Technologies
I didnt write anything but i found some some environmental technologies and another site that talked about green communities and how they build them to make them more sustainable.
Make Paper Obsolete
Imagine curling up on the couch with the morning paper and then using the same sheet of paper to read the latest novel by your favorite author. That’s one possibility of electronic paper, a flexible display that looks very much like real paper but can be reused over and over. The display contains many tiny microcapsules filled with particles that carry electric charges bonded to a steel foil. Each microcapsule has white and black particles that are associated with either a positive or negative charge. Depending on which charge is applied; the black or white particles surface displaying different patterns. In the United States alone, more than 55 million newspapers are sold each weekday.
Bury The Bad Stuff
Carbon dioxide is the most prominent greenhouse gas contributing to global warming. According to the Energy Information Administration, by the year 2030 we will be emitting close to 8,000 million metric tons of CO2. Some experts say it’s impossible to curb the emission of CO2 into the atmosphere and that we just have to find ways to dispose of the gas. One suggested method is to inject it into the ground before it gets a chance to reach the atmosphere. After the CO2 is separated from other emission gases, it can be buried in abandoned oil wells, saline reservoirs, and rocks. While this sounds great, scientists are not sure whether the injected gas will stay underground and what the long-term effects are, and the costs of separation and burying are still far too high to consider this technology as a practical short-term solution.
Let Plants and Microbes Clean Up After Us
Bioremediation uses microbes and plants to clean up contamination. Examples include the cleanup of nitrates in contaminated water with the help of microbes, and using plants to uptake arsenic from contaminated soil, in a process known as phytoremediation. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has used it to clean up several sites. Often, native plant species can be used for site cleanup, which are advantageous because in most cases they don’t require pesticides or watering. In other cases scientists are trying to genetically modify the plants to take up contaminants in their roots and transport it all the way to the leaves for easy harvesting.
Plant Your Roof
It’s a wonder that this concept attributed to the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, one of Seven Wonders of the World, didn’t catch on sooner in the modern world. Legend has it that the roofs, balconies, and terraces of the royal palace of Babylon were turned into gardens by the king’s order to cheer up one of his wives. Roof gardens help absorb heat, reduce the carbon dioxide impact by taking up Co2 and giving off oxygen, absorb storm water, and reduce summer air conditioning usage. Ultimately, the technique could lessen the “heat island” effect that occurs in urban centers. Butterflies and songbirds could also start frequenting urban garden roofs, and like the king’s wife, could even cheer up the inhabitants of the building. Here, a green roof is tested at Penn State.
Harness Waves and Tides
The oceans cover more than 70 percent of the Earth’s surface. Waves contain an abundance of energy that could be directed to turbines, which can then turn this mechanical power into electrical. The obstacle to using this energy source has been the difficulty in harnessing it. Sometimes the waves are too small to generate sufficient power. The trick is to be able to store the energy when enough mechanical power is generated. New York City’s East River is now in the process of becoming the test bed for six tide-powered turbines, and Portugal’s reliance on waves in a new project is expected to produce enough power for more than 1,500 homes. Here, a buoy system capable of capturing the oceanes power in the form of offshore swells is illustrated by researchers at Oregon State University.
Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion
The biggest solar collector on Earth is our ocean mass. According to the U.S. Department of Energy, the oceans absorb enough heat from the sun to equal the thermal energy contained in 250 billion barrels of oil each day. The U.S. consumes about 7.5 billion barrels a year. OTEC technologies convert the thermal energy contained in the oceans and turn it into electricity by using the temperature difference between the water’s surface, which is heated, and the cold of the ocean’s bottom. This difference in temperature can operate turbines that can drive generators. The major shortcoming of this technology is that it’s still not efficient enough to be used as a major mechanism for generating power.
