An interesting little article from Seattle on the choices in hand drying. Just goes to show you how complicated some of these things can be.
Live Sustainably
Dave
Showing posts with label Connect the dots. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Connect the dots. Show all posts
Monday, June 30, 2008
Cloth vs Paper vs Air, How To Dry Your Hands
Sunday, May 4, 2008
Garbage Island
This a a really great video piece on VBS called Garbage Island. It follows Charles Moore across the Pacific Gyre and is worth watching the whole thing. You can see the rest of the episodes here.
Live Sustainably
Dave
Monday, March 3, 2008
Pacific Gyre Sample
The sample you are looking at was taken off the surface of the ocean 1500 miles from land by my friends Marcus and Anna. Studying the Gyre for the Algalita Marine Research Foundation, they surmised that it is 25 million square miles and comprised of approx. 3.5 million tons of plastic debris. While this may not seem like much, consider this, it's a little over a cup of water and it's got all of that in it. And since the fish eat the particles and bigger fish eat those fish, you may just be looking at dinner.
Live Sustainably
Dave
Sunday, February 3, 2008
Our Plastic Seas - The Pacific Gyre
As i mentioned a while back, my friend Anna and Marcus are on a trip through the Pacific Gyre, a twice the size of Texas patch of plastic debris that is floating in the Pacific Ocean. Due to illnesses and everything else, I've been behind, so here are the first posts they have put up. I highly recommend following their voyage. The above video was made by the foundation they are working for and explains the problem at hand.
Live Sustainably
Dave
While i would highly suggest reading all the post, if you are short of time, I'd check out "First Day at Sea", "Entering the Plastic Soup" and Fundamental Properties".
Meet the Crew
First Day At Sea "...a picturesque, volcanic coastline, far from any visible development, clear blue waters and spectacular beaches - entirely covered in plastic debris."
Sunday, January 27, 2008
Think your power is clean? Think again.
Holy connect the dots batman. I just came across this great site where you can type in your zip code and it will give you detailed info about where your local power is coming from and if it is involved in mountaintop stripping, a massively destructive coal extracting method that turns mountains into mole hills. We pay extra for green power so I need to run this by my power company to see what's what.
That said, apparently DWP buys power from Intermountian Power in Utah, who get their coal from Cumberland River Coal in Virginia and Black Thunder in Wyoming. So every time a regular DWP customer turns on the TV, it starts a chain where these companies destroy mountains in other states, ship coal across the country, turn it into electricity in Utah, and shoot it over the grid to their house so they can enjoy Sweatin' With The Oldies.
Makes sense huh?
If only there were some magical roof covering that could us a local power source, ya know, like the sun for instance, and turn it into electricity that would only have to be passed on down to the living room. If only......
Check it out, sign their petition, contact your local electric company, and pass it on.
Live Sustainably
Dave
Friday, December 28, 2007
365 Days of Trash
"I have no special talent, I am only passionately curious" - Albert Einstein
What does it mean when you say "throw something away'? Well, just that, it hasn't been dealt with, it's just not near you anymore, it's out of sight and therefore out of mind. So what would happen if there was no "away". Come January 1st, I may be able to start to answer that question as I attempt to further alienate myself from friends and family by not throwing anything "away" for a year.
Now I know what most of you are saying but I haven't completely lost my mind, not yet anyway, and yes, my wife is still with me. I was reading a few weeks ago about the Puente Hills Land Fill closing down and it pretty much secured the idea that this is something I want to attempt. Puente Hills is right here in Sunny Socal and is the largest landfill in the country. In 2012, it will be full and therefore close for good, and all my garbage will be trucked all the way to Arizona to a brand spanking new landfill. Insanity right? Landfills across the country are closing down, but since new ones are larger, the capacity has remained constant. That said, eventually, it stands to reason that the way we are headed, we're going to get into some serious trouble, not to mention poisoning air, groundwater, and who knows what else along the way.
It'll be interesting to see what problems arise, and the choices I need to make, packaging, etc, along the way. As a result of the NPR interview I did last month, they will be doing a series (potentially) on the whole process starting Jan 2 on Day to Day. I'll post the links as they come up and will be blogging about the whole thing at 365daysoftrash.blogspot.com.
