Perpetual Innovation

Author: SustainMe

  • 13 of 14 warmest years on record occurred in 21st century – UN | Environment

    13 of 14 warmest years on record occurred in 21st century – UN | Environment | theguardian.com:

    Ouch. As you look at the clock, you will see that we are only 14 years into the 21st Century. Yet we have 13 of the hottest 14 years in recorded history.

    You do have to take the whole of the earth into account, obviously, not just the USA, where we were ?fortunate? enough to have a exceptionally cold and blizzardy Winter. (Polar Vortex is now in our daily vernacular.)

    If you are interested in the science go here to look at the 11 or 12 major indicators (based on several data sources each) that would indicate global warming. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Instrumental_temperature_record

    If you want a composite graphic that shows the robustness of the evidence, go here. There are several data sources overlaid in each graphic. Note that the stratosphere is decreasing (cooler), that is consistent with a depletion of the ozone layer.

    The recent UN report talks about the trends in costs associated with climate effects, like typhoons. A draft report talks about $1.45T costs associated with climate change over the next decade. (See here http://www.livescience.com/43891-global-warming-economic-damage.html.)

    The costs are expected to reach $70 to $100B per year for adaptation by 2050. (See here: http://www.usnews.com/opinion/articles/2014/03/31/will-the-uns-new-report-shift-the-global-warming-debate)

    NASA has lots of interesting graphics, including time-series that will show the world temperature changes over the last couple hundred years. (Or just recently if you want since 1970).(The science visualization study at NASA is awesome, no mater what your interests: http://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/Gallery/index.html or if you want to draw your own graphs based on the underlying data, go here: https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/cag/time-series/global/globe/land_ocean/3/2/1880-2014).

    As we come up on Earth Day (EarthDay.org or EarthDay in Wikipedia) the impacts of business as usual (BAS) really revolves around whether you think something should be done to be much more sustainable NOW!, in decades or in centuries to come.

    The degree of urgency really depends on how much you believe in global warming, and how fast you think that warming may take place.

    Look at the graphs and make your own call on this.

    ‘via Blog this’

  • A Car Costs a Lot More Than You Think – WSJ.com

    Mercedes or Ford, a Car Costs a Lot More Than You Think – WSJ.com:

    Here’s the breakdown of a car expenses is about $9,000 per year: Pretty Car Chart illustration

    1. 39% is depreciation
    2. 35% is associated with the miles driven: fuel, oil, tires, etc.
    That’s 3/4 of the cost of a car, if you are only driving 15,000 per year.
    Insurance, finance charges and tag/taxes are about 10% each.
    Time is not included here, but it should be if commuting is the reason for all of the 15,000 miles traveled.

    A car may cost a lot more than you think, but it also cost a LOT more than WSJ thinks it costs.

    TELECOMMUTING

    We know that the full cost (savings really) of someone telecommuting is more like $30,000 per year. That’s the company (some $23k savings/year), to the individual and to the community (more roads). That’s before introducing the concept of cost of an employee’s (leisure) time.

    * SustainZine blogs on Telecommuting

    * SustainZine blogs on Workshift

    * Transportation Humor, kinda.

    ‘via Blog this’

  • World Water Day Quiz?

    All,


    World water day slipped by without a splash! http://www.unwater.org/worldwaterday/ 


    Check the blog here on the topic: World Water Day 2014 blog post.


    Most people don’t realize the Nexus of water and energy.

    Most people don’t realize the Nexus of water and energy and plastics.
    Most people don’t realize the Nexus of water and energy and paper.
    Most people don’t realize the Nexus of water and energy and trash.
    Most people don’t realize the Nexus of water and energy and clothes (say cotton pants).
    Most people don’t realize the Nexus of water and energy and food… (virtual water).


    Quick quiz:

    1. How much of the earth’s water is available fresh water (like rivers, streams and fresh lakes)?
    2. What percentage of the bottled water we drink is from a municipal water source (i.e., fine Miami tap-water)?
    3. How many gallons of water (typically) does it take to power a light bulb per year (in the US, based on 12 hrs per day, 60w incandescent)?
    4. How many gallons of water does it take to make a serving of cereal? of beef? of cotton clothes?
    5. How many gallons of water does the average (per capita) American use per day? All things considered, how much water per day?

    Go here to find most of the answers to these questions: http://sustainzine.blogspot.com/search?q=world+water+quiz 


    Key: Out of about 100% correct, where do you stand?

    • 5% right? Low average. You probably should know a little more about our earth systems.
    • 10% right? About average. You probably should know a little more about our earth systems.
    • 20% right? Above average. Pretty good! You probably should know a little more about our earth systems.
    • 30% right? You read too much or you are a closet environmentalist.
    • 40% right? Genius and a full fledged environmentalist. You probably should be blogging about sustainability issues.
    • 50% or more right? No… You cheated! You looked up the answers and were actually lucky enough to find sources that were accurate/right!

