Frankly Green

The Story of Stuff

Thanks to my friend Malissa L. for this excellent link to the Story of Stuff. This is a must see!! There are some real eye opening (and frightening) facts. For example, in North America, only 1% of the materials we harvest, mine, or transport are still in use after 6 months. That means that 99% is trashed within 6 months!! Think about it! Sadly, it's true. We have come to live in a disposable society. When something breaks, we don't fix it, we just buy a new one (and throw the old one into a landfill). This has to change. We simply do not have the resources to continue our consumption at the current rate.

We are all guilty AND we all have the potential to make a difference! And just in time for New Year's resolutions! I know that I have a few already!

"The first step toward change is awareness."

Link to Video

What is the Story of Stuff?

From its extraction through sale, use and disposal, all the stuff in our lives affects communities at home and abroad, yet most of this is hidden from view. The Story of Stuff is a 20-minute, fast-paced, fact-filled look at the underside of our production and consumption patterns. The Story of Stuff exposes the connections between a huge number of environmental and social issues, and calls us together to create a more sustainable and just world. It'll teach you something, it'll make you laugh, and it just may change the way you look at all the stuff in your life forever.

http://www.storyofstuff.com/

Innovations That Will Change the Way We Live

Thanks to my friend Michael B. for this interesting piece!

For the second year in a row, IBM researchers and consultants have come up with five innovations that are going to change the way we live in the next five years. And we’re funding and working on technologies in our labs right now that will allow these amazing things to happen.

Imagine, if:

- You were able to tell your utility provider how much carbon output you were willing to live with each month and have them alert you if you were close to going over that amount

- Your car could alert you about a traffic jam, suggest an alternate route with less traffic and direct you the entire way

- You were able to know the exact source and make-up of the food products you purchase

- Your cell phone could allow your friends to shop with you, even if they are across the country or the world

- Your doctor could gain X-ray-like vision to view medical images and super sensitive hearing to find tiniest audio clue in your heartbeat.

1. It will be easy for you to be green and save money doing it

As the global population continues to expand, being personally responsible about how much energy we each use continues to grow increasingly important. Imagine receiving a phone call on your cell or office phone saying “It’s your air conditioner, you left me on and nobody’s home, press 1 to turn me off.” As data begins to run through our electrical wires – dishwashers, air conditioners, house lights and more will be connected directly to a "smart" electric grid, and using a cell phone or any Web browser to turn on or off power will be possible.

Smart grid technologies will make it easier for you to manage your personal carbon footprint. Your utility company will provide you with up-to-date reports of electrical usage, so you can easily monitor how much energy you are using and how much you are spending on your electricity. You will also be able to tell your electrical provider how much carbon output you are willing to live with each month and how much money you are willing to spend, and you will receive a warning when you are approaching those levels.

Intelligent grid technologies will also make it easier for utilities to provide you with the option to use green energy sources like wind and solar, and innovations in wind and solar will bring more cost-efficient, green energy options to a utility near you.

Many utilities around the world are already in the early stages of these innovations. IBM is working with companies like Centerpoint Energy in Texas and Oxxio in the Netherlands, that are providing smart meters to their customers. The ZigBee Alliance has developed devices that look like lamp timers and will enable you to turn appliances on and off via the Internet. And IBM and others are developing technologies to make solar equipment more affordable and efficient for consumers to use in the future.

Merry Christmas!

The Bearman family Christmas tree....

Ominous Arctic Melt Worries Experts

By Seth Borenstein, AP Science Writer
Wednesday, December 12, 2007

Link to Article

An already relentless melting of the Arctic greatly accelerated this summer, a warning sign that some scientists worry could mean global warming has passed an ominous tipping point. One even speculated that summer sea ice would be gone in five years.

Greenland's ice sheet melted nearly 19 billion tons more than the previous high mark, and the volume of Arctic sea ice at summer's end was half what it was just four years earlier, according to new NASA satellite data obtained by The Associated Press.

"The Arctic is screaming," said Mark Serreze, senior scientist at the government's snow and ice data center in Boulder, Colo.

Just last year, two top scientists surprised their colleagues by projecting that the Arctic sea ice was melting so rapidly that it could disappear entirely by the summer of 2040.

This week, after reviewing his own new data, NASA climate scientist Jay Zwally said: "At this rate, the Arctic Ocean could be nearly ice-free at the end of summer by 2012, much faster than previous predictions."

So scientists in recent days have been asking themselves these questions: Was the record melt seen all over the Arctic in 2007 a blip amid relentless and steady warming? Or has everything sped up to a new climate cycle that goes beyond the worst case scenarios presented by computer models?