And for those of you who are local, not to worry, I'm keeping the stuff in the basement, we are worm composting food, and I haven't given up on the toilet (yet).
Live Sustainably
Dave
Thursday, December 27, 2007
Pacific Plastic Soup - Coming to a shore near you
"Each person must live their lives as a model for others" - Rosa Parks
There's a ton of plastic garbage floating in the Pacific Ocean.
You may have heard of this before as it's been a story that's been floating around (heh heh) for a while now. Well, fairly soon, thanks to my super groovy friend Anna and her super groovy boyfriend Marcus, we're all going to get a firsthand account.
Anna and I go back a few years and she is actually the reason that I started teaching in the first place. She's a super committed enviro-activist, doesn't own a car, just an awesome Xtracycle and has a great site and great blog about lessening your impact on the planet. I had coffee with Marcus and her a week ago and they shared with me details of their upcoming voyage.
On Jan 15th, they are heading to Hawaii to spend a month sailing through the Pacific plastic "soup" with the the Algalita Marine Research Foundation in order to study it. You can check out info on their voyage here and I'll be sharing their blogs with everyone as they come in from the sea. Anyone else who wants to spread the word should definitely link to their posts as this is the kind of stuff people need to see.
For anyone who thinks that they aren't part of the problem, and we all are by the way, here's a few sobering pics for you.
This pic is a shot of Marcus holding up a line tied with little plastic tidbits. I took a look at it and thought "yikes that stuff shouldn't be floating in the ocean" and then he told me that all these little things were taken out of the rotting carcasses of seagulls they found on the shores of the Aleutian Islands (I believe that's where they were from, I was in a bit of shock). Incredible. On the right you can see a closer version. Bic lighters, toothbrushes, doll legs, and a whole host of other stuff that has no business being out there.
After they get back, Marcus and Anna are planning on riding their amphibious bikes that they built cross country to show school kids what they have seen. If you'd like them to come to your kids school, feel free to drop me a line and I'll pass it along to them.
Throwing out a hale and hearty huzzah to Marcus and Anna, wishing them both a safe and educational trip, and a thanks in advance for takiing us along for the ride.
Live Sustainably
Dave
Monday, December 17, 2007
Check out your ecological footprint
"The trouble is that once you see it, you can't unsee it. And once you've seen it, keeping quiet, saying nothing, becomes as political an act as speaking out. There's no innocence. Either way, you're accountable." - Arundhati Roy
In an effort to better understand our impact on the world, I invite you to checkout the Ecofootprint Calculator. It's pretty simple and will only take about 3-4 minutes but it sets up quite nicely where you stand as to how much you use. While the questions are somewhat vague, I think it's a good tool because it causes you to think about what choices you have to make. Once you've done the test, note down the results and change a few key answers to see where you can improve and what difference it'll make. If you are comfortable, I'd love to hear what your numbers were. If you'd rather remain anonymous, feel free to email me and I can throw the numbers up in the comments section without a name.
To start it off, our lifestyle footprint was an 8 which means that if everyone in the world lived the way that we do, we would need two planets worth of raw materials. I was able to get this down to a 7 by cutting out air travel back east but that's about as far a dent I could make in it.
Oh yeah, if you can't get the map to work on the first page, hit the "low bandwidth" link in the bottom right hand corner. Sometimes the site gets bogged down but that usually works.
Live Sustainably
Dave
http://www.footprintnetwork.org/en/index.php/GFN/page/calculators/
Thursday, December 6, 2007
The Story Of Stuff
"I own one share of the corporate Earth, and I'm uneasy about the management." - E. B. White
My friend Paul sent me this link and I wanted to share it with you all. The Story of Stuff is a 20 minute animated video that explains in very simple terms the relationship between our unsustainable lifestyles and the world in which we live. It's a really good demonstration of how we are part of the system that is harming the planet.
For instance, did you know that the average lifespan of a product purchased in the US is less than 6 months? Or that in the last 30 years we have consumed 1/3 of the planets resources? Just by these two facts alone, you can see it's an unsustainable model and in order for our children to have a future, we need to change our paths now.