  • World Water Day 2014 — March 22

    Welcome to the World
    Water Day of 2014:     This
    year’s theme is Water & Energy.
    By
    the Way:     Earth Day is coming in a month, April 22!!!
    Look for Seminar information.
    See the 2011
    SustainZine post     related to World Water Day.
    Some info is borrowed here.
    World Water Day
    The
    44th World Water Day (March 22, 2014):     http://www.unwater.org/worldwaterday/
      World Water Day can easily flooded past us without
    most of us hearing a drop about it.!:-(  And
    why is that, you may be wondering? Or not… The problem with this, and most
    things sustainability related, is where to start.  And how do we put the critical sustainability
    issue of water onto our daily radar screen.

    Water,
    Water, Everywhere…
      Water, so critical to life can be devastating in its
    absence. It can be devastating in abundance. Australia, plagued with decades of
    drought, finally got rain in 2011: it had an area flooded the size of Germany
    and France combined!  This was followed
    in February with Cyclone Yasi in the northeast. (A cyclone is the Pacific version of a hurricane… and, yes, they went
    through the alphabet to get to Y.) We know a lot about hurricanes for two years
    starting in 2004 giving us in Florida 3 or 4 per year including Katrina that
    also hit New Orleans.
      Then in the Winter of 2013-2014 we got snow, and
    more snow (let’s call that a polar vortex). In the meantime Europe (England) got
    drowned in rain.
    But the quiet pain associated with water is very
    easily preventable with very little money. More than 1 billion of our world’s
    6.9B population have inadequate drinking water with an additional 1B having
    inadequate sanitation. The result is that more than 3.5 million people die each
    year because of easily preventable water-related diseases (World Health
    Organization at     www.WHO.int).
     Approximately half of the world’s
    hospital beds are taken by water and hygiene-related diseases (    http://water.org/learn-about-the-water-crisis/facts/).  [This should be updated, it has improved
    since 2011.]

    The
    Nexus of Energy with Water, Paper, Plastic and Transportation.
      Few people realize how much water it takes to
    produce energy. How much water to power a light bulb, for example? To power a
    60 watt bulb 12 hours per day for a year? How about 3,000 to 6,000, depending
    on the power source, it could be more or less. See here.
      The water doesn’t go away, per se. Water might be
    taken in upstream, used to produce steam and power turbines and then released
    downstream.  Give a look at the Nexus
    sections in the outline on the last page of     Climate Changes and Sustainability, a
    WikiBook    : http://tinyurl.com/SustainYBook

    Power and the Nexus of Energy, Water,
    Paper, Plastic, etc. are discussed in Wikipdedia:
    World
    Water Day
      World Water Day was initiated to try to solve health
    and wellness problems around the world where people have poor water and
    sanitation. The UN has a 10 year program to attempt to overcome the pain and
    death associated with inadequate water by 2015. Progress has been made, but it
    is slow.
    WATER STATS: Most of
    the earth’s surface (70%+) is water. Yet only about 2.5% is freshwater. (The
    salt in oceans and some lakes make it unusable for drinking, agriculture, etc.
    without expensive desalinization processing.) Of the world’s freshwater 68.7%
    is in ice caps and glaciers, 30.1% is underground, ~1% is other, and barely
    0.3% is fresh surface water! That’s about 0.009% of our total is fresh surface
    water. Freshwater is lakes (87%), swamps (11%) and rivers (2%). So as we divert
    and consume the fresh water available to us – taking from rivers and aquifers –
    the impacts become ever greater as rivers dry and ancient aquifers are depleted.
    This year the theme is Water & Energy. Most people don’t realize the Nexus of Water
    and Energy.

    The
    Water Bubble and Water Wars
      The water bubble may be coming faster
    than we originally thought… Water sources, especially the invisible
    underwater aquifers are being depleted. 
    This will show in increased prices for water, water shortages and food
    shortages/prices (Marks, 2009). “We’re fast draining the fresh water resources
    our farms rely on, warns Lester Brown, president of the Earth Policy Institute”
    (George, 2011). Our own Ogallala Aquifer in the high plans of the US (underground
    aquifer from Texas through Wyoming) will be depleted in about 25 years. (See     http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ogallala_Aquifer.).

      Water
    wars and water conflicts are expected to increase dramatically. Counties (and
    states) that are at the headwaters of rivers can take all the water and leave
    nothing for the cities, farmers and fishermen below. 

      Worst case, and a horrible
    example, is the Aral Sea. What used to be the world’s 4th largest
    lake is now mostly dry, highly salty and toxically polluted. Russia has been consuming
    the water that would have run downstream (and through) the former USSR state of
    Kazakhstan. (See     http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aral_Sea
    and the following news video:     http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e8b0svfuO_k
    at Russia Today.)
      The truth of the matter is… that water
    matters!  …
      Even in Florida where we are surrounded
    by H2O.