Sunny New Ideas
The sun’s energy, which hits Earth in the form of photons, can be converted into electricity or heat. Solar collectorscome in many different forms and are already used successfully by energy companies and individual homeowners. The two widely known types of solar collectors are solar cells and solar thermal collectors. But researchers are pushing the limits to more efficiently convert this energy by concentrating solar power by using mirrors and parabolic dishes. Part of the challenge for employing solar power involves motivation and incentives from governments. In January, the state of California approved a comprehensive program that provides incentives toward solar development. Arizona, on the other hand, has ample sunshine but has not made solar energy a priority. In fact in some planned communities it is downright discouraged by strict rules of aesthetics.
The ‘H’ Power
Hydrogen fuel cell usage has been touted as a pollution-free alternative to using fossil fuels. They make water by combining hydrogen and oxygen. In the process, they generate electricity. The problem with fuel cells is obtaining the hydrogen. Molecules such as water and alcohol have to be processed to extract hydrogen to feed into a fuel cell. Some of these processes require the using other energy sources, which then defeat the advantages of this “clean” fuel. Most recently, scientists have come up with ways to power laptops and small devices with fuel cells, and some car companies are promising that soon we’ll be seeing cars that emit nothing but clean water. The promise of a “hydrogen economy,” however, is not one that all experts agree will ever be realized.
Remove the Salt
According to the United Nations, water supply shortages will affect billions of people by the middle of this century. Desalination, basically removing the salt and minerals out of seawater, is one way to provide potable water in parts of the world where supplies are limited. The problem with this technology is that it is expensive and uses a lot of energy. Scientists are working toward better processes where inexpensive fuels can heat and evaporate the water before running it through membranes with microscopic pores to increase efficiency.
Make Oil from Just about Anything
Any carbon-based waste, from turkey guts to used tires, can, by adding sufficient heat and pressure, be turned into oil through a process called thermo-depolymerization, This is very similar to how nature produces oil, but with this technology, the process is expedited by millions of years to achieve the same byproduct. Proponents of this technology claim that a ton of turkey waste can cough up about 600 pounds of petroleum.
Green projects must meet a minimum number of Green Communities criteria that include:
- Integrated Design
- Site, Location and Neighborhood Fabric
- Site Improvements
- Water Conservation
- Energy Efficiency
- Materials Beneficial to the Environment
- Healthy Living Environment
- Operations and Maintenance
Found at these sites:
http://www.greencommunitiesonline.org/house_tour/fabric.html
Genetic Engineered Trees
Read some articles about genetically modified organisms and thought I’d say something…
Genetic engineering has grown to become a growing issue in the science world in addition to the real world. Many studies show that genetic engineering can benefit the human race by making food products last longer and give out more nutrients and vitamins when we eat them. Genetic engineer has grown from engineering foods, animals, and bacteria to now trees. Many people see this new technology as a good advancement in technology because it can help with the fight on global warming and to help restore and replenish the tropical rain forest which has suffered the loss of many acres over the years. Scientists are starting to do studies to genetically engineering trees throughout the country because scientists can work on creating a tree that grows faster, yields better wood, produces hardier crops, fight pollution, and even serve as sentinels for detecting germ and chemical attacks.
With the genetic engineered trees the wood could be made better for the environment with making it burn better or making it stronger or resistant to viruses or insects. Global warming is a growing issue with the accumulation of carbon dioxide; with these genetically engineered trees that these scientists can engineer, can help to remove toxins quickly and cheaply than ever. In addition to engineering these trees the fruits and other produce that will be richer in nutrients and produce better crops.
Tree genetic engineering depends on the “availability of tissue culture protocols allowing whole plant regeneration from isolated pieces of tissues and on the availability of DNA transfer methods permitting the modification of the host genome” (Charest). In one study, biotechnology has been credited with saving Hawaii fourteen million dollars for their papaya industry. The reason being was that there was a virus that was wiping out forty percent of their crops and threatened to destroy the rest of the crop until scientist engineered the seeds to resist the virus, which then resulted in the prosperity of Hawaii’s papaya industry.
