done without any much regulatory oversight or, y'know, rules.

Here are some of those quotes, much of them in the carefully measured words of the New York Times, made all the more startling because the Times is not what you'd call a paper known for sensationalism.
This one was a good, nutshell explanation of why the potential collapse was so widespread:

"Outside the public eye, Fed officials had acquired much more information since March about the interconnections and cross-exposure to risk among Wall Street investment banks, hedge funds and traders in the vast market for credit-default swaps and other derivatives. In the end, both Wall Street and the Fed blinked."

Lehman Files for Bankruptcy; Merrill to Be Sold
(9/14/2008 )

"Days away from a complete meltdown of our financial system"

"As Senator Christopher J. Dodd, Democrat of Connecticut and chairman of the Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee, put it Friday morning on the ABC program 'Good Morning America': 'The congressional leaders were told that we’re literally maybe days away from a complete meltdown of our financial system, with all the implications here at home and globally.'”
(9/20)


".. .a week that has shaken the core of the American financial system."
(10/3)

I mean, who'd-a thunk it: Lehman, Merrill, among the handful of firms that were routinely described as the very Pillars of the Financial System! This has got to be the best use of the word "incredulity" that I've ever seen.
And from MSNBC:

The "Bankruptcy of 'law of the jungle' capitalism"

"This crisis underlines the excesses and uncertainties of a casino capitalism that has only one logic — lining your pockets," said German lawmaker Martin Schulz, chairman of the Socialists in the EU assembly. "It also shows the bankruptcy of 'law of the jungle' capitalism that no longer invests in companies and job creation, but instead makes money out of money in a totally uncontrolled way."
- "U.S. gambles blamed for world’s financial crisis"
MSNBC.com (10/1)

Blunt Financial Instruments Used for the Crime (cont'd)

More memorable quotes on the last three weeks of high drama:

"The riverboat-gambling scheme of investment banking"

"As long as people are compensated hugely for taking risks with other people’s money, and do not suffer equally on the downside, then those risks will inevitably become outrageous. Whether markets are efficient or not I don’t know for sure, but I do know that if there’s a way for someone to make money at another’s expense, he will. In spades. I want out."

"These companies need to tie compensation to long- rather than short-term performance. This won’t be popular on Wall Street, but if we want to turn investment banking back to performing something useful and positive rather than some sort of riverboat-gambling scheme on which we are all unwitting participants, then there’s not much choice."

- "For Wall Street, Greed Wasn’t Good Enough"
by Paul Wilmott, founder of Wilmott, a journal of quantitative finance
NYT Op-Ed section (9/17)

Lehman's reward for failure
(9/23)

">> 'But things are looking up for the long-suffering employees of investment bank Lehman Brothers.'

"But wait. Wasn’t it Lehman that filed for bankruptcy just last week?

"Yes, it was.

"But as luck would have it, that sorry, sorry turn of events apparently had no effect on the $2.5 billion the bank set aside for staff bonuses. So, according to The Independent, Barclays, which is buying Lehman Brothers for $1.75 billion, plans to make good on those bonuses, though it has no obligation to do so.

"Two-and-a-half billion. Plus whatever portion of that $39 billion they were given last year. And then there are the pay and severance packages. Lehman Brothers Chairman and CEO Richard Fuld Jr. made $34 million in 2007. He also banked $490 million from selling Lehman stock.

"Such is the price of failure."

- "Lehman Brothers: $2.5 Billion for a Bankruptcy Well Done"
from Digital Daily by John Paczkowski
on All Things Digital

From 1999 to 2007, Paczkowski wrote the award-winning tech news Web log Good Morning Silicon Valley for the San Jose Mercury News

===

With all this about the brokers and bankers, let's not forget how this is playing out with The Rest Of Us; for example,

Tent Cities Spread In U.S. As Economy Sags
Foreclosure Crisis Blamed For Rise Of Homeless Camps In Cities

RENO, Nev., Sept. 19, 2008
"From Seattle to Athens, Ga., homeless advocacy groups and city agencies are reporting the most visible rise in homeless encampments in a generation."

"Nearly 61 percent of local and state homeless coalitions say they've experienced a rise in homelessness since the foreclosure crisis began in 2007, according to a report by the National Coalition for the Homeless. The group says the problem has worsened since the report's release in April, with foreclosures mounting, gas and food prices rising and the job market tightening."

" 'It's clear that poverty and homelessness have increased,' said Michael Stoops, acting executive director of the coalition. 'The economy is in chaos, we're in an unofficial recession and Americans are worried, from the homeless to the middle class, about their future.' "

"The phenomenon of encampments has caught advocacy groups somewhat by surprise, largely because of how quickly they have sprung up."

- CBSNews.com