Urban Ecoist

Here is an interesting scheme to get cars out of a congested city. London Mayor Boris Johnson is urging Londoners to sell their cars in order to reduce the number of cars on London streets by more than 100,000.

It’s called the Car Crunch London initiative. You see, London is going to be hosting the Olympics in the summer of 2012, and like most cities hosting said games, London is forced to rethink its transportation infrastructure in terms of traffic congestion. No one visiting a world-class Olympic city wants to be stuck in traffic — nor does anyone else for that matter, but it seems that the spotlight of hosting an Olympic Games really makes city planners and administrators wake up and smell the exhaust fumes.

If you live in London and sell your car, you can get a two-year free membership in car clubs called Streetcar that provides you with a vehicle when you need it. You need not own a car, pay for insurance and upkeep, gas or petrol as they call it on that side of the pond. This kind of car-sharing program is best for people who don’t need a car constantly, obviously, but car clubs can also be useful for anyone who wants to cut down on their driving. Maybe use public transit for that commute to work and only drive a car for shopping trips in which large parcels need to be carried or travels to areas where public transit doesn’t go, like a forest or parkland.

From an article announcing the initiative in The Standard:

Boris Johnson said: “Car clubs are a fantastic way for Londoners to reduce their motoring costs and help cut carbon emissions in the capital.

“Campaigns like this, which spread the word about the benefits of car clubs, are to be welcomed. We are supporting the growth of these services by helping 21 London boroughs to introduce 500 car club vehicles into London this year.” Transport for London said every car club vehicle takes 20 privately owned vehicles off the road.

Brett Akker, Streetcar’s cofounder, said: “We’re creating a win-win opportunity for Londoners. By taking up the Car Crunch challenge, they get to rid themselves of the costs and hassles of owning a car in the city, while dramatically cutting their carbon footprint.

This may be a good idea, to offer a financial incentive to get people to give up their cars. However, any reader living in America may be scoffing at the idea of giving up their cars and joining a car club, even if it were free (for a while). Sadly, in the US, aside from larger metropolitan areas, going without a car is next to impossible. Heck, I am staying at my Aunt’s outside of Detroit, Michigan and you cannot even walk anywhere because there are few sidewalks and walking alongside most of the roads around here may get you killed by automobiles going fifty miles an hour with little to no regard for pedestrians. And if you bring up the idea of giving up the SUVs and minivans to most Americans, you will get a funny look.

But why not give up your car, or at least one of the cars in the typical American household? Do you really need it? Maybe you could carpool with others in your neighborhood to a transit center or with others at your workplace that live in the same suburb. It’s just an idea, unless of course you enjoy paying for new tires, new brakes, tune ups, transmission and engine repairs, and insurance.

Maybe I am just talking crazy…but way to go, London. At least you are taking some form of action to reduce the number of cars on your narrow roads…

London, car crunch initiative, transportation, public transit, car clubs, carpooling, car sharing, cars, automobiles, traffic, congestion, infrastructure, Olympics, 2012, city planning, city driving, gas, insurance, American drivers

I want to say yes here, but it really depends on what your bio-diesel is made from.

Researchers at the University of Illinois have tested various sources of bio-diesel and have determined that the best choices for bio-diesel and ethanol production that actually reduce the net carbon released into the atmosphere is …drumroll, please…perennial grasses.

The researchers analyzed published estimates of changes in soil organic carbon in landscapes converted from natural or agricultural land to biofuel crops.

They focused on corn, sugar cane, Miscanthus, switchgrass and native prairie grasses. They also evaluated the impact of harvesting and using corn stover (the plant debris left over after corn is harvested) as a cellulosic biofuel source.

Their analysis showed that converting native land (grassland or forest) to sugarcane dramatically reduced soil carbon, creating a carbon deficit that would take decades to repay. While perennial grasses add carbon to the soil each year, DeLucia said, it could take up to a century for the sugar cane to rebuild soil carbon to former levels on native land.

Harvesting the corn residue for cellulosic ethanol production also reduced the carbon in the soil. The more plant residue was removed, the more the soil carbon declined.

Planting perennial grasses on existing agricultural lands had the most beneficial effect on soil carbon, the researchers found. –SPX via Biofuel Daily

Maybe you have and maybe you have not heard that corn-based ethanol is not the wisest choice for biofuels. First, you have the issue that 20% of American-grown corn is being diverted into ethanol production, and that is corn that is not being consumed as food, by Americans or anyone for that matter. Most ethanol is produced from corn kernels, so it’s not like this is waste plant matter that would be tossed or composted anyway. No, this is food stuff that no one is eating, which means if there is less corn in the supply side of the economic equation, the price of corn has gone up. With the price of corn rising, more and more farmers (yes, especially the big corporate farms) are planting corn.

With more corn going into the limited amount of arable farmland available to the US, that means less of everything else being planted. So, we now have an issue with other food crops supplies decreasing — pushing up the prices of well, everything. Have you noticed the cost of a loaf of bread lately? Less wheat is being planted and the decreased supply leads to increased prices, even if demand were to remain steady.. which it won’t as more and more people join us on this wacky blue marble in space.

So, what kind of biofuels are okay, for all us urban ecoists that want to help the planet, live lightly, be kind and rewind our consumption practices, etc? The latest study, that is going to be published in next month’s Global Change Biology Bioenergy journal (try saying that three times fast), details that every time the Earth is plowed or dug up, that action releases carbon. Soil acts as a carbon sink, and that carbon is what makes soil good for crops. Plants really, um, dig carbon dioxide, remember?

Hmm, what “crop” needs no plowing, or at least not yearly plowing? Perennial prairie grasses. The grasses grow during the growing season, can be cut or harvested at the end of that season, and the plants spend the winter dormant, and then grow again the next season. No plowing, no seeding, and little to no fertilizer required.

