Comments tracy has made

  • There may be a way out of the bean dilemma

    Thanks for the link to the good & and bad standard commercial fruits and veggies.

    Regarding this conundrum:
      "I find it very hard to pick the organic can of beans (and cans of beans are a staple in a brokeass vegetarian's diet)..."

    The beans should be a staple, but cans need not be. Prices vary to be sure, but I suspect organic dry beans, from a bin in a organic store [and put into the container you remembered to bring], would run considerably less than the canned non-organic product.  Today, here in Ohio at 3 degrees F, the gas to cook the beans is "free" since it offsets the gas for the house furnace, plus you save the energy that goes into the metal can, and into transporting the water by truck.  Ralph Borsodi probably could point out more savings.

    - tracy

    On Popping your (organic) cherry posted 2 years, 9 months ago 21 Responses

  • suggestion

    Piece does an excellent job, and a witty one too, of dealing with the important variables.

    It might be wise to say a bit more about one of the options: bus.  A first-time rider on an Intercity bus in this country might be surprised, confused, or alarmed by some of the [unstated or not obviously] rules, practices, and procedures.On Umbra on carpooling to a reunion posted 3 years, 3 months ago 4 Responses

  • watts v watthours

    "Fflechter" mentions load management, a crucial issue -- s/he has a bio that tells me my comment does not apply to her/him, but it does apply to the post:

    There's an implicit confusion in the post -- it is possible, fairly likely in fact, that the "heating" created by yesterday's "record demand" in CA is LESS than the record heating [=energy consumed], or even fairly mild compared to the record.

    The point of the posting was a good one, the well-done prose brings out the "vicious spiral." But it's always good to strive to keep the physics straight.   - tracy

    - tracy

    On Vicious circle posted 3 years, 4 months ago 2 Responses

  • Reducing carbon dioxide emissions - domino effect

    We dry our clothes on a line in the sun, a carbon-neutral method.  We did it yesterday, we did it back before Earth Day I in the early `70s.  Thus our daughter learned and now uses the technology, and you can bet that her 4-year old is helping her hang up wet clothes now, and thus also learning the technology.

    - tracy

    On Will you change your life to save the planet? posted 3 years, 8 months ago 4 Responses

  • Getting to Greece

    OK,Greece is great -- that one can learn from friends, any number of mags and so on. Umbra's contribution is far rarer info: how to do it "ecologically."

    As Umbra noted,...you should buy green tags to compensate for your mileage...Alternatively, you could simply donate what you judge to be the correct amount of cash to the environmental group of your choice.

    I'd be most interested in the specifics of the choice made, or in retrospect should have been made, in particular, what was/would be the full cost of the fare?  

    In the long-ago, I got across the Atlantic via sea-travel.  Student ships, a freighter, tourist class on the Queen Mary I -- can one utilize such modes still with a better deal on the "green tag"? First-class on a ship means dragging a 5-star hotel around, so the "green tag" would show a huge $-value, I assume, but a SLOW boat with simple accomodations, might it fare well?On Umbra on vacations posted 3 years, 9 months ago 4 Responses

  • Local action too

    A carbon-neutral way to celebrate sunny and sunnier days is to do the laundry and hang it out in the sun to dry.  Focuses one's attention.

    Btw, the days WILL be getting longer, but unreliably sunnier.  Fossil-fuel-free drying makes one keenly aware of the distinction.

    - tracy

    On Sunny days ahead posted 3 years, 11 months ago 1 Response

  • Ecological mowing

    Well done, Umbra!  I'd like to add that there may be a bit of a "sharp blade" mystique.  I'm currently doing our lawn with a handmower picked up 5 years ago from the curb, and I've never had it sharpened.  Lawns do differ, of course, both in size and in toughness, and perhaps in the pickiness of spouses.

    More important, tho, for someone who "hates lawns," is to realize that a law requiring the lawn to be mowed is not Newton's Fourth Law but human made and thus alterable.  In 1975 the Environmental Commission of the town I live in, Yellow Springs, Ohio--a grandchild of Gaylord Nelson, so to speak--persuaded the Village Council to revise a "must mow" law to allow "lawns" of, say, queen anne's lace and chicory.  The exact text of the ordinance, which addresses safety and hay fever issues, is at http://yscitizens.org/ysdocs/ordinances/674.htm#02

    Other similarly improved laws surely exist.

    The law came about because we environmental activists were constantly being told "You want to regulate everything, tell people what to do."  So I thought and thought to find a way to improve the environment by regulating less.  Of course the town fathers (sic) changed their tune when liberalization of the "must mow" law was suggested, leading me to comment that we now had a new form of pollutant in town--namely, hot air.  But the idea eventually carried the day.

    A problem EC is working on right now is how to get more residents to take advantage of the freedom not to mow.  For very few do.  We are thinking of organizing an official tour of "eco-yards" to help spread the idea, but I'm having trouble thinking of suitably different models of lawnless lawns. Some good ideas have been posted in the comments -- more advice would be appreciated.
    On Umbra on lawn mowers posted 4 years, 4 months ago 12 Responses