The Gene transfer method which is an agro bacterium, “a based method was developed that is effective on a variety of commercial lines of hybrid cottonwoods. It has been used to generate over 2,000 lines of transgenic poplars and over 20 field trials of transgenic trees” (Strauss). The implications that this new technology can have could help out the plant extremely. This new technology can help the plant by reducing the amount of pollution in the atmosphere because we can plant and grow trees faster than before. This in turn will result in the more trees absorbing carbon dioxide which then will release more air into the atmosphere. In addition, we can make the kind of trees we want; for Christmas or to hang a swing off of in the front yard. Biotechnology is the future in the science field and will help out the human race for years to come.
References:
Charest, P.J., M.F. Michel. 1991. Basics of plant genetic engineering and its potential applications to tree species. Petawawa National Forestry Institute, Inf. Rep. PI-X-104. 48 pp.
http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2002/nsf01168/nsf01168q.htm
http://online.sfsu.edu/~rone/GEessays/GEtrees.htm
Is the Superfund program protecting the Environment from Hazardous Waste?
In the United States alone there is over two hundred and seventy-five million tons of hazardous waste that’s produced. Programs such as Superfund which by there web site they describe themselves as “We’re committed to ensuring that remaining National Priorities List hazardous waste sites are cleaned up to protect the environment and the health of all Americans” (2007). Like all corporations superfund should be a corporation that is socially responsible, meaning that the company should have values (being to protect the environment and the health of the American people) and those values should be pursued especially when dealing with both the environment and human health. Although the government needs to fund the program more because superfund deals with a lot of hazardous waste sites and makes sure that people and communities around them are safe and livable. Therefore, overall the Superfund program is efficiently protecting the environment from hazardous waste and other emergency responses.
Not only does Superfund deal with hazardous waste in the United States in addition, they also are our emergency response for the United States. They were responsible for the clean up of “The aftermath of 9/11, the response to the Anthrax attacks…and the recovery of debris from the crash of the space shuttle Columbia [that] were all totally unforeseeable” (Harris, Vandeven, Tilchin 2007). With being apart of the emergency response force for the U.S. and with the many horrific acts that has part took in the U.S. for the last five years, one could imagine the amount of resources need to handle both protecting citizens from hazardous waste and national emergencies. In the article written by Robert Harris, Jay Vandeven, and Mike Tilchin called “Superfund Matures Gracefully”, they said that “The resource demands on the program [Superfund] are greater today then ever before” (2003). With the high demand in waste clean up the government should provide sufficient funds so the sites can be cleaned up.
Since Superfund is a federal government program it should provide the right amount of money to help make sure that contaminated sites get cleaned correctly so that the people and environment surrounding it will not be infected. In the article written by Margot Roosevelt, called “The Tragedy of Tar Creek” she writes that (talking about how companies such as Superfund made the people/companies that polluted pay to clean up their mess) “We went from polluters paying to citizens paying” (2004). It is not fair to have citizens have to pay for cleaning up hazardous waste that irresponsible company’s improperly disposed of. At the Turkey landfill in New Hampshire, they do not take or dispose of hazardous waste. For every truck that comes in and dumps its garbage they have video cameras and paper work that help to track those who improperly dispose of hazardous waste. If hazardous waste is dumped they know what truck it was and that trucks company will have to take it out and if need be have to pay for cleaning up if a HAZMAT team is needed. It should go back to what it was before, which was that polluters pay for polluting, especially when it come to hazardous waste. Citizens should not pay for the incompetents of irresponsible companies.
Superfund does and still is trying to protect the American people and the environment however, with the full load of protecting communities from hazardous waste. People like Margot Roosevelt who oppose that Superfund is doing a sufficient job towards protecting hazardous sites from the American public are over demanding. The plethora of projects Superfund has to deal with have grown to be far more complicated then perceived. Superfund had to make a list to priorities of what sites were the worst and which ones needed the most attention. However, since Superfund is also Americas emergency response it has done significantly well seeing by how they went about helping in the 9/11 attacks, Anthrax, and the Columbia disaster. Judging by how well they did with those situations one could only imagine what they are accomplishing with hazardous waste situations that don’t make national headlines.