How ironic that so many farmers spent years and years and years plowing under the native prairie grasses of the Great Plains, only to find that those perennial grasses just may save the US transportation fleet one day…

bio-diesel, University of Illinois, biodiesel, biofuel, biofuels, corn, ethanol, perennial grasses, prairie grasses, carbon, carbon dioxide, crops, farms, farming, wheat, prices, food supply, carbon sink, plowing

When will humankind learn to choose a cautious path? Why is it that our species, and I am especially pointing fingers at the American sub-species, is quick to make a poor decision on a subject that would be best served with a little more understanding.

The Alaskan Pollock has become a “go-to” fish for a good portion of the American fishing fleet. Pollock is used in place of other seafood, such as crab and lobster, as well as in fish sticks and those unspecified-species-of-fish-sandwiches you get at fast food places. For years, fisheries experts have cited the Alaskan Pollock of an example of a successfully (sustainably) managed fish stock.

And now, the realization that maybe we are in fact overfishing the Alaskan pollock is starting to dawn on those who pay attention and worry about other species that also eat pollock — stellar sea lions, fur seals, whales, among other marine creatures.

I mentioned in Urban Ecoist’s step-sister site, Daily Science Dose, that it has been reported that a large percentage of Alaskan pollock are moving to the cooler waters of Russia. As waters around the Aleutian Islands, which are the spawning grounds for Alaskan Pollock (also known as walleye pollock), warm up, the fish are following their food to colder waters, leaving the American waters behind and depleting the numbers that American fishing ships are catching.

Well, not only are the pollock movin’ on up to the East Side, but there are also less of them.

Pollock was not always the fish of choice for US Consumers. Remember cod? Maybe you don’t actually, as it has been severely over-fished and extreme hard to find. The World Wildlife Fund has gone so far as to call cod endangered. Because cod was taken off the menu for a cheap white fish, pollock stepped in to fill the gap. And now, 20 or so years after the cod fishery started sinking, and the pollock became the substitute of choice, scientists are finding evidence of plummeting numbers of pollock. Low enough to cause concern among environmentalists and scientists that are allowed to be honest about the situation (i.e. not paid for by the fishing industry).

And that brings me to the fur seal. Northern Fur Seals live on the remote Commander Islands (the westernmost Aleutians that are actually closer to Russia than Alaska) as well as the Pribilof Islands up in the Bering Sea (map at right). And the fur seals, after almost being wiped out by over-hunting (they have really nice pelts), face a similar fate if their main food source is over-fished.

Greenpeace has launched a campaign to try and help the fur seals before their numbers also plummet. The North Pacific Fisheries Management Council is about to set the 2009 quota for pollock, and you can write a letter to the NPFMC to speak out against their ideas to raise the quota rather than lower it in order to try and restore the pollock population. If you want to get involved, check out the link here.

Also, you may want to avoid pollock. If demand is driven down, we may be able to rectify the situation that certain fishery management councils won’t.

pollock, Alaska, Alaskan pollock, walleye pollock, American fishing, fisheries, Pacific, Commander Islands, Pribilof Islands, Aleutian Islands, Bering Sea, Russia, fish stocks, fishsticks, fast food, imitation crab, imitation lobster, stellar sea lions, fur seals, whales, Greenpeace, cod, overfishing, North Pacific Fisheries Management Council

Sanyo has unveiled a new electric-hybrid bike for the Japanese market.  My question is, when will it come to the United States market?  Why must Asians always have the best technology, i.e. toys?

The Eneloop electric bicycle is designed to “harness the energy” from the braking system on the bike. It comes with a lithium-ion battery that is, of course, rechargeable. The best part in my opinion, as I live in a hilly city, is that the electric part of the bike can add extra power going uphill — up to double the power that my little legs can generate on their own.

Sanyo has an entire family of “eneloop” products which are based on the eneloop battery, which is a hybrid between regular old alkaline batteries and the traditional rechargeable batteries. The eneloop batteries are ready to use and can be stored for long periods of time, rather than needing to be charged before use and recharged often. According to Sanyo, the eneloop batteries are available in Japan and Europe, but the website doesn’t say anything about North America. I’m sure the disposable battery lobby is somehow involved…but then I usually blame lobbyists for most of our society’s dumbness when it comes to cleaner technology.

I can see this kind of hybrid moped-bicycle becoming popular in my urban environment of Portland, Oregon, and other hilly cities across the US. I would hope that a bike could become popular in many, many other cities, but unfortunately American urban planning over the past century seems to eschew centralized layouts and instead prefer the suburbs to house everyone in cookie-cutter McMansions. I am not sure if suburbanites would be as well served by adding a bicycle/moped to their family’s vehicle fleet, but it could be a great way to get to school for teens or for anyone making a shortish journey to wherever it is that Americans drive to constantly.

And I am not sure if this kind of electric bike would need to be regulated like a moped in the US. Mopeds requires licenses to drive, whereas bikes do not. If licenses would be required for a hybrid such as the eneloop, then I can see how this bike may not be as easy to own and use in the US. But if the eneloop and it’s ilk did not require additional licensing, this could be a good move for kids getting around, you know, to and from soccer practice so Mom can get rid of the SUV.

Wow, I am living in a dream world, aren’t I? Kids cannot be allowed to wander the streets on their own, or so it seems. And Americans giving up their cars and their hour commute to and from work– never gonna happen.

Still, for urbanites, the eneloop could be an excellent way to increase your bicycle-based travels. The eneloop also claims to boost speeds up to 1.8 times. It’s not much, but if I can get a few miles farther without totally wiping out my legs and showing up ruddy-faced and sweaty to an appointment or a meeting, that could be a very cool thing for me — and everyone who has to sit near me.