So sit down with your honey, grab a cup of fair trade shade grown french pressed coffee, and check it out. It's a bit heavy, but that's because it's honest. It's an education, but one that's needed and in my opinion, a longtime coming. For those of you who lean to the right of the political spectrum, I'll ask you to take the few political moments with a grain of salt (if need be) and recognize the importance of the overall piece.
Oh and if the flash is running slow, you can download it to your computer here. And when you're done, don't forget to check out the list of 10 things to do right now.
Live Sustainably
Dave
Wednesday, December 5, 2007
How much does 1 can of Coke cost (environmentally speaking that is)?
"Only after the last tree has been cut down, only after the last river has been poisoned, only after the last fish has been caught, only then will you find that money can not be eaten." - Cree Prophecy
Take a look at this excerpt from the book Lean Thinking on how much goes into the making of an aluminum can. It's a great example of how removed we are from everything. I apologize to those who have trouble drinking soda after reading this, but whether you read it or not, we all have the responsibility to understand our place in the cycle.
Live Sustainably
Live Sustainably
Dave
Monday, November 26, 2007
It's about being disconnected
"It really boils down to this: that all life is interrelated. We are all caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied together into a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly. We are made to live together because of the interrelated structure of reality." - Martin Luther King Jr.
I've been pondering starting a blog for quite some time, but I couldn't figure out what to say in my first post. It always seemed like that was the tough one, and that the rest would just sort of follow finding their own voice and way. It seems that I've put it off long enough, so here goes.
I think a lot about sustainability.
Perhaps too much sometimes.
Remember that scene in the Matrix where Neo finally sees all the code and "gets it"? Well, that's sort of the way I am with things except I "see" energy and waste. When I look at a cup, I don't just see the cup, I see (well guess anyway) the energy and resources that went into making it, the energy and resources that went into getting it to me, the energy and resources that will go into ferrying it off to some dump or recycling center, and the energy and resources that will eventually go into it's destruction/recycling. And then I realize that I'm not even using it, and that my wife is wondering why I'm not listening to her. It can be quite frustrating at times and I honestly wish I could turn it off, but unfortunately some things are just like that.
As I think about this stuff, I've come to the realization that one of the biggest hurdles we have in front of us is our general disconnectedness. Thousands of years ago, people had no choice but to be connected to their world. People lived much simpler lives than we do and knew how things became and where they went. If you needed food, you grew/hunted for it, or bartered for it from someone who grew/hunted it. If you had refuse, you burned it, buried it, or disposed of it outside yourself. People were connected to their lives and therefore, whether cognizant of it or not, had an understanding of their impact.
We are different. Look at the clothes you are wearing right now. Can you honestly say that you have any idea the amount of energy, materials, time, or money that actually went into any item of clothing that you are wearing? I know I can't. When you throw your trash out tomorrow morning, where does it go? I have a general idea, but I honestly can't tell you. When you turn the water in your tap on (a miracle when you really think of it) do you know where it came from, how it got to you, or where it goes? I can't.
As a society we are living unsustainable lives. Americans in particular use far more than our share, and it is my opinion, perhaps a naive one, that the first step to changing this behavior is to connect the dots. We turn on lights, use water, throw things "away", drive our cars, and rampantly purchase and discard without a care because it is easy not to care.
We are disconnected from everything.
But let me ask you this. What if you realized that those miners that died in Utah last summer were mining cheap coal that was specifically being used to power your house? What if every time you left your faucet running you could see the water table drop? What would happen if you had to take your garbage to the dump yourself? How would you feel if the pollution from your car stayed right over your house and built up until you couldn't breathe? What if you had to buy your purchases from the people who actually made them, the ones who work 16 hours a day 6 days a week and live in tin huts? I'm not trying to bum you out, but I think you'd think differently about your actions. You'd realize that simply because we don't think of the consequences to our actions all of the time, it doesn't mean that they don't exist. And before you know it, you'd be staring at that coffee cup, recognizing the consequences of its existence, and wondering why your wife is looking at you like that.
So what am I getting at? Mainly that we've got a long way to go and the first step in all of this is learning to think differently. Hopefully, with your help, we can all work together to make the difference.
Who's in?
Live Sustainably
Dave
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