References:
Harris, Robert, Vandeven, Jay, and Tilchin, Mike. “Issues in Science & Technology.” “Superfund Matures Gracefully”. 2003.
Roosevelt, Margot. “Time”. “The Tragedy of Tar Creek” April 26, 2004.
Superfund. “Cleaning up the Nation’s Hazardous Waste Sites” 2007.
<http://www.epa.gov/superfund/>
Should the U.S. Be Doing More to Combat Global Warming?
The United States is the leading contributor to global warming and has been criticized by other countries for not doing more about the problem. Both the Australian and U.S. government have not ratified Kyoto, which is an act to reduce the amount of pollution. However, since the seventies the United States has been progressing with the fight against global warming. The United Sates does not have to do more with combating global warming because the U.S. is doing everything possible. The ways the U.S. is helping combat global warming is by setting standards and laws to help reduce pollution admittance.
Most appliance manufactures in the United States are making energy saving appliances and for having strict emissions for automobiles. These new appliances are being manufactured to run and save energy on ordinary household appliance, to help reduce the amount of energy it uses. Such appliances consist of TVs, microwaves, and refrigerators which are the mostly used appliances that we use today. this was the first step in cutting greenhouse gases because with the less amount of energy being used these appliances are working less then they have been in the past and giving off less CFS into the air. In addition to making environmentally safe appliances the U.S. government has also made laws pertaining to the global warming situation.
The United States has become a part of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), where in 2005, had the U.S. Senate pass an acted called the Energy Policy Act. This act made scientists pinpoint how and what greenhouse gases were accumulating in the atmosphere. In the CRS Report, written by Justus and Fletcher who talk about the global climate change and how “It is believed however by many scientists that human activity is to blame for the rise of greenhouse gas accumulation“(2006). In addition, the United States also has passed multiple clean air acts to try and help reduce the amount of pollution released into the atmosphere. The first act for cleaner air was passed in 1967, called the Air Quality Act of 1967 (Guggenheim 2006). This act was the first federal legislation that was aimed to reduce pollution.
Although this act had no hard standards or enforcements, the act was a good step towards a reduction of pollution. President George W. Bush said “Addressing global climate change will require a sustained effort, over many generations” (52) meaning that to get control over global warming is not going to happen over night but instead its going to take time and with the advancement in technologies we are on our way to reducing pollution admittances. The United States may not join a act such as the Kyoto act till the economy jumps back up and starts climbing out of debt.
Over time and through the use of new technology scientists have found the cause for global warming and how it is affecting us. It has helped the United States in trying to reduce the output of greenhouse gases and other pollutants. By coming up with acts that will reduce, if not deplete, the pollution producing factories. Therefore, if humans were to minimize their usage of fossil fuels, overtime one could predict that the effects of global warming would decrease.
References:
Bush administration, “Executive summary: Global Climate Policy Book”, February 2002.
Justus, J and Fletcher, S. “Global Climate Change.” CRS Report (2006): 19p.
An Inconvenient Truth. Dir. Davis Guggenheim. Perf. Ex-Vice President Al Gore. Lawrence Bender Productions, 2006.
Winning the Carbon Game, Chris Mooney
Since President Bush’s counterintuitive administration and their endless debate on whether or not humans were to blame for global warming and if limitations should be made in order to reduce our carbon emissions, we have only taken a step back. See how now with concrete evidence that, yes global warming is a reality and human are the major contributors President Obama has a lot of catching up to do. The current administration is taking heat seeing how the U.S. is one of the leading contributors in CO2 emissions however; the problem lies with setting regulations on auto and oil companies. President Obama needs to come up with a plan proving that CO2 emissions are a threat to human health therefore demanding automobile companies to set strict limitation on reducing the amount of CO2 that their product emits. President Obama summed it up the best when he said “Delay is no longer an option, Denial is no longer an acceptable response. The stakes are too high; the consequences too serious.”