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Ah, snap. I have mentioned this Lame Duck Bush Federal Fire Sale in the past, and how I fear it, and how we should all be scared about what kind of damage Dubya will do as a final “smell ya later” to the country he and his friends have looted.

And today, I get news that the Environmental Plunder Protection Agency has repealed the 1983 Stream Buffer Zone regulation that has tried to save rivers and streams and the valley floors they flow through. I worried about this happening.

You see, since 1983, there has been a little rule that prohibited mining operations from mining or dumping their waste anywhere within 100 feet of a stream. Now, personally, I think that is fairly lenient, I mean, one hundred feet? That is it. I can hit a golf ball that far with a lob wedge and about a quarter of a swing. No matter how little a buffer one hundred feet gives, it was all we had — until now.

WASHINGTON - The Bush administration is easing the way for coal companies to dump debris from mountaintop mining into nearby valleys and streams in a move deplored by environmental and Appalachian citizens’ groups.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Tuesday approved the repeal of a 1983 law that prohibited surface coal mining within 100 feet of flowing streams. Most U.S. surface coal mining is done in the steep mountains of Appalachia, across Virginia, West Virginia, Tennessee and Kentucky.

EPA’s approval was the last hurdle for a proposal that originated at the Interior Department’s Office of Surface Mining. The rule goes into effect 30 days after publication in the Federal Register, which has not yet occurred.

This will allow more mountaintop-removal mining, where coal is mined by blasting off the tops of mountains and the crumbled mountaintop debris is pushed into adjoining valleys, environmental groups said in a statement.

“The EPA’s own scientists have concluded that dumping mining waste into streams devastates downstream water quality,” said Ed Hopkins of the Sierra Club. “By signing off on a rule to eliminate a critical safeguard for streams, the EPA has abdicated its responsibility and left the local communities that depend on these waters at risk.”

Some 126 million tons of coal came from U.S. mountaintop mining in 2007, accounting for 10 percent of U.S. coal production, said Carol Raulston of the National Mining Association.

Raulston disputed the environmentalists’ charges, saying the new rule was “merely a clarification of what is required in order to conduct any type of mining activity.”

Mountaintop mining is safer for miners than underground mining, but its ecological impact has drawn fire from local communities and environmental activists.

More than 400 mountaintops have been stripped of trees and flattened, 1,200 miles of mountain streams have been buried under mining debris since mountaintop mining began in earnest, the groups said in a statement after EPA approved the rule.

“The EPA’s decision is a slap in the face of Appalachian communities, which have already endured enough injustice from mountaintop removal,” said Vernon Haltom of West Virginia-based Coal River Mountain Watch. “My home and thousands of others are now in greater jeopardy.”

The U.S. environment agency said in a statement that it worked closely with the Office of Surface Mining to “enhance environmental protections in the final rule, including requirements that no mining activities may occur in or near streams that would violate federal or state water quality standards.”–Reuters via Planet Ark

I love the Carol Raulston quote. “Merely a clarification” to allow more destructive mining on more mountains is what I think she left out.

Again, my urban ecoists, you may ask what exactly do mountains have to do with urban ecology? My first reaction to that question is to make fun of you for asking, as you must be clueless about how the wilderness and the city are intertwined and it is mining that supports our cities with coal-powered electricity, but then I would remember that I made a New Year’s resolution to be nicer. (I know it is only December 4th, but I like to practice my resolution so that once 2009 comes around, I am ready to rock). And hi, cities, both large and small, get water from rivers and streams, that are fed with other rivers and streams. Think interconnected.

But seriously, we city-slickers should be a little more concerned about where our electricity comes from. You can spout off all you want about wind and solar, but guess what, if you live in the US, you are getting the warming glow of your computer screen from coal — at least 57% of that glow.

George Bush, Dubya, fire sale, lame duck, Stream Buffer Zone, Environmental Protection Agency, EPA, rivers, mountaintop, mountain top, mining, coal, electricity, urban, ecology, city, wilderness, waste

If you were not already aware of it, there is a high-numbered cable channel called Planet Green.  It is part of the Discovery family of cable channels, and I have to say it is the least fav of all the Discovery channels.  In fact, I mostly hate Planet Green — except for Bill Nye’s show, Stuff Happens.

I know, I know, of all people, you’d think that an Urban Ecoist like myself, I’d be all about Planet Green, but really, it is so lame. The shows always seem to revolve around some B-list celebrity and how cool they are because they are eco-conscious. I mean, Adrian Genier? Give me a break. Planet Green is making a huge mistake with this focus on celebrities telling the rest of American how to live “green”. One, nobody really cares what an actor or rapper thinks, and the only people that would care are simply blindly following just another “trend” that an overpaid celebrity is hawking. Also, if I may point out, Discovery has never had problems in the past with using actual experts in the field, like scientists, so why now this reliance on actors with no relevant experience other than shopping for a hybrid. I would rather hear advice and research from an actual scientist than watching a lame game show with host Tom Green (seriously, please tell me his last name is the only reason he got the job, because it sure wasn’t his talent). True story — my boyfriend will turn on Planet Green just to annoy me. It usually works, but then…

Enter Bill Nye.

I have been a fan of Bill Nye for years. He’s a big dork, with no apparent ego, and he makes sense. He’s got that old-school vaudeville-esque style that can appeal to kids as well as adults, and his show is interesting and informative.

Example…aluminum causes tooth loss in cows. I did not know that. It’s actually the mining of bauxite that releases certain substances that are harming cow teeth on nearby farms.

The boyfriend and I stumbled across Stuff Happens, and we have watched a few episodes “on demand” thanks to Comcast. It’s funny whenever Nye poses a question to his audience, Chris turns to me and had made it a little game to see if I already know about the topic. I mean, I write about this stuff, so I should know about it, yes?

