Comments SolarBozo has made

  • Photo sensor smoke detectors

    Umbra seems to be saying that smoke detectors that use a small light source and a photosensor to detect when smoke comes between the source and the sensor are not good enough.

    That sure goes against what I have heard. They work just fine, but are generally more expensive. The reason americium-241 detectors are so prevalent is that they are cheap.

    So, you decide: Are you willing to pay a bit more for a quality detector that does not contain nuclear waste?On Umbra on smoke detectors posted 10 months ago 3 Responses

  • Displacement

    So, have any communities been displaced to date by sea rises attributable to human-caused climate change?On Umbra on sea-level rise posted 1 year, 4 months ago 7 Responses

  • More interviews???

    For quite some time, this site has been promising interviews with more candidates. Can we see them soon?On Interviews and info on the presidential candidates' environmental positions posted 1 year, 11 months ago 53 Responses

  • opinions are like...

    Well, this reminds me of a saying, slightly modified to protect the overly-sensitive among us.

    Opinions are like rump-roasts -- everybody's got one.

    My opinion is that starting to eat flesh is a slippery slope. OK, so you pick and choose to make sure that you are doing nothing environmentally irresponsible, then all of a sudden you find yourself at a friend's or a restaurant, and you go for a piece of flesh that most likely has not been chosen with the same care you would personally exercise.

    Then there's the concept that no matter where you get your meat, it puts pressure on the entire industry to produce more. That means that even by eating grass-fed local beef (or wild salmon), you might be helping out the corn-feed-lot beef (or farmed salmon) industry.

    I find it much easier to "just say no" to animal flesh. Then I do not have to worry about it (other than occasional cravings for Hamachi & Maguro sushi -- good thing for me that there're some great veggie rolls out there).On Umbra on vegetarian remorse posted 2 years, 2 months ago 38 Responses

  • PV energy costs

    As for how much energy it takes to make PV modules, depending upon the technology and the geographical location, they will reach energy payback in 2-8 years. With long lives (35 yr. old modules are still making energy)reflected by their 20-25 yr. warranties, PV modules will make lots of carbon-free energy over their lifetimes.

    Check out www.homepower.comOn Umbra on thin-film solar panels posted 2 years, 5 months ago 7 Responses

  • Carbonation Cartridge

    Back in the 30s, did they even have carbonation cartridges? How did they carbonate seltzer bottles back then?

    I have 10 and 20 lb. CO2 tanks for dispensing keg beer. I have used them to carbonate flavored water in kegs, but they are a bit harder to carry around than small bottles. On Umbra on seltzer bottles posted 2 years, 5 months ago 5 Responses

  • Market Pressure

    One thing not mentioned in the article is the judicious use of market pressure to bring about overall change.

    Umbra Fisk stated at the end of the article, "There is some indication in these studies that sustainably raised, locally procured meat-based diets can hold their own, environmentally, against heavily processed, far-shipped veggie diets. So I prefer to believe that eating my local bacon is better than eating frozen veggie burgers, not just gastronomically but ecologically."

    This is an oft-used justification for eating meat, and this kind of argument obscures the other issue. From what you have said so far, the apparent true best result comes from buying veggies locally, in this part of your editorial, you are comparing apples and oranges.

    The fact is, by buying meat raised locally, you are putting nearly the same market pressures on the beef industry that you would be by purchasing feed-lot beef. Sure, you are increasing the demand for the more sustainably ranched meat, but it also supports the more general demand for meat which does not consider how or where it is raised.

    This certainly diminishes a bit of the "buy local" benefits that folks talk about. Maybe now it is time to compare buying local veggies vs. non-local veggies. At a minimum, you would at least be comparing apples with apples and oranges with oranges.On Umbra on soy vs. meat posted 4 years, 1 month ago 27 Responses

  • The Dirt on Poop (or the Poop on Dirt)

    After tiring of spending hard-earned cash on cat litter, we tried dirt. It Works! (At least *MY* dirt works.)

    It lasts about a week and a half before we can smell it in the house, then we change it. We "compost" it by putting it out in the woods, out of the way.

    My property is composed of ancient sand dunes that have slowly had soil buildup. Our soil may not be like your soil, but I think it is worth a try.

    The only drawback is that sometimes she inadvertently drags some small amount of dirt fines out of the litter box when she exits.On Umbra on kitty litter posted 4 years, 2 months ago 25 Responses

  • self right-e-o

    As academics sit up there in their well-funded ivory towers looking for ways to spend their richly funded time and efforts; the REAL conservationists (called environmentalists, BTW) are working their butts off trying to make the world a place where humans (whether hungry or full, fed by silver spoon or barely by slim pickings) and other things will be able to exist.

    And this front-line environmental work is being done on a financial shoestring, not with fellowships with PhDs in mind. Ahh, if only the local environmental groups had a tiny portion of the CESP program's (where Christensen works & purportedly thinks) $2-3/4 million annual budget, think what a difference they could make.

    The bottom line is that all, social and environmental activists alike, are trying to make the world a better place. It doesn't help a bit to have someone blasting one type or the other for what they are not doing.On Why aren't conservationists fighting poverty? posted 4 years, 3 months ago 23 Responses