Defusing the Global warming Time Bomb, James Hansen
Global warming is all over the news and the ways in which we should go about treating it is raising eyebrows. Trying to reduce carbon emissions from cars has been the major concern seeing how black carbon from big trucks and the amount of CO2 from cars and trucks combined are the main reason environmentalist are saying the majority of the pollutants that is cause global warming. The U.N. has taken action seeing that over time with the world’s lifestyle global warming will effect precipitation changes on agriculture, natural ecosystems, and wildlife. The Earth can only take so much and for so long and many say that if something is not don’t soon enough about the problem with global warming it will be too late for the Earth to recuperate from the damage that we have done.
The Bottleneck, Edward O. Wilson
Over the years environmentalists and economists have been feuding on the issues concerning our planet, climate change being the predominate focus. However, as the human race learns to adapt to these changes, our plant is losing the ability to rehabilitate itself from humanities departmental damage with our consumption and reproduction patterns. Economists suggest that it is our destiny to dominate the Earth and with advancements in technology humans will be able to moderate and reverse the harmful effects that have been done to the planet. Environmentalists suggest that it is true that with advancements in technology can help reverse the effects. However, Earth’s population is increasing past economist predictions which increase the use of more resources. Economist need to work with natural resources specialists and ecological economists so that a better understanding can be known about how we can live comfortably on Earth. China and its increasing development have paid the price by making toxic rivers which are incapable of supporting life and poor air quality from factories. We are entering a bottleneck period where all of our problems are constricting us and need to be addressed with immediate action before it is too late
Environmental issues a Introduction to Sustainability, McConnell and Abel
With the population increasing, resulting in the loss of the Earths deserts, species, and eminent of chlorofluorocarbons. Sustainability is the new craze in the science and political world, how can we as a people live in unison without harming the planet we live on? Sustainability can best be describes as leaving something the way we found it, in this case trying to leaving the Earth the way it was before we started destroying it. Countries have been pushing other to follow ESI (Environmental sustainability index) to help countries not exceed their sustainability. Sustainability also touches on other aspects, some of those being agriculture, forest and wood production, and energy. Agriculture is affected by an increase in population resulting in farmers expanding their crops or using genetically modified crops to increase more crop yield to keep up with the population. Forest and wood population are being affected by climate change with the result of deforestation for the use of wood products less tress mean less green house gasses being taken out of the air. Such as the reseeding snow caps on Mount Kilimanjaro. Lastly, one of the biggest aspects of sustainability is energy and how our zealous use of it is over polluting effect ecosystems all throughout the world and the only way is to use more renewable energy sources such as wind energy. Sustainable living can be obtained if every country would be cognizant of what their factories are emitting and how much energy they use and try to minimize that use by adding more renewably energy sources.
Radical Simplicity By John Merkel
Radical Simplicity By John Merkel- www.radicalsimplicity.org/
www.radicalsimplicity.org/radical_simplicity_chapter_1.html
In Radical Simplicity, by Jim Merkel he talks about how we should be a society that takes into consideration how much it uses. He uses the analogy of being in a potluck buffet and you’re the first in line and hundreds behind you ready to eat. For most people they would be thinking that they should take just enough for them that way the people behind them will be able to get some food. He’s saying that people need to be thinking like this when it comes to the earth. From food to water to clothing be need to reevaluate our spending and determine if they’re wants of needs.
I found this reading to be very informative by raising stereotype of how Americas having all these advances with technologies and medicines, why can’t they learn to have a healthy sustainable society. He goes on to talk about how countries that are smaller than ours but have a bigger population can be more sustainable even though we have all these breakthroughs in technology? The reason being is that we do not use everything to its fullest potential. Merkel talked about how the Chumash people used everything to their fullest use or how they would utilize every resource from a tree without causing damage to the tree.
After reading the first chapter to Jim Merkel?s, Radical Simplicity, I agreed in his whole message about how much of our human society we waste, consume, and don’t think about the consequences of our actions to the earth. It’s amazing to see how much our society wastes and how societies such as the Chumash tribe has for 9,000 years used the land for only what they needed causing no irreparable damage to the Earth. I feel that, Yes, Americans are lazy and stuck with their cocky ego of how everyone wants to be more like us. It is time for use to learn from one another, Europe has had for year’s new methods for going greener and be more sustainable.