And here’s a kicker for you. I never use non-stick pans when I cook, much to Chris’ chagrin as he washes quite a few pots and pans on a weekly basis. He always complains about my non-stick choices, and I always tell him that I don’t trust the non-stick coating on his pans, as they are pock-marked and scratched. And then, we watched the Kitchen episode of Stuff Happens. The next morning, I awoke to the sounds of breakfast being made. I walked into the kitchen and a non-stick pan had been used for Chris’s scrambled eggs. He’ll listen to Bill Nye, but not to me. Sigh.

Hopefully, Bill Nye can create a few spinoffs for Planet Green, as he is the only thing worth watching.

Planet Green, Discovery, channel, cable, Bill Nye, Stuff Happens, Adrian Gernier, Tom Green, television, episode, kitchen, aluminum, non-stick pans

I finally watched WALL-E last night. I write finally because I usually see Pixar films in the theatre, usually within the first two weeks of their release. I never got around to seeing WALL-E as I hate going to the cinema now that I have to sit through television commercials, and my boyfriend is a big poophead when it comes to seeing so-called kids films.

Now, there was some disgruntlement among some caused by WALL-E’s rampant environmentalism. Some said children shouldn’t be exposed to the Church of Al Gore, and some claimed that Disney was being hypocritical in regards to its merchandising habits when it comes to films like WALL-E. I happen to agree with the second issue, but the first is ridiculous.

Kids should be initiated into the world of environmentalism. You know, I have resented that label since I was young and idealistic, thinking that we could save the planet. I resent it even more now, as no one should not be an environmentalist. Being human and environmentally-mindful should be one and the same, and the fact that some don’t get that yet is why the Earth is in so much trouble. However, to be fair the beginning of the Industrial Age was a while ago, and I doubt that first person to burn coal or a gallon of gas could even imagine what devastation that act would cause. But there is so much more to the environmental crisis than just carbon dioxide — we do produce a lot of crap, both in the form of trash, but also in the form of dangerous chemicals and toxins that are destroying the planet and its inhabitants much faster than global warming.

The more children of today are exposed to the truth the better. Let’s get beyond the Bush Regime’s maybes and omissions and upcoming Republican party spokeswoman Sarah Palin’s not caring to know the causes of climate change.

I loved WALL-E, by the way. My boyfriend liked it, too, although he kept complaining about WALL-E having human emotions. He just doesn’t understand kids’ movies.

WALL-E, Disney, Pixar, environmentalism, environment, trash, chemicals, toxins, Al Gore, children, kids, movies, films, Republican, denial, Palin, Bush

So, last week, I wrote a post about turkeys, and I really meant to continue on the whole tip-sheet on being more sustainable in your giving of Thanks to our corporate benefactors. I was planning on writing about vegetables and their seasonality, making your own gravies and stocks and soups, buying organic, you know all that good stuff, but then I got other ideas for things to bitch write about, and here we are. I could try to cover things in this post today, maybe extend it through tomorrow, but you have most likely figured it all out last week when everyone else wrote about sustainable or “green” Thanksgivings.

Instead of rehashing what others are rehashing, today, I am thinking about generations, namely that of my grandparents and mine. I was raised by my grandparents, who were really fantastic people that made me who I am today, and their generation was born during the Great Depression. My grandfather fought in Korea and married my grandmother soon afterward in 1953. Their generation saw great hardship, and it was from this time that the Agricultural Revolution was born.

My great-grandparents passed down recipes and gardening skills to their children, and my grandparents were into farmers markets and making things from scratch. And then my grandmother started getting lazy…

She admitted, so it’s not like I am calling her out here. She started buying graham cracker crusts at the grocery store for her cheesecake. My grandfather would make little digs about it, saying it was not how he remembered it, or not as good as his mothers. My grandmother would remind him of his diabetes and maybe he shouldn’t be eating cheesecake.

The Agricultural Revolution did increase yields and provided this nation with a great deal of food, and some of that food went to countries around the world, preventing millions from starvation. But the AR also lead to the rise of the Processed Foods Industry. The Archer Daniels Midlands and Cargills lead to the Sara Lees and the Krafts, which filled our kitchen cupboards with all sorts of partially-hydrogenated deliciousness and high-fructose goodness. Just today, a new Government Accounting Office report finds that farm subsidies are profiting millionaires (and corporate farms) rather than that small, family-based farm, and health doesn’t get in the way of big profits.

Enter my generation. Actually, I doubt that I can speak that generally about my generation. I live in two bubbles when it comes to food. I live in Portland, which is a localvore’s dream, and I have spent many years working in pretty decent restaurants that at least tried to source locally, even in Michigan. That and being raised by an older generation that didn’t always rely on buying everything in a handy box-kit or frozen prepackaged, I may not be as common as I like to think I am. But the fact that more and more organic food is available and more and more people are talking about organic produce (and fabrics, furniture, cleaners, etc), I am convinced that my generation is making progress.

Funny how things come full circle. Now, it’s all the rage to make your own stocks and sauces, compost your vegetable peelings, recycle your glass jars. For my grandparents, and their parents, and their parents, you had to make your own stocks. Composting wasn’t called composting, it was just burying the kitchen scraps, because what else are you going to do with them. Jars were precious commodities for “canning” the vegetables from your summer garden, and insuring that you had food for February. Sure, the Agricultural Revolution may have freed us from the seasons, but at what cost?

Thanksgiving, sustainable, green, organic, vegetables, generations, Great Depression, Agricultural Revolution, farming, processed foods, junk food, agriculture, Archer Daniels Midland, ADM, Cargill, Sara Lee, Kraft, partially hydrogenated, high fructose, subsidies, Government Accounting Office, composting, recycling

Ah, traffic. It really is the worst thing about city-living, and more and more cities across the globe are following the American model of individual vehicles for each driver. Our freeways are congested, and commute times rival the time you’d spend watching a sports game. If you have ever driven during rush hour on the interstate system in Atlanta, LA, Detroit, San Francisco, Tampa, Miami…you know what I am talking about. Well, more and more global urban centers are starting to see what I am talking about.

