Spring 2014
http://solazyme.com/videos
(5th video on page)
Watch from minute 16 to get an overview of the company’s mission and his views of sustainability. See entire video to learn more about Solazyme, the company using algae as a biofuel amongst many other things.
If you know the first thing about beer, you know that beer is made from grains. Grains are used for everything, whether it’s food for people or livestock. Spent grains go straight to the dump or used as animal feed, but they can also make great compost, baking ingredients, and cultivators to grow mushrooms. Brewing companies across the country are currently turning their trash into useful materials, and even ethanol at a Coors site in Colorado. Read this “sustainable blog” for an in depth explanation of the process. Cheers!
http://www.sustainableamerica.org/blog/sustainable-suds/?fb_action_ids=10202297793979593&fb_action_types=og.likes&fb_source=aggregation&fb_aggregation_id=288381481237582
It wasn’t the earthquake or flood that caused the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant to explode and release toxins, it was the subsequent failure of the cooling systems due to the power shutdown.
A new location for the plants has been proposed, and NIMBY isn’t a problem. They are in the process of designing a nuclear floating platform to put in the ocean miles from the coast and at 100 meter depths. This would diminish all tsunami and earthquake concerns if the platform is far enough away from land. “The biggest selling point is the enhanced safety.” The ocean plants would use the surrounding water in case of an emergency cooling shutdown.
The article only lists advantages to the offshore nuclear plants, but I’m sure there is an equal amount of disadvantages such as transferring the energy to land…what else would dissuade people from investing in this alternative?
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/04/140416112956.htm
At the University of Texas at Austin, the manager of the oil and gas drilling logs collection has looked into and researched the option of “drilling” for water to solve the current drought in Texas. Researchers are using records to map brackish groundwater to eventually go to a desalination plant. It was determined that an aquifer in West Texas holds 4.9 trillion gallons of fresh water and 27.7 trillion gallons of brackish water. However, this all depends on the support from legislature to make it happen.
Poplar trees, especially genetically modified poplars, have been in the news for their ability to decontaminate the ground of chemicals, specifically oil. In the link, the specific contaminant is TCE…an industrial solvent. The poplar trees absorb the water with the chemical over a period of about three years, the tree is cut down, and then put into a landfill.
This process seems unsustainable at first, but removing the contaminated ground takes more work and money. Also, poplar trees are fast-growing and short-living, so they’re the perfect candidate for the task.
What are some ways to test the efficacy of the poplar trees? How is it impacting landfills? Can we do anything else with the “used-up” trees?
The U.S. Green Building Council announced a huge project on their wish list. They intend to launch “a National Action Plan for Educating for Sustainability” which will hopefully take place in 35 states by 2025. Their mission is to educate for a sustainable future through the integration of environment, economy, and equity, and the ability to apply this to systems for problem-solving and decision-making. This sounds a bit like our class, and soon this will be mandatory nation wide. I think this should be a mandatory class now and not ten to 35 years from now, but at least they’re implementing a class necessary for our century. Here’s the link from the GreenBiz.com
http://www.greenbiz.com/blog/2014/03/27/usgbc-students-educated-sustainability
Here we have a commencement address given by Paul Hawken (environmentalis/author) to the Class of 2009 at the University of Portland. How would you react if this was for you? Take five minutes to read this, I believe it will be well worth your time. Some of the content is a bit “wishy washy”, but the environmental movement message is there.
Here is a New York Times article on the declining moose population in Minnesota. The moose thrive in this abnormally long winter, but have the past hotter and longer summers in combination with shorter winters stressed them out? With warmer temps, the white-tailed deer population has risen which is the carrier of brain worm, which is fatal to moose. Is climate change to blame? If it is, what can we do for the Minnesota moose population. Or is this rapid recent decline similar to that of the brown bats on the East Coast…unable to be explained.
Check out Harvard’s sustainability website! Under the “Topics” tab, look at the Green Buildings. Since we are visiting Grossman House tomorrow, I thought I would stick to the theme of sustainable living and building. See how their projects compare to Lafayette’s, and how our schools differ.
Here’s an article from today’s NY Times.
How will people react when they see their gas prices rise by $.09 per gallon? The health benefits from sulfur reduction in gas is apparent, but this will cost oil companies billions of dollars on new equipment to clean sulfur out of gasoline. This is a huge health and environmental achievement, but will the majority of the population see it this way?
Quinoa, a nutritious grain-like food, has been in high demand over the past few years. This article addresses some concerns about the regions where quinoa is grown and how it is affecting their culture and sustenance. Can Americans and Europeans figure out a way to strike a balance, or will the Bolivians continue looking elsewhere for affordable food?
(Although this article was written three years ago, it still applies today because quinoa was served at dinner tonight, and at almost every meal)
Bolivian Farmer Holding Quinoa
If I was shown this video in middle school, I would be convinced that Americans are monster consumers with no regard to the environment. Kids and teenagers believe a majority of the ‘stuff’ they are shown in school, but if the information is false, we have a problem on our hands. Annie Leonard, the woman who started the “Story of Stuff” YouTube videos, exaggerates the information to prove a point. I do agree that we waste a considerable amount of finite resources in our country for being a finite planet without replenishing a majority of them. If Leonard suggested to everyone to act sustainably, she would make the same point without slandering all Americans. I believe that a person is measured by their intelligence and worth in the world, and not by how much they consume. Kids don’t look at their parents and think, “Oh, my mom is a huge consumer.” They think “my mom is a good lawyer or doctor or saleswoman”. The video calls attention to a world-wide problem and is meant to make a difference in one’s consuming habits, but a statement video with controversial facts is not the way to go about a movement.
350.org is a website dedicated to climate change and was started in 2008 by Bill McKibben, an eccentric environmentalist and professor. On the page there is a short, wordless video to accentuate the importance of a global movement. I would highly suggest watching it. What does 350 mean and how can we make this number possible?
Also in the news is the State Department’s approval of the XL Keystone Pipeline, and this project is protested by McKibben and his team. Attached is the New York Times article from Friday’s paper.
http://350.org/about/what-we-do/
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/01/us/politics/report-may-ease-way-to-approval-of-keystone-pipeline.html?_r=0
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