Comments REwonk has made

  • Both are important priorities, but the climate bill has a firm deadline to it: if we don't have something in place by December, it will be tough to get anywhere with the negotiations in Copenhagen. I worry when I hear the Senate targeting December for the bill, when they should probably be targeting October.

    It is true that while the committees slog away at the bill, there's not much that could be done to speed it up, but there are some committees that are involved in both bills, and it's troubling if they tackle health care reform first. What good does health care reform do if the world goes to hell and our economy collapses?

    I think they're taking on too much right now. I wish they would keep a laser-sharp focus on the climate.

    On Obama stays on message ... health care, health care, health care posted 4 months ago 5 Responses

  • Also, Michigan includes clean coal in its renewable energy standard, but if you read the actual act, it labels it as an "advanced cleaner energy system":

     http://www.legislature.mi.gov/documents/2007-2008/publicact/pdf/2008-PA-0295.pdf

    On Indiana bill would define clean coal and nuclear energy as ‘renewable’ posted 7 months, 2 weeks ago 6 Responses

  • Pennsylvania has an "Alternative Energy Portfolio Standard" that includes coal gasification and burning waste coal and coal-mine methane. Details are available on the DSIRE Web site at: http://www.dsireusa.org/library/includes/incentive2.cfm?Incentive_Code=PA06R&state=PA&CurrentPageID=1&RE=1&EE=1

    But then again, at least they're not calling it "renewable."

    On Indiana bill would define clean coal and nuclear energy as ‘renewable’ posted 7 months, 2 weeks ago 6 Responses

  • Extinction or worse

    Ummm ... "extinction or worse"??? What's worse than extinction? Are their souls being damned to hell, as well??? :>)On Nearly 40 percent of North American freshwater fish species in jeopardy posted 1 year, 2 months ago 3 Responses

  • Is Our Children Greening?

    Silly people, it should be "Is Are Children Greening?"!

    Or the government version:
    "Is there a general trend toward products, services, and actions with low environmental impacts among U.S. residents below the legal adult age?"

    :>)On Is Our Children Greening? posted 2 years, 3 months ago 1 Response

  • Short shrift for the greeness of Burning Man

    I actually think this article gives the green aspects of BM short shrift. When we went last year (was that just last year???), we camped with our Honda Insight hybrid near people with a giant solar toaster, a solar shower, and a biodiesel-fueled bus (a giant one that could've been a band's tour bus). And those were all folks that showed up independent of one another, not as part of some green theme camp.

    As a whole, Burning Man does involve a lot of diesel generators and stuff burning up. But it also involves some 40,000 or so people living for up to a week in the desert with only what they brought with them. So on an individual level, it inspires an attitude of living with low energy use and extreme water conservation. Just like a long backpacking trip, for most people the Burning Man experience is largely about getting by with less ... and that can translate back to the homefront, too.

    Sure, there are those folks that show up with the tractor-trailers, the diesel generators, the giant sound systems, and the i-don't-know-how-many-watt green lasers. But off the main concourse, most of the participants are getting by with as little as possible, and that experience can leave a lasting impact on the psyche.
    On Legendary Burning Man festival gets an eco-conscience posted 2 years, 3 months ago 11 Responses

  • Earth Day Dinner

    Sorry to take a u-turn on this topic, but I'm thinking a more appropriate Earth Day dinner might be more like a Passover Seder: bitter herbs to represent our bitterness with the Bush Administration, dipping vegetables into salt water to remind us of the global scarcity of fresh water, tofu in the shape of a fish to represent the fisheries issues, etc. I'm half kidding but half serious.

    Maybe at the end all the diners can jump in a pool to symbolize the future of global warming. So ... a vegetarian meal and a pool party, that's not so bad after all, eh?  :>) On Earth Dinners keep cuisine and conversation flowing posted 2 years, 7 months ago 10 Responses

  • t-shirts in Africa, and athletic shoe recycling

    Umbra's comment on t-shirts being reused by organizations like Goodwill reminded me of a documentary that was featured on PBS's Independent Lens a couple years ago, called "T-Shirt Travels."

    The show argues that such charitable donations only perpetuate African poverty, since they squash local textile companies. And let's not talk about the energy used in shipping our junk overseas. Bummer!

    And not to brag, but here in Boulder, Colorado, our Center for Hard to Recycle Materials accepts athletic shoes, which are recycled to make those spongy athletic surfaces, for things like outdoor tennis and basketball courts. If we could do it, I'm sure other communities could do this as well. On Umbra on old clothes posted 3 years, 4 months ago 8 Responses

  • Don't forget the Insight!

    Cheers to all you folks driving Priuses and Hybrid Civics, but if you really want to save gasoline, the vehicle you should be buying is the Honda Insight (yes, Honda still sells a few of them each year). I've had mine for almost exactly 5 years, and my lifetime fuel economy is now at about 58 mpg. And by the way, I drive like a bat out of hell -- no pretending there's an egg under the foot of THIS Insight driver!

    For maximum fuel economy AND performance, I recommend passing on the A/C and getting a manual transmission. I've never driven the automatics for any real distance, so I can't judge them, but there's nothing like being able to downshift when you need the power, or when you need to charge the battery more because you KNOW there's a steep hill coming a mile ahead. Driving the Insight stick becomes much more a game of strategy, perhaps more than most people want, but I like the feeling of controlling (to the extent I can) the way the battery charges and discharges.

    There are a few things I would change if I could: for one, I'd put in a switch to disable the motor boost, which can be a real pain in stop-and-go driving. I'd add another switch for maximum recharging of the battery, a nice little feature that would keep you from having to ride the brake pedal on those long battery-charging downhills. And I'd add the capability to run an inverter with my battery pack, so my car can provide power to my home during a blackout.

    Also, to answer another post, fuel efficiency drops for several reasons during the winter: the colder temps hurt the battery efficiency, plus if you're in an area that uses ethanol in the winter, that will have a slight negative impact as well. You're also more likely to be commuting with your headlights on, which is an additional energy drain. And in my case, slapping on studded snow tires cuts in even further, lowering my winter mpg to a pathetic 50 mpg. Horrible! :>)On Gristmill to hybrid drivers, calling all hybrid drivers posted 4 years, 7 months ago 13 Responses