Location: Beijing, China — we all heard that some draconian driving laws started a little before the Olympic Spectacle began. Recent reports from China are detailing the utter confusion that most Beijing drivers are feeling with some of the new laws and their post-Olympic variants. It seems that back in July, Beijing made alternate-day driving a rule for two months…

Beijing launched new driving restrictions on Sunday [July 20] that will ban more than a million cars from its streets in a bid to rein in the city’s notorious air pollution and traffic for next month’s Olympics.

Traffic on the capital’s normally bustling streets was noticeably light on Sunday, even for a weekend, amid the new rules that will ban cars with odd- and even-numbered licence plates from the roads on alternate days for two months.–France 24/AFP

…and it was good.

Many in China seemed to approve, taking to the Internet to mostly praise the measures, which in the end produced bluer skies and generally smoother traffic flows. A survey of 5,058 people by the New Beijing News last month showed 68.9 percent supported the traffic controls based on odd- and even-numbered license plates, 19 percent objected to them and 12.1 percent had no opinion. Asked what they would do if the restrictions were to continue, 18 percent of interviewees said they would buy another car.

“Recently, it takes me nearly twice as long to commute than it did during the Olympics,” said Zhang Fengyan, 30, an appliance salesman. “The difference is too big. I’d love it if they can make this rule permanent.” –Washington Post Oct. 2

However, it seems that the more severe alternate day driving was easier to understand for most people. The one car-less day a week is further complicated when the day changes.

BEIJING (Reuters) - Beijing car owners, many apparently puzzled by no-driving days designated by the last digit of their license numbers, now face revised rules which threaten even greater confusion.

The no-car days, introduced on Oct 11 to reduce gridlock and pollution, have apparently left so many drivers scratching their heads that one Beijing newspaper runs front-page notices each day to remind drivers which weekday they aren’t allowed to drive. –via ENN

I guess this week, the day you could not drive was moved back a day, and it threatening to destroy the whole system. Ok, I made that destroy thing up, but it is a little confusing when the days change on you, kind of like when your trash/recycling pick-up day is if it’s a holiday week.

Unfortunately, Beijing is only an example and a beginning to bigger headaches when it comes to transportation and its infrastructure and all of those darn cars polluting our skies. Think about it. Beijing has 3 million cars for its 17 million residents. That is one car per 5.6 people. In the whole of the United States, we have 250 million cars/trucks per 305 million people. So that is one car per 1.2 people. Think what Beijing would be like if it’s car ownership rate were the same as the United States.

Wait. Is it fair that I would compare Beijing to the whole of America and its multiple car households, instead of comparing Beijing’s numbers with another major urban center, such as New York City. It seems that Beijing is more like New York, if you look at these numbers.

From the New York Department of Motor Vehicles, in 2007, there were 1,738,970 registered personal vehicles in the whole NYC area. The population of the area is approximately 8,250,000 as of 2006. That’s about 0.2 cars per person in NYC. Beijing is 0.17, so it’s not far off from the US’s largest metropolis. The real problem is that Beijing is adding 1,000 new vehicles a day — if you figure 365,000 new cars a year, that represents a 12% increase. That 12% means that Beijing’s number of cars will double in less than seven years.

If I haven’t advocated it enough, this world really, really needs to figure out mass public transportation. It’s not so much that it is not available in some cities, it is that it’s seemingly ineffective. People don’t want to spend an hour on a bus or a train if they can drive themselves in their car in twenty minutes. Or what on a good traffic day is twenty minutes. More cars will mean more roads, more delays, and despite our best efforts at switching over to fuel-efficient vehicles and even electric cars, if we don’t cut the overall number of vehicles, we are all screwed.

Get a bike. Avoid suburbs.

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So, after being a resident of the area for two years, I can safely say that Southern California has its fair share of urban ecosystems. Along the coast, and inland for a bit, and except for a pause of housing developments between Southern Orange County and San Diego, the entire Southern California landscape is its own brand of urban living.

That said, I happened upon this news about Southern California Edison (SCE) building an artificial reef for a kelp forest. You see, Southern California Edison is one of the largest power companies out there, providing power to 13 million people in 180 cities in 11 California counties. And one way that SCE powers so many homes is with the help of the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS). The San Onofre nuke plant generates 2200 MW of SCE’s electricity that powers numerous pools in SoCal. Ah, I kid, hospitals, grade schools, and fire houses also get power from San Onofre. At least a portion of it.

But it seems that like most nuclear power generation facilities, SONGS needs water to cool the reactor or else it will get much too hot and cause a meltdown (in a very simplified version of how a nuke plant works). SONGS uses ocean water, as it is abundant due to SONGS location on the ocean. The intake valve is about 3000 feet offshore, but the output valve is situated at about 6000 feet offshore. Therein lies the problem of San Onofre and the solution in the form of the artificial reef.

It’s not so much that the water discharged is too warm, but rather that the cloudier near-shore water is being transferred to an area that is home to a rather sizable kelp reef that thrives in clear, non-cloudy water. Kelp needs sunlight to grow. Cloudier water means less sunlight is getting to the kelp. Kelp is an important habitat for fish and other species that depend on the “forest” for safety, stability, and food. In fifteen years of research at the site, it was determined that the kelp forest was indeed suffering a bit from the cloudy water, and if the kelp suffers, so does the neighborhood — of fish and other marine creatures.

