Green Spot

The Huffington Post had a great infographic on the plight of the plastic water bottle you see in an entire aisle of every major supermarket (Their post/graphic was reposted from this blog). After reviewing the below infographic, the conclusion drawn is:

“Buy a stainless steel thermos, and use it. Don’t like the way your local tap water tastes? Inexpensive carbon filters will turn most tap water sparkling fresh at a fraction of bottled water’s cost.”

Due to the fact that countries such as the USA, Mexico, China and Brazil are turning to the store bought water (which is tap too, just a lot of money spent on marketing, shipping and packaging), there’s a slight “epidemic”. People are starting to get more and more cavities from drinking bottled water. Fluoride, which strengthens teeth, is found in regular tap water but not found in bottled water. Flouride does not occur naturally in water systems and municipalities usually add it, but it’s just another reason to stay away from the bottles.

Most major cities have good water treatment plants and water supplies, but still pump tap water through older pipes systems to most homes. Even some newer homes still have pipes connected with lead solder that can get in to the water, but in the end, can be filtered. Plastic bottles found in the store are unsuitable for reuse due to plastics that can leech in to the water, namely BPA. Instead, again, turn to a stainless steel canteen and reduce plastic waste and monthly costs on bottled water.

Get a stainless steel canteen and fill up on some tap water/

Animals were here before humans. Yes, we ARE indeed animals ourselves, but we’ve made a bit of a mess of our atmosphere and have become accustomed to lives that are unsustainable. We try to do things in our existence such as use reusable bags and canteens to reduce waste, but we must do more and should look to the Animal Kingdom for advice.

Recently, researchers have found that due to the fact that Sea Otters eat Sea Urchins, it results in keeping seaweed-kelp forests alive and growing. Kelp forests then produce more oxygen, making Otters quite the environmentalists. According to the linked article:

“…otters play a crucial role in how the ecosystem draws carbon out of the atmosphere…”

As with many animal species aside from homo sapiens (humans), the number of Sea Otters has been in decline for a long time, and needs to somehow increase to help our atmosphere.

Insects are no slouches when it comes to being eco friendly, take the honey bee for instance. Although their numbers are dwindling, they help flowers bloom through pollination creating beauty and oxygen, and honey and bee pollen have enormous health benefits ranging from losing weight, to assisting with asthma, digestion and more. Going green is something the Dung Beetle has done for a long time too. Their fossils date back 40 million years, and they remove the fecal matter of other animals to bury and use for laying eggs and feasting. This not only helps to fertilize, but clears waste matter from sight as well. In fact:

“A researcher observed that a small 1.5 Kg pile of Elephant dung on the African savannah attracted 16,000 dung beetles of various shapes and sizes, who between them had eaten and or buried that dung completely in just two hours. One dung beetle can bury 250 times its own weight in a night…Australia imported 45 species of dung beetle from various parts of the world to get rid of cattle dung.”

Sea Otters, Honey Bees and Dung Beetles aren’t the only ones making the world a greener place, and there are many more members of the Animal Kingdom that are eco-friendly. Check back soon as we’ll continue this posting again and again!

Sea Otters make the world a better place (and a cuter place).

Imagine large cities and traffic jams polluting the air, airplanes overhead dumping exhaust on to th citizens below, factories nearby with smokestack emissions blowing in the wind towards apartment-dwellers that help the city grow and stay alive.

The sidewalks and roads of these cities can now be utilized to rid the air pollution, and make the world a better place thanks to dutch manufacturer Struyk Verwo Infra (say that three times fast). They combine their material with asphalt, and although about 50% more expensive than normal concrete, it can be used in building walls as well.

The air purifying pavement contains materials that are photocatalytic, possessing the ability to work with sunlight to modify a chemical - used also in ‘Self-Cleaning Glass’, and converts carbon-emissions from vehicles (mostly nitrogen oxide) in to harmless nitrate (Nitrate is one of the macro nutrients plants need to grow). The nitrogen is then washed away in the rain. It reduces the amount of nitrogen oxide by about 25%-45%

Tests near Eindhoven in The Netherlands which were comprised of laying 1000 sq. meters of the air purifying concrete and coated stones proved to not only reduce carbon emissions, but keep algae and dirt at bay as well.

Like the song “We Built This City” by Jefferson Starship, although a greener city isn’t built on rock ‘n’ roll, it must be something as creative to help us all breathe a bit better.

These roads clear lungs.