    What can we do?
      Basically, we need to become more
    informed about the sustainability impact of all we say and do. We need to
    become more informed consumers of water. Maybe compute our water footprint.
    Please fill out the H2O Footprint calculator.
    We need to start conserving more water, more energy and more resource. (Recycling
    actually saves huge amounts of energy and water.)
     1)     
    Compute your water footprint
    (and take actions to reduce it):
    a.      
    H2O Footprint: http://www.h2oconserve.org (Water footprint calculator.)
    c.      
    Water footprint of food,
    products, etc.:     http://www.waterfootprint.org
    2)     
    The average American uses
    2,000 gallons per day, more than twice the global average when all things are
    considered. (Most of the statistics will show only about 1,000 gpd, but they
    don’t include food, energy, etc.)
    3)     
    For Florida-centric details
    & water-saving tips, please visit:     www.WaterMatters.org and www.savewaterfl.com.
    4)     
    References and links below.
    Look for information about Earth Day
    2014 coming up on Tuesday April 22.

    Thanks for listening, reading, and thinking about
    sustainability.

    Let’s be good stewards of our God-given resources:
    water and more.

    Some References
    George, L. (2011, Feb. 2) Earth economist: The food
    bubble is about to burst . New Scientist.
    Retrieved from:      http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20927986.400-earth-economist-the-food-bubble-is-about-to-burst.html
    Marks, S. J. (2009). Aqua shock: The water crisis in America. NY, NY: Bloomberg Press.
    Some Links:
    ·        
    Official
    site    :
    http://www.unwater.org/worldwaterday/
    ·        
    http://www.UNWater.org
    ·        
    http://www.Water.org
    ·         http://worldwater.org/

  • Skeptical Science on a Skeptical Scientist: Patrick Moore on climate change

    Is there really a debate as to whether humans are contributing to Global Warming?

    This will take you some time, so if you are looking for a couple quick sound-bites, skip this entire post, and absolutely, skip the videos.

    Dr. Patrick Moore was recently pointed out to me as a qualified scientist and a active skeptic of Global Warming. Read about Moore on Wikipedia. He was an active founder of Greenpeace, but left the greenie organization when they become too radical. He thinks that Greenpeace has moved toward more social and anti-capitalistic agendas, not so much the protection of the environment that Greenpeace was founded on.

    Now he is very skeptical of many things, especially the man-made contribution to global warming.

    Moore has become a PR guy for some of the most criticized companies and industries by environmental groups. Working, and consulting for ‘the enemy’ is not at all a bad thing. Being in the economic engine side of energy production, metals, etc., can give people detailed insight into complete solutions to major issues. But this does not seem to be how Moore functions; his interviews and books seem to actually be an extension of his job as a PR guy. See the criticism at the end of his Wikipedia page.

    (Wiki note: The Wikipedia entry seem mature, with about 700 edits, 21 over the last 30 days and the most recent edit today. No editorial complaints. Note that there are no articles outside links to this page, so Moore does not seem to be the indisputable expert he might lead us to believe.)

    There are many interviews of Moore that seem rational and reasonable enough on the surface: Hannity Feb 2014, and Fox Business Network with Stuart Varney pushing his book, Confessions of a Greenpeace Dropout. But, don’t watch these videos unless you are willing to go look that the scientific breakdown of what Moore has to say. Point by point, issue by issue.

    This is a blog by John Mason (2012, Aug 25).
    Unpicking a Gish-Gallop: former Greenpeace figure Patrick Moore on climate change:

    Mason takes on the details of an interview in which Moore lavishes on facts, figures, assumptions and conclusions. And Mason breaks it down point-by-point with the best facts that exist today. Mason gives some of the best, and most factual, address of the issues associated with “Global Warming” and those who would say their “ain’t no such thing”. And he did it all without “sensationalist scare tactics”.

    When you are done, ask yourself: Who was the most shrill and panic? Who presented the facts with the most facts? Who’s probabilities are most probable, give the facts?

    This SustainZine blog does not devote much time to the debate over “Global Warming”. Life’s too short. There is global warming. Moore and Mason agree on this. Humans contribute to global warming. Moore says only a little; Mason (and the IPCC scientists) say humans contribute a lot to global warming. One of the last skeptical climate scientist Richard Muller, said that there was global warming and that humans are a major cause. Blogs here. Muller’s research was funded by the Koch brothers.

    This blog, however, focuses on Sustainability. Sustainability is good. Activities and business models that are non-sustainable are broken models. (Hah, you thought I was going to say “Bad”.). A steady move toward 100% sustainability is not only a good plan, it is a sane plan. (Hah, you thought I was going to use the words “insane not to do so…”.)

    So let’s get past this foolish debate and have real people and real companies start making real progress toward sustainability. If businesses and communities and individuals take long enough to get started on serious efforts to become sustainable, then governments will (start to) take charge.

    What probably scares people more than Global Warming itself, actually, is that Governments far and wide will jump into the mix to “fix” things.

    We especially like efforts that will save money, save time, save resources and reduce our impact on the environment. Usually, we “don’t need no government” for that. (Actually that, not entirely true, but subject of another story.)

    Responsible vs. Irresponsible.
    You choose?

    ‘via Blog this’