What about the seas?/We’re ravaging the seas.

RIP MJ

Home Carbon Calculator

Very cool calculator for home carbon output during construction projects. I believe it’s mostly catered toward landscaping remodeling, but regardless, it’s interesting (and depressing) to see the carbon output for your homestead in a given year.

Calculate your carbon now.

Greening the Herds

This article from the NY Times talks about how changing a herd’s diet to a more plant-based diet drastically reduced the cows’ methane emissions.

I know this isn’t building related, but I love that reducing cow farts can have such a positive impact on our earth. :) Who knew that flaxseed and alfalfa could help save the planet?

The best part: Vermont seems to be the pioneer in this effort.

A New Kind of Bailout

I purpose that instead of bailing out GM, AIG, BoA, and any other initailism you can think of, we turn our attention to the industries that can save us – not those who’ve let us down.

GM’s $500 million dollar bailout is absurd. Sure, it saves thousands of jobs now, but it only puts off the inevitable: people will find they use cars less and look to buy more energy-efficient cars in the future. The GMC pick-ups will be reserved for the construction manager who must use the car for work. The weekend-warrior Lowe’s customer? They’ll be driving a Honda Civic soon enough.

While I see the merit in trying to save the US (and, arguably the world) banking system, I think the Obama Administration is overlooking some life-saving industries here. My local farmer (yes, I have one), I estimate makes $20,000/year. That’s below poverty level. Think of the change he’s making: through the Community Supported Agriculture, he’s promoting local business (you GOP’ers should love this), saving gallons upon gallons of gasoline by farming three miles from where he distributes his goods, and maintaining an organic, easy-on-the-earth agricultural system. So I purpose giving the local farmer and others like him, $50 million of that GM money. My bet is the farmers turn a profit next year – versus GM’s estimated 5 – 7 year turnaround. And as an American taxpayer, I’d like my loan money back.

How about the emerging industries that can pull us in a new direction? While the Obama Administration is giving $2.3 billion toward renewable energy ventures, this may not cut it. We need industry-wide standards and a revived attitude toward sustainability. Look at the smart companies who are getting more of their energy consumption from renewables every year. They’re going to be around another 50 years. But those green-washing companies? They’ll be in Bankruptcy Court dreaming of windmills and landfill off-gases.

Lastly, let’s look beyond the employment of our fellow citizens to their health. The obesity rate has jumped 1.7 percent in the past year. This can be largely attributed to the average consumer’s tightened wallet as McDonald’s is much cheaper than Whole Foods. But the cost of the high rate of obesity is considerably more than we’re spending on bailouts. So instead of spending now on bailouts and spending more later on health care, let’s spend just a little now on curtailing Amerian’s unhealthy eating habits. Five hundred and sixty million Big Macs are sold per year. So for each Big Mac sold, the US government will give $0.50 toward decreasing the wholesale cost of a McDonald’s salad. Add to that drastically lower retail price a discount for biking to McDonald’s and that may shed ten pounds/person/year. It’s a fairly unresearched proposal, but if we cut the cost of obesity by one-fourth we could bailout another doomed US company. And nothing gives taxpayers more joy than that…

Earth Day Reflection

It’s been a couple days since Earth Day, but this great article from the HuffPo highlights some of the important connections between eating a vegetarian diet and lowering your impact on the earth’s resources.

Here are some quick highlights: (read the full article here)

• Farm animals produce more waste in one day than the human population produces in 3.5 years! 
• 240 TRILLION gallons of water are used each year for farmed animals and irrigating feed crops.
• It takes more than 11 times as much fossil fuel to make one calorie of animal protein as it does to make one calorie of plant protein.
• You can save more carbon by going vegan than by switching to a hybrid automobile.

So consider a lower impact way of life in the kitchen. You don’t have to go strictly straight edge: farm your own chickens and eat more black beans. Don’t buy Tyson, but a locally made tofu instead. Even a grilled cheese is better on the earth than a ham sandwich.

Take actions to make yourself, and our earth, healthier.

***Download a free vegetarian starter kit here.

DIY Solar Panels

Installing solar panels can be super expensive. But to get just a little boost for your home electrical system, you’ll be able to DIY next year!

Armagedden Energy (I’m not so keen on the name) is working on the prototype now – a 10-12 lb silicon hexagonal panels that can be easily snapped together and (maybe not so easily) installed on your roof.  Three of these panels together can provide as much as 400 watts of power!

They plan to release commercially in June 2010. The purchase price will be about $6,000 for a single 1kW AC system (i.e. three clovers). The website should be up July 2009.

When to not DIY:

• When you live in a diverse climate. Though Armagedden Energy says their panels withstand snow, ice, and wind, I’m skeptical about how well they’d hold up in major winters.
• When you’d like to sell back the unused power to the electric company – you’ll need a professional and an electric company rep to set this up.
• If your house isn’t totally immersed in sun 12 hours/day. Many solar panels can be rotated as the sun moves across the sky giving you more watts for your money.

Via Fast Company.

I=PAT

This interesting article in the NY Times yesterday talks about the relationship between a country’s wealth and it’s footprint. I certainly agree with many of the points John Tierney makes – it seems that they more people have to worry about money, health, and education, the less time and energy they have to be environmentally conscious. 

But, Tierney’s commentary that we will eventually reduce our impact on the planet does not seem like the correct reasoning to follow. If we have higher emissions standards for all countries – including the developing nations – can we just skip some of this Kuznets curve trajectory? I feel that pursuing better environmental standards will only help, not harm, our populations and our earth.

Lower emissions standards to increase economic health seems almost asinine.

Regardless, if the US is on it’s way down the Kuznets curve, then there’s your Earth Day good news…