Is the cure worse than the disease?

Does a treatment intended to protect crops speed the destruction of other crops?

A popular insecticide appears to have the side effect of killing crops’ greatest ally — the critically important honey bee, an important plant pollinator. Curiously, a government agency refuses to reveal what it knows about this problem…

http://www.wnbc.com/greenisuniversal/17238912/detail.html

Then there is the mosquito killer that worries lobster fishermen. Some argue that we’d be better off with West Nile Virus than this insecticide.

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9502E2DC133DF932A05754C0A9669C8B63&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all

http://www.meepi.org/wnv/overkillma.htm

Retailers Rushing for Rays

Big box retailers are rushing to make the real estate on top of their stores a solar resource, before a December deadline.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/11/business/11solar.html?_r=1&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss&oref=slogin

Gas drilling and contaminated water

Recently a local paper ran a story about a Texas rancher whose groundwater is flammable, thanks to drilling operations under his property. http://www.star-telegram.com/news/story/786874.html

Now New York State officials are trying to prevent a similar problem, by restricting drilling near the city’s water supply. Revenues from drilling at this location would be matched by the cost to clean up contaminated water. http://www.timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp?storyID=709513&category=STATE

Mooing for Methane

Last month I visited Erath County, Texas, proud home to more than 64,000 cows. Each of these beasts delivers thousands of gallons of milk each year, and something else, too – over 100 pounds of waste, per cow, per day. With the need for greener power growing, all that dung has become a valuable resource.

http://www.plentymag.com/features/2008/08/power_from_cow_poo_heats_homes.php

Mother Nature helps forestall reservoirs

Ironic that wetlands get bulldozed to make way for urban development, and now urban water districts are building wetlands back up again. Here’s a story I did recently for Planning magazine about artificial (ie, constructed) wetlands which could delay the need for new reservoirs:

http://www.wlsunshine.com/CLIPS/wetlandsrecycl.pdf

Gore’s strategically-timed call to action

Today, Al Gore gave a powerful and eloquent speech (click here for transcript) about the bold moves America must take now to combat global warming. He challenged our country to achieve 100% dependency on renewal energy within ten years, and described how a transition off fossil fuels will help protect our standard of living and counteract the collective pain caused by rising oil prices, wars on foreign soil to protect oil imports, and the decline of our planet.

The timing of Gore’s speech was shrewd: rather than wait until a new president gets sworn in, he used his public platform to step in, frame election issues, and challenge the next president to get on board. The threading together of economic issues, entrepreneurial opportunities, national security, and planetary protection is not in and of itself groundbreaking, but Gore crystallized key issues with clarity and inspirational leadership. http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/07/17/gore.energy/index.html

Building on ingenuity

From today’s New York Times: innovative new building products could be a boon for the environment. These new materials — which can reduce waste, create energy – are highlighted in architect Blaine Brownell’s book and website.

“Today, Mr. Brownell’s Web site, transmaterial.net, has become a clearinghouse of sorts for information on the latest innovations. He has cataloged more than 1,000 products on the site as well as in a companion book, “Transmaterial,” the second volume of which was published this year by Princeton Architectural Press. More than 3,000 people have signed up for his “product of the week” e-mail message, which spotlights materials like smog-eating concrete.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/13/realestate/commercial/13sqft.html?scp=1&sq=CalStar+Cement+of+Newark%2C+Calif&st=nyt

The upside of expensive transportation

 

There’s a silver lining to high fuel prices.

 

In 10 Things You Can Like About $4 Gas, Time magazine contends that higher transportation costs are bringing overseas jobs back home to the U.S., cleaning the air, reducing traffic fatalities, and cooling urban sprawl. It may sting your paycheck, but expensive gas can mean less emergency room trips for kids with asthma and other individuals whose conditions are worsened by pollution.

 

To Time’s list of benefits, I’d add that increased car pooling, mass transit, and urban living give people more social interaction than they’d get spending hours behind the wheel as lone drivers. Isolation is well documented to carry health risks, and exacerbates psychological problems such as depression.

 

In addition, bringing manufacturing operations back to the U.S. may slow the crazed pace of industrial development in places like China, where they’re burning so much coal that skies turn grey.  

 

Solar curtains and parking lots

It’s easy to forget that once the sun rises each day, we’re surrounded by power.

Fortunately, engineers are finding opportunities to harvest the sun everywhere. Take that roasting parking lot. A California company, Envision Solar, is shading cars while reaping wattage. http://www.businessweek.com/investing/green_business/archives/2008/05/sun_shades_cool.html

And when I recently hung “blackout” curtains to keep the blazing Texas sun at bay, I had no idea we were frittering away the chance to power up a few appliances!  According to Sheila Kennedy at MIT, curtains are the new frontier for harvesting energy: http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2008/solar-textiles-0609.html and http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/science/07/01/solar.textiles/index.html

To all you engineers out there, please make sure that solar roofing tiles are affordable by the time my roof needs to be replaced in a few years. (Petroleum-based asphalt shingles will be pricey then, besides.) Thanks. And while you’re at it, please build solar collectors into the nation’s roadways… weave them into suspension bridge cabling… wind them around windmill towers… and drape photovoltaics across the dome of the new Cowboys stadium …

Fossil fuel criminals?

Wow. A NASA scientist is really laying it on the line again — 20 years after he first raised concerns about the impact of human activity on Earth’s climate.

This article reports that James Hansen is saying he believes fossil fuel company CEOs deserve criminal trial for denying and profoundly exacerbating climate warming.

http://www.environmentalleader.com/2008/06/24/james-hansen-try-fossil-fuel-ceos-for-high-crimes-against-humanity/

Certainly oil and gas CEOs have a significant degree of responsibility, having paid lobbyists and faux-scientists handsomely to conduct a public relations shell game about the existence of global warming. But are not consumers also culpable? And what about politicians who gather campaign financing from these companies, and in return maintain cushy subsidies for oil and gas production? There’s a web of responsibility. Hansen’s flashy statement is an attempt to draw a line in the sand, and say “enough” – the time for significant action is now.