Click on the image for better detail.
So what does SCE do? It figures that there isn’t much that can be done to prevent the cloudy water from reaching the area of the kelp forest, as the pipes are already built, and it is not like the plant itself can be located farther away from the kelp. Instead, SCE and the California Coastal Commission did some studies and concluded that if a new reef were built northwest of the San Onofre nuclear plant, the kelp could relocate and restore the area for fish and wildlife.

From the article:

SCE environmental engineers began with an experimental 23-acre reef northwest of the power plant to test the first-of-its kind design researchers had developed.

Utility and commission scientists analyzed a new single-layer rock design as well as several types of material, evaluating how best to develop a sustainable giant kelp forest. The results formed the basis for SCE’s construction plan that was endorsed last February by the coastal commission. Construction of the two-mile reef began in June and recently was completed.

So you see, urban ecoists, sometimes the appliance you plug in has far reaching consequences to many other ecosystems. Find out where your power comes from.

Southern California Edison, SCE, artificial reef, kelp, forest, fish, wildlife, Orange County, San Diego, Los Angeles, sunlight, California Coastal Commission, urban, ecosystems, habitat restoration

Honestly, I think that is what Thanksgiving is all about — sustainability. The newly arrived, brass buckled English at Plymouth Rock had to learn that pretty quickly anyway.  It started out as then and still is a harvest festival, and to have a harvest year after decade after century, one must be sustainable.  Do your part even if you are not a farmer. Support the sustainable farmer.  Instead think of yourself as a pilgrim to brighter shores, a newcomer to an age of environmental awareness, a refugee to the land of green, a — ok, I’ll stop.

Today let’s talk Turkey.

Let’s face it, Americans love turkey for Thanksgiving. I am not exception. However, once I got older, I noticed that the dry turkey my mom made every year was not exactly her fault. She bought the brands she knew, namely Butterball. Granted, some years, it turned out pretty good, but I never really got into the Thanksgiving turkey thing (sorry, Mom).

Then I had wild turkey. And suddenly, turkey was good. I got it. But I still don’t get why so many people still go for the factory birds. My mom was a product of the 1950’s agricultural… cough, revolution that lead to the rise of the factory farm, so she could not really help it. Marketing works. It was funny that my parents were big farmers market people for produce, but didn’t know jack about where meat came from. And I don’t think it was just my parents. Americans have been kept in the dark when it comes to how our meats are produced, and most Americans liked it that way. Now, you have to look for organic, and free range, and no antibiotics.

Well, there’s a reason for that.

Even if you don’t want to get all hippie on the checklist of environmental buzz words, if there is any more compelling a reason to go with an organic turkey, I cannot think of it. Taste. Turkeys are not meant to be confined to cages. Turkeys are not meant to be so breast-heavy that the bird cannot reproduce without artificial insemination. Turkeys are not meant to be injected with oils and salt water in order to taste better.

The less you do to a turkey, the better it will taste. Turkeys are meant to cover a wide area, eating grubs and insects and small plants that turkeys eat. When you taste a turkey that is raised outside of the factory farm system, you will be a convert. Be careful not to fall for the word “natural” on the label. Look for the organic certification on the label. Unless you happen to get your turkey at a small local farm, since sometimes the smaller farms will not pay the cost of getting certified, and instead rely on talking to customers directly about their farming practices rather than a logo on a package.

Also, besides taste and flavor, there are other reasons to go organic. Factory farms feed their turkeys grain, which is grown with the use of unsustainable and ultimately detrimental farming practices, such as pesticides and genetically modified seed. The antibiotics that those turkeys are given ultimately end up in the water system.

And if you get your turkey from a local source, you can count on the fact that less fuel was needed to get that turkey to your table.

Factory Turkey Stats
Top 10 Turkey Producing States in 2007 (in order)

* Minnesota
* North Carolina
* Arkansas
* Virginia
* Missouri
* California
* Indiana
* Pennsylvania
* South Carolina
* Iowa

Top U.S. Turkey Processors
Live Weight Processed (Million Pounds) *
Butterball, LLC 1375
Jennie-O Turkey Store 1255
Cargill Value Added Meats 1112

*Estimates for 2007 from February 2008 Watt Poultry USA

The next farm on the list produces only 271 million pounds of turkey, which is still a lot, but Butterball, Jennie-O and Cargill are the big boys. I would avoid their products in general, and if you really care about your family and loves ones, give them a real feast on Thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving, sustainability, sustainable, feast, farmers, farm, factory, turkey, turkeys, organic, natural, Plymouth Rock, harvest, pilgrim, Butterball, Jennie-O, Cargill

The Dutch have happened upon a neat discovery in abandoned coal mines in the Southern province of Limburg.  Water has flowed into these vacuums, and when the water is that deep underground, abutting warm rocks that are conducting the heat of the Earth’s mantle, it can become quite warm.  Warm enough to heat homes in the newly built neighborhood in Heerlen.

The map of the Netherlands colored yellow is the province of Limburg.

Limburg was once home to a thriving coal mining industry, but the mines fell out of use during the latter part of the 1960’s.  It seems the coal in the area didn’t make economic sense to mine, when natural gas was so much cheaper.  Guess the government didn’t hand out subsidies to the coal industry to make it cheaper and thus competitive against other forms of energy, as in the United States.

Wait…a coal mine?  Don’t I always write about how dirty coal is?  Why would anyone want water from a former coal mine?

The power plant does not actually use the water, per se, only the heat held by the water. The heat, i.e. energy from the heat (because heat is a form of energy — think potential rather than kinetic) is then converted to energy through turbines moved by the heated water or steam more precisely.

To put it simply, the power plant pumps water up from a certain distance underground where it is hot. The hot water coming up from the mine turns turbines, and that is how electricity is generated. In fossil fuel-based energy production, the same principle is at work, except that the heat must be generated by the combustion of oil or coal instead of it coming from deep down in the Earth.