NASA has formulated an easy way to create biofuel with its OMEGA project. OMEGA is an acronym that stands for Offshore Membrane Enclosure for Growing Algae, and through this program, NASA hopes to display that gathering and creating algae and synthesizing it for biofuels is easier and cheaper than originally thought. Algae utilized in biofuel processing for oil is one way for all of industrial society to power the modern world without using fossil fuels. There are issues such as the amount of water and space needed to to farm algae, and extracting and optimizing the oils, and that is where innovation comes in to play.

NASA’s OMEGA project is essentially this: A large membrane/substrate is strung out in to waste water or to sea where there is waste water currently flowing. Inside this see-through film, is algae. Wastewater provides the algae with nutrients and the sunlight spurs energy creation within the cellular construct of each organism within the algae. Algae feeds off the bad parts of the wastewater, and essentially treats it, while the ocean tide furthers the process through wave undulation.

What about the potential for oil?

“Algae’s biofuel yield could range from 1,000-4,000 gallons per acre each year, compared to just hundreds of gallons per acre annually from oil palm, sunflower and soybeans, according to a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) report.”

Although there is algae out there is believed to produce toxins, as is the case with the recent Lake St. Mary’s, Ohio, case, much of it can be used to create different types of fuel, or algaeoleum.

With the recent BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill in the gulf as well as mentions of peak oil, pollution, oil-based warfare and rising gas prices - any idea at this point is considered innovative, and drilling for oil now seems like a fossil of an idea.

OH, that's MEGA.

Heard of ECOPEZ? Now you will, so check it out. Recently, we discussed how the fishing industry and the ocean are suffering due to our unsustainable eating and bad fish farming practices. There’s overfishing of many species, accidental extinctions and careless modification of underwater ecosystems, not to mention fish farming processes that cause pollution and unforeseen chemical changes in the fish we count on as part of our diets.

Ecopez aims to help stop all this and educate. They deliver fresh and only certain fish and seafood to your door.

“ECOPEZ searches the world over for suppliers who grow and harvest premium quality seafood.”

That’s a promise made by a hard-working and conscientious company that recognizes quality product, namely - fish and seafood. They look for fish farmers that adhere to certain feeding processes and particular “animal husbandry” (no artificial breeding to ‘improve’ schools of fish and future generations which could have adverse affects), and farms that do not pollute lands or keep fish in low-quality tanks. Ecopez also adheres to the Marine Stewardship Council’s list of unsustainable species and will not do business with fisherman or companies that deplete aquatic populations that are recovering.

Fish and seafood are wild, organically farmed and as said before, totally sustainable. Their delivery trucks are sent forth from Stockton, California to one of the many port cities on the pacific coast and more to provide businesses, restaurants and some individuals with eco-friendly and responsible fish and seafood to enjoy. In the end, this practice is indeed sustainable.

Ecopez delivers fish that are "Earth Approved" for consumption.

A prior post in early June mentioned that single-use plastic bags, most commonly found in supermarkets, would be banned in California. The measure was introduced to the State Assembly and has passed, but now goes to the State Assembly for voting. In that post, we stated that if plastic bags from the market were banned, Californians would have to:

“Bring a reusable bag or pay 5¢ for a post-consumer paper bag at the market, but know that we will all be reducing waste that harms our environment. Plastic does not biodegrade . . . rather, it breaks down in to smaller pieces and makes its way in to our bodies, air, water, ground and becomes harmful to our world.”

If the ban goes in to effect, as of Summer 2013, nearly all markets would forego offering plastic, single-use bags, and only post-consumer paper bags at five cents each or ensure reusable bags are used. Organizations such as Heal The Bay, San Diego Coastkeeper, the California Grocers Association and even municipalities that currently enact a ban such as San Francisco and Oakland backed up the measure, and showed a lot of support.

Spokespeople from the American Chemistry Council do not support the measure, as it would make California the first state to ban it, following in the path of countries and cities around the world. As the bill makes its way to the state Senate, Governor Schwarzenegger has backed the bill as well, hopefully providing the influence the Senate needs to terminate plastic waste from reaching our waterways and help our planet’s future.

OH GOD NO! SAVE ME! BAN PLASTIC BAGS!

Tianjin, a port city to the south of China’s capital, Beijing, will be the starting point of a new Light Rail Transit that has brought together both the Chinese and Singapore Governments. Not only will this new train connect to Beijing, but its inaugural ride will mark the arrival of a new trend in city planning, as Tianjin is called the eco-city.

It is a 30 square kilometer (About 11 square miles) city that will be the planned home of up to 350,000 people. All buildings in the Tianjin eco-city are being constructed with post-consumer materials and in strict, eco-friendly fashion to ensure energy efficiency and can utilize renewable energy resources such as solar and geothermal power. The city also boasts water recycling, desalinized water that will be reused and recycled for less waste and better use of resources, as well as hydropower that is harmonious with the surrounding ecosystem.