How do I try to do my part to be more sustainable? I usually ask myself how I can use something for more than just one reason, to see the multipurpose in ever resource that I or we use as a society. In class last week we discussed a “roof rising” where a gentleman installed a solar powered heating system. Its technology like this that can help make our society be more sustainable and it made me push towards making this a reality when it’s my turn after I graduate to promote this and hopefully have people jump onto the bandwagon.
My whole life my Father and Mother told me to respect people and to treat them the same way you would like to be treated. Why don’t we consider the Earth a human it gives life, takes care of us, and is our only home. We as a people need to realize this because like what Merkel says “Loving our limits can set the stage for our life. As we recognize that we only have one Earth-Which has finite capacity to support life-becoming comfortable with limits will open our minds and hearts for the work of taming the appetite” (Merkel, 16).
Human Scale development and the Alliance for Sustainability
Reactions to articles from Max-Neef, Terry Gips:
http://www.bigpicture.tv/speakers/9abfcfa56 (All three videos)
http://homepages.mtn.org/iasa/tgmaxneef.html
In both the videos and article concerning Max-Neef, he talks about how we live in a society that is obsessed with maximizing things. Companies are relentless to get the most out of something in the fastest way possible. However, there is more to life than the quantitative things; it’s the qualitative things that count. He continues with how “measurement is important but we cannot be led to believe that only the things that can be measured are important”. Students that are studying economics at universities today are looking at the picture all wrong because they are teaching are presenting the field as a “value free science”. Max-Neef disagrees with this is says how can a study about humans have no values and economics don’t work because it doesn’t factor in values. We need to look at situations in a holistic view of what is going on because we are a part of an inseparable part of a whole. We as a society move at a million times a minute always worried about deadlines and live our lives dictated by a clock. A good example that Max-Neef uses is that the Cologne’s cathedral took 500 years to build so if we as a society slowed down and just didn’t worry about time and maximizing production that we could like in a more happy world that over time will grow strong and stay strong for some time.
I agree with a lot about what Max-Neef talks about how we let numbers and statistics run our lives and help predict how situations should play out or tell the lower classes that they don’t have it bad. He is right that these economists need to get a sense of reality. They need to see first-hand how people are living and incorporate human values into their calculations. Our society moves extremely fast and in most cases it moves too fast for a lot of people to catch up or keep up with and these people aren’t help but left out on the curb overwhelmed by stress and work.
Reading these articles and listening to Max-Reef makes you think about how trying to get everything in life is not always going to make you happy. That it’s ok to have a non-glamorous life because as long as you’re happy with what you have that’s what counts. We live in a society that makes people think that the more money they have means it will bring happiness but in reality you can be rich with other things such as the land you own, the air you breathe, and the people that you have in your life. The pace of an American lifestyle is so fast that we should slow down and really have clear cut plans on how to solve the plethora of problems that we have made for ourselves.
Like Max-Neef says in Terry Gips article about how people need to be more aware what is going on and perhaps exposing these values at the grassroots will help promote the new generation to live more predominance towards living in a world that has less violence, fear, and pollution if they would just practice a lifestyle that does not take up that many resources and just take things as we need them. When I get out of school and get a job I’m going to do my best to spread the word about how being conservative about what we use can make a difference, the power to inform I think is the most powerful tool to use when it comes to sustainability. Not too many people think about where their trash goes or where their bath water runs off to, all they care about is that its’ gone and that they don’t have to deal with it anymore. But being a part of this holistic society and world we need to worry about issues like this because if we all do our part we can make a difference.
Citations:
Max-Neef, Manfred, <www.bigpicture.tv/videos/watch/e56954b4f>, Credits: Interviewer – Marcus Morrell, Camera and Editor – Marcus Morrell, Copyright © 2006 Big Picture TV.