It is called geothermal energy, and if you have been reading this author regularly, you will know how much I like geothermal.

The Heerlen Minewater Power Plant employs five wells going down as far as 700 meters or 2300 feet for the American readers. That is approximately half of a mile down, and the water in the mine (that seeped there naturally over the last thirty or so years) is a warm 89 degrees F at the bottom of the mine.

Now, of course, this type of geothermal energy source is only available to those areas that were once home to major and deep mining industries. When I compare the following two maps…

Coal Producing Regions of the United States

Potential Areas of Geothermal Energy Production

…there is a some overlap as to the regions that have geothermal potential and those coal-producing regions, but there are some areas of the United States that have coal mines but not a natural potential for the usual geothermal. So perhaps, with these coal mines, we can create our own geothermal energy. It may not work everywhere, but it could make mountaintop removal-style mining obsolete, as it could not be converted to a geothermal basin in the future after the coal runs out (or is made to reflect the true cost of the coal and its environmental impacts).

Dutch, Heerlen, Minewater Power Plant, coal mines, mining, Netherlands, geothermal, energy, electricity, United States, potential energy, turbines, generation, power, heat, subsidies, government

Seems there may be a problem with granite countertops, and if you have them, you may have invited radon into your home.

Does that mean that you should go to the expense and bother of removing said countertops? Probably not, as the radon emitted by the small amounts of uranium that may be present within that granite, are equally small. You probably breathe in more radon every day simply breathing.

However, some countertops or any other granite surfaces that are used for decorative facades do have some rather high levels of uranium. Not only is uranium radioactive, which is bad enough in and of itself, but as uranium decays it gives off radon. Radon is odorless and colorless, so it is not like you can see radon. Some houses’ basements also pose a danger of emitting radon, depending on the surrounding rock and soil.

You can have your house tested for radon. There are also radon test kits that are commercially available, usually costing around $25. If you find that you have elevated levels of radon in your home, you should contact your state radon office by accessing the EPA website’s list here.

The Environmental Protection Agency (if you trust it) claims that there is no conclusive evidence of danger from granite, but of course, you never know when you just happen to get that one countertop that just happens to have really high levels of uranium, coupled with the fact that your house sits on soil that also emits high levels of radon, and well, you see where I am going with this.

This remodel may have gone a bit overboard with the radon…er, I mean granite.

Radon is a carcinogen, that is it causes cancer. In radon’s case, it causes lung cancer, and the EPA estimates that 7000 to 30000 deaths from lung cancer may be attributable to radon every year. Radon may also cause emphysema, pulmonary fibrosis, and chronic interstitial pneumonia.

If you are thinking about putting in new countertops, you should check out all the recycled materials that are available, like icestone (at right), which is made from recycled glass, or even materials like concrete and bamboo.

granite, countertops, countertop, kitchen, bathroom, radon, uranium, cancer, lung cancer, emphysema, pulmonary fibrosis, recycled materials, icestone, glass, concrete, bamboo

I ran across this over the weekend, and though it so brilliant that I had to share it.

Prisons across the United States are going green, and by that I mean that inmates are growing organic produce, composting the food waste from the prison kitchens, and even recycling shoes into that rubber turf that is being installed around playgrounds.

Above: Ironwood State Prison in California operates its own solar power plant.

An Oregon prison is raising honeybees, an Indiana prison built a wind turbine to reduce its energy costs, a California prison has solar panels, and a North Carolina correctional facility has built a cistern system to capture rain water.

Can we really learn a better way from those who have strayed? Seems we can. The programs at the prisons are not only a great way to reduce costs, help the environment, and divert refuse from landfills, but also the pro-green programs are teaching the inmates valuable skills and giving them responsibilities to encourage self-confidence and a feeling of community.

From the Associated Press:

LITTLEROCK, Wash. – Of all the things convicted murderer Robert Knowles has been called during his 13 years behind bars, recycler hasn’t been one of them.

But there he was one morning, pitchfork in hand, composting food scraps from the main chow line and coffee grounds from prison headquarters — doing his part to “green” the prison.

“It’s nice to be out in the elements,” said Knowles, 42, stirring dark, rich compost that will amend the soil at the small farm where he and fellow inmates of the Cedar Creek Corrections Center grew 8,000 pounds of organic vegetables this year.

Inmates of the minimum-security facility, 25 miles from Olympia, the state capital, raise bees, grow organic tomatoes and lettuce, compost 100 percent of food waste and even recycle shoe scraps that are made into playground turf.

“It reduces cost, reduces our damaging impact on the environment, engages inmates as students,” said Eldon Vail, secretary of the Washington Department of Corrections, which oversees 15 prisons and 18,000 offenders. “It’s good security.”

As around-the-clock operations, prisons are voracious resource hogs, and administrators are under increasing pressure to reduce waste and conserve energy and water.

In 2007, states spent more than $49 billion to feed, house, clothe, treat and supervise 2.3 million offenders, the Pew Center on the States reported this year.

As the prison population has grown this decade, up 76 percent from 1.3 million in 2000, the number of prisons and jails has risen with it. The latest U.S. Bureau of Justice data show 1,821 facilities in 2005, up from 1,668 in 2000.

To keep costs down, the Indiana Department of Corrections installed water boilers that run on waste wood chips, and built a wind turbine at one prison that generates about 10 kilowatts an hour and saves $2,280 a year.

At Ironwood State Prison in Blythe, Calif., 6,200 solar panels send energy back to the grid, enough to power 4,100 homes a year. The prison was trying to meet an executive order requiring state agencies to reduce energy use by 20 percent by 2015, said a spokeswoman, Lt. Sue Smith.

North Carolina’s Department of Corrections switched to chemical-free cleaners and vegetable-based inks. This summer, because of a water shortage, inmates converted 50-gallon pickle barrels into small cisterns that capture rainwater.