Ships Draw Fire for Rising Role in Air Pollution

As Global Trade Grows, So Does the Spewing Of Noxious Emissions
By BRUCE STANLEY
The Wall Street Journal         
November 27, 2007

The bunker fuel discussed in this article is the type of oil that was spilled into the San Francisco bay (58,000 gallons) from the Cosco Busan - it's nasty stuff!! Bunker fuel is a tar-like sludge left over from the refining of petroleum. It often contains toxic heavy metals such as lead and vanadium and is collected from the bottoms of the distillation towers in which refineries process crude. Raw, unheated bunker fuel has the composition and consistency of asphalt.

To see how container ships burn this low grade fuel, click the link to the article.

Link to Article

As air pollution rises on the global political agenda, pressure is mounting on a largely hidden and proliferating source of dangerous emissions: the shipping industry.

The corpuscles of the global economy, ships carry more than 90% of the world's merchandise by volume, and the tonnage of cargo sent by ships has tripled since 1970. Yet the fuel propelling them is cheap and dirty and produces an especially noxious exhaust.

The Evelyn Maersk has a roomful of specialized equipment to heat, treat and purify bunker fuel before it injects it into its 14-cylinder main engine.

Ships release more sulfur dioxide, a sooty pollutant associated with acid rain, than all of the world's cars, trucks and buses combined, according to a March study by the International Council on Clean Transportation. That study also found that ships produced an estimated 27% of the world's smog-causing nitrogen-oxide emissions in 2005. Only six countries in the world emitted more greenhouse gases -- which trap heat in the atmosphere, warming the globe -- than was produced collectively in 2001 by all ships larger than 100 tons, according to the study and United Nations statistics.

The global shipping industry is mired in an internal struggle over how to cope with its emissions problem, and no simple strategies have emerged for regulating the open seas.

EPA Blocks 17 States Bid to Limit Greenhouse Gases From Cars

Zachary Coile, Bob Egelko,Matthew Yi, Chronicle Staff Writers
Thursday, December 20, 2007

Background: California asked the EPA to grant a waiver to implement its rules to cut greenhouse gas emissions from cars and trucks; 16 other states are pursuing similar rules.

What happened: EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson rejected the request, saying California's rules are no longer needed now that Congress has passed new fuel-economy legislation.

What's next: California plans to sue EPA in federal court to overturn the decision, arguing that the state has authority under the Clean Air Act to set stronger standards.

Looks to me like the EPA is due for a name change! One would think that an agency called the Environmental Protection Agency would have an interest in protecting the environment. Not in Washington!

If, as Johnson asserts, that the new energy bill passed by Congress this week makes the California law unnecessary, why oppose it? Answer: The lobbyists for the automakers can influence a few people in Washington more easily than they can trying to pay off, er, influence the states individually. This is, unfortunately, how Washington works. It is truly sad that the EPA not only shows no interest in protecting the environment but goes a step further to obstruct actions that seek to do the job they are, supposedly, tasked to do!

Link to Article

The Bush administration blocked efforts by California and 16 other states Wednesday to limit greenhouse gas emissions from cars and trucks, setting up a political and legal fight over whether states can take a lead role in combatting global warming.

Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Stephen Johnson rejected California's request for a waiver from the federal government to impose its tough tailpipe emissions standards. The other states were poised to adopt similar rules if California's request was granted.

The states represent nearly half the U.S. population, and their laws would effectively require automakers to cut greenhouse gas emissions nationwide, despite President Bush's rejection of mandatory national standards.

Johnson said Congress' passage of an energy bill this week that raises fuel economy standards for all cars and trucks to 35 miles per gallon by 2020 made the state laws unnecessary. Bush signed the law Wednesday morning.

"It's important to put this in perspective - (the new law) applies to all 50 states," Johnson said. "Not 12 states, not 17 states, all 50 states. That is great from an environmental perspective."

California's 2002 statute would require automakers to cut emissions to 23 percent below current new-car levels by 2012 and 30 percent below by 2016, through a combination of better gas mileage, alternative fuels, reducing leaks from air conditioners and other new technologies.

California officials said they believed Johnson had long ago decided to oppose the state's waiver, and said he was using the newly passed energy bill as an excuse. Nothing in the new law prevents states from taking stronger action, they said.

"It's a phony argument and ridiculous on its face," said Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif.

"I find this disgraceful," said Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., who helped write the fuel-economy law. "The passage of the energy bill does not give the EPA a green light to shirk its responsibility to protect the health and safety of the American people from air pollution."

It was the first time the EPA has flat-out denied a waiver request by California under the Clean Air Act. The law gives California special authority to set stronger standards because the state has a long history of smog and other air-quality problems.