This venture was created due to the growing needs of the large country and population of China. Singapore, a highly advanced nation near Malaysia, has experience in building eco-friendly communities and technology. That nation’s government was called upon to help China create one of the world’s first “Green” cities. Although it won’t be 100% eco-friendly (renewable energy will only be about 15% of use in its flagship years), it will be more than friendly to it inhabitants. One out of five homes will be under government subsidy, ensuring that low-income families can take part in this new feat of living, and:

“Social harmony will be a key feature of the Eco-city.  The Eco-city will be barrier-free to cater to the needs of the elderly and the mobility-impaired. Public social and recreational facilities will be located within easy access of homes to meet residents’ needs and provide opportunities for residents to interact.”

As the world population grows, more governments will come together to create new “eco-cities” such as the Tianjin locale (which will be ready in about 10-15 years), and will pave the way for a new and cleaner, greener era on Earth.

Tianjin, the Eco-City (a rendering).

Near Death Valley, in Nevada, an oasis bubbling up from miles below the Earth’s surface has been found flowing through a small area of the desert. Fault movement and cracks in the Earth’s surface due to erosion, earthquakes and more have given way to a natural water vein that pumps out 10,000 gallons per minute!

Many pundits believe that, for instance - Oil as a fossil fuel extracted from the Earth, has peaked (supposedly as far back as the early 1980’s), and the amount that is available will only become more scarce as time goes on. Recent and very local to California (LA DWP in fact) water conservation regulations have gone in to effect to ensure water does not reach the same point.

This new discovery in Ash Meadows, Nevada, is a bountiful eruption and has spawned new species of fish and plant life too. According to research and testing, the water has been preserved nearly a mile below the surface for over 15,000 years and has taken just as long to try and crack through the surface and flow through.

The United States Government had unfortunately set off over 800 Nuclear Bombs in areas that may come in contact with the underground fissure of the oasis, and may indeed one day contaminate the water. For now, we should rejoice and take advantage of a flowing pool of wonder in a dry desert in need of life.

Ash Meadows, Nevada - The area in which a new oasis was found!

The Green boxes represent solar panels that could power the world.

The above graphic (Original Source) displays the fact that if large enough solar panels were installed, the world could be powered by the sun’s light, with no emissions, very little fossil fuels, and is renewable. The problem with this is distribution. It requires a large investment to create a smart grid that could adequately transmit this energy throughout the world, not to mention generators to store and optimize said energy. The most sensible way to use solar panels would be to distribute arrays closer to specific urban environments or at the points of usage themselves, as distributing the energy takes energy to do so. Although it is a huge task to undertake, places like Morocco, with access to arid desert land, have placed bids to build such panels.

Wind power is pretty cool too. Little area is needed to power all.

As far as renewable energy resources go, wind power is a pretty easy one to figure out. Set up a turbine, whether it is land-based or offshore, and wind pushes blades in to a spin. The spin powers a generator that can transmit energy to be used to power factories, homes, cities and more. According to the graphic above, if about 90,000 turbines are made (all with a lifespan of 30 years - that’s much more than most cars) and installed in the areas highlighted, the world could be powered.

To power the world requires out of the box thinking, and sometimes that thinking or solution is bigger than most people realize. Whatever it takes though, the sacrifice will be worth it.

Space Solar

It’s all about timing. The image above speaks volumes due to the current nature of the horrific spilling of an energy resource, namely, the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Rig Disaster in the Gulf of Mexico. If this image was presented to the world years ago, it would be considered laughable. The time to see this is now, and this technology is necessary sooner rather than later.

As sun rays hit the Earth, the many layers of atmosphere including the ozone layer allow only part of the sun’s renewable light used for solar power generation to make it through. Clouds can block out even more light, and the planet’s rotation keeps things dark for 8 hours at a time, thus ensuring that land-based solar generators produce too little energy. By placing enormous solar panels on a satellite, 99% of sunlight is retained and transferred through microwave beams to antennae and power generators on Earth.

The best part? Sure it can power entire cities and industrial areas, lowering the need for polluting fossil-fuels, but there is no mess to clean up. No slick in a local ocean, no animals dying, no lives and livelihoods ruined due to malfunction.

The image above says that Space-based Solar Power will be ready by 2016. But after experiencing the despicable side effect that is our modern lust for oil, it is time for an upgrade in our mindsets. It’s time to heed the call of outer space, the future and towards a better tomorrow.