Under a state mandate to reduce energy use, the Oregon Department of Corrections replaced old appliances with energy-efficient ones, installed solar water heaters and used a geothermal well to heat water. It also modified washing machines so they could reuse rinse-water to wash about a million pounds of clothes a month.

At Eastern Oregon Correctional Institution in Pendleton, Ore., inmates recycle scraps from old prison blues to make diaper bags for women’s shelters and dog beds for animal shelters.

“We try to model prosocial behavior,” said Vern Rowan, business manager for the Oregon Department of Corrections. Being sustainable “is something that everybody should be doing, regardless of where they’re at.”

Cedar Creek, in the heart of a forest, feels more like an outdoor retreat than institutional lockup.

Most of the 400 inmates are in a work program, and put in between six and eight hours a day.

The responsibility of caring for the prison’s three hives of Italian honey bees falls mostly to Daniel Travatte, 36, a soft-spoken former drug addict who is serving 10 years for attempted armed robbery.

Under the supervision of prison counselor Vicki Briggs, Travatte has learned to harvest honey — which inmates occasionally eat with breakfast biscuits — and use beeswax to make lotions. He’s become an expert on their habits.

“I’m trying to change myself,” said Travatte. “A lot of people go through prison with no intention of changing. I love working with the bees. It keeps me busy. I have a lot of responsibility to take care of.”

While there isn’t scientific evidence that such activities are helping inmates, Nalini Nadkarni, an environmental studies professor at Evergreen State College in Olympia, Wash., notes anecdotal evidence that it’s working.

“They were stimulating their minds and having conversations that were different than ‘How much more time we have left’?” said Nadkarni.

One inmate went beyond conversations, enrolling in a doctoral program when he got out and co-authoring a research paper with Nadkarni on a moss-growing project she started to help reduce the impact of wild moss harvesting on forests.

While Cedar Creek went green out of economic necessity — it had to conserve because it didn’t have the wastewater capacity to expand four years ago — it is now embracing other benefits, said Dan Pacholke, a state prison administrator who helped implement many of the practices.

Cedar Creek uses 250,000 fewer gallons of water a year, saves $6,000 to $8,400 annually on garbage bills and avoided a $1.4 million sewage treatment plant upgrade.

A large “Con-Post” marks the prison’s composting station, made of recycled concrete blocks and reclaimed wood, where Knowles spends about six hours a day, making sure the compost gets enough heat, moisture and air to break down food scraps.

“They trust me to do all this with no supervision,” said Knowles, who is serving time for the hit-and-run death of an off-duty police officer.

“I like growing the vegetables,” Knowles said. “My mom had a garden. I can see having my own garden.”

Sorry, I rarely like including an entire article in a post, but I really had a hard time deciding what paragraphs to include. I find this inspirational and I hope that the positive reaction to the established programs will encourage other correctional facilities to follow suit and develop their own gardens, composting programs, and develop ways to convert old systems to renewable and sustainable ones.

And what can we on the “outside” learn from these prisoners? Composting is easy, and organic gardening is also pretty easy. Not only are you providing your family with fresh, healthy produce, but if you include your whole family in the garden, you are giving kids responsibilities which will in turn give them self-confidence. Not only that, but getting kids out in the garden is a great way to teach them about how consumption and our part in the larger cycles of the Earth and its ecosystems.

I think schools should also take a note from the prisons of America. Have students spend an hour in a school garden or turning compost. Have a school wind turbine, and teach kids how it works. Have students organize a scrap drive, like back in World World II, and encourage them to lead the green revolution.

Viva la Revolution!!

And it took prisoners to lead the way? Maybe not, but going green is a great component to an inmate’s rehabilitation.

prisons, correctional facility, gardening, green, ecosystems, organic, composting, solar, water cisterns, California, Oregon, Indiana, North Carolina, honeybees, landfills, environment, children, schools, gardens, scrap metal, World War II, green revolution

Last week, I wrote about how the EPA is considering revisions to protections that prohibit mining within 100 feet of a stream or river.   This little rule is called the Stream Buffer Zone, and you can read more about it here.

Why do we need stream buffers? Mostly to ensure that huge mining operations don’t bury rivers beneath waste product from the coal industry. And anything mined that is not coal is considered waste, so all those mountains in Kentucky and West Virginia that have been dynamited and leveled have to be deposited somewhere and valleys are the logical choice. Except that most valleys have some sort of water system running through them. Also, mining operators can also release some nasty stuff when processing coal, so buffers are needed to reduce contamination of stream and rivers.

I mentioned in that previous post, in addition to urging you to email or write the EPA and tell them not to revise the laws in place to protect said streams, that there must be some bigger reason why the Bush Administration is looking to open up more land to mining. And then I ran across this little article in the Dot Earth blog on the New York Times website.

Appalachian Coal to Power India?

Hmm. Maybe Bush and his EPA Administrator (by presidential appointment) are trying to open more land up to destructive mining practices because they have found new buyers for American coal. But wait, India doesn’t want to simply buy coal, they want to buy the coal mines.

In an email dispatch to our Green Inc. blog, Somini Sengupta confirmed some reports that top Indian government and industry figures, with some $4 billion to spend, were shopping in Appalachia and elsewhere not just for American coal (exports of coal from the United States have growing for awhile), but coal mines.

So let me get this straight, Indian mining companies operating in the United States. Will the companies hire American miners, or import Indian miners? It would be really ironic if the Indian mining companies hired American workers that had lost their previous jobs to outsourcing to, ta dah, India.

India, coal, mining, Stream Buffer Zone, Bush, EPA, pollution, mountaintop removal, rivers, streams, Kentucky, West Virginia, mines, coal mines, Indian, United States