Toyota's Green Problem

Despite the Prius, environmentalists are turning on the carmaker for opposing new gas-mileage laws.

By Keith Naughton, NEWSWEEK    

Nov 10, 2007

 
Thanks to Jim F. for this.

Link to Article

When Toyota introduced its Prius hybrid car in America seven years ago, Detroit laughed it off. With gas prices at $1.50 a gallon, they argued, no one would buy it. But Dan Becker embraced the little mileage miser. Then head of the Sierra Club's global-warming project, Becker invented an award to give Toyota: the Sierra Club Award for Excellence in Environmental Design. Then he took the Prius on a 50-city promotional tour. Finally, Becker paid Toyota the ultimate compliment; he bought a Prius. Today, Becker is still driving the car, but he's no longer praising Toyota. Instead, he now calls the automaker a "hypocrite" for siding with Detroit in opposition to tougher new gas-mileage laws. "It's embarrassing to have applauded Toyota for the Prius," says Becker, "and now to see them acting so irresponsibly."

      

The environmental community has turned on Toyota. First, it quietly castigated the carmaker for joining the Detroit Three in a lawsuit against California over legislation to reduce global-warming gases from cars by 30 percent within a decade, which would require cars to get up to 43 miles per gallon. Opposition increased when Toyota—in contrast to Honda and Nissan—sided with Detroit to try to block legislation currently before Congress to boost fuel economy for all new vehicles to 35mpg by 2020, up from 25mpg today. Toyota, in a familiar Motown refrain, says achieving such a hard target is not technologically feasible. It is pushing softer legislation that gives automakers until 2022 to improve fuel economy and continues giving breaks to big trucks and SUVs. "We haven't changed what we're doing to reduce our environmental footprint," says Toyota's top lobbyist, Josephine Cooper. "But our engineers are scratching their heads, saying, 'How will we get there?' Those are big numbers to achieve."

...

How did Toyota go from paragon to pariah so quickly? The fuel-economy debate has laid bare Toyota's broader product strategy, which includes a big new Tundra pickup that gets 14mpg in the city. The 48mpg Prius remains the green standard, controlling half the hybrid market, but it doesn't make money for Toyota, analysts say, because of its complicated and costly gas-electric propulsion system. The Tundra, however, could eventually contribute $10,000 per truck to the bottom line. More important, offering a full lineup of cars, trucks and SUVs is critical to Toyota's goal of becoming the world's No. 1 automaker. (The race is neck and neck: General Motors leads with 7.06 million vehicles sold worldwide so far this year to Toyota's 7.05 million.)

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U.S. Makes U-Turn on Climate Change

The United States made a dramatic U-turn on a hot-button issue today, first rejecting and then accepting a compromise to set the stage for intense negotiations in the next two years aimed at reducing carbon dioxide emissions worldwide. The final result was a global warming pact that provides for negotiating rounds to conclude in 2009.

Link to Article

BALI, Indonesia (CNN) -- The United States made a dramatic reversal Saturday, first rejecting and then accepting a compromise to set the stage for intense negotiations in the next two years aimed at reducing carbon dioxide emissions worldwide.

The U.N. climate change conference in Bali was filled with emotion and cliff-hanging anticipation on Saturday, an extra day added because of a failure to reach agreement during the scheduled sessions.

The final result was a global warming pact that provides for negotiating rounds to conclude in 2009.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called the pact "a good beginning." "This is just a beginning and not an ending," Ban said. "We'll have to engage in many complex, difficult and long negotiations." VideoWatch as emotional conference declared a success ».

The head of the U.S. delegation -- Under Secretary of State for Democracy and Global Affairs Paula Dobriansky -- was booed Saturday afternoon when she announced that the United States was rejecting the plan as then written because they were "not prepared to accept this formulation." She said developing countries needed to carry more of the responsibility.

While rhetoric at such conferences is often just words, a short speech by a delegate from the small developing country of Papua New Guinea appeared to carry weight with the Americans. The delegate challenged the United States to "either lead, follow or get out of the way."

Just five minutes later, when it appeared the conference was on the brink of collapse, Dobriansky took to the floor again to announce the United States was willing to accept the arrangement. Applause erupted in the hall and a relative level of success for the conference appeared certain.

Saturday's session, a roller coaster ride for delegates and the media, began with optimism after the European Union and the United States reached agreement on a compromise for their differences on a global warming pact.U.S.

Video: Rising Sea Levels Wash Away Islands, Leaving Refugees

In the Bay of Bengal, even those who have elevated their homes are not safe.

Link to Video