"It is not enough for you to feed on the good pasture? Must you also trample the rest of your pasture with your feet? It is not enough for you to drink of the clear water? Must you also muddy the rest with your feet?" Ezekiel 34:18

Thursday, July 28, 2011

Taking out the trash

Great article in CS Monitor today about the growth of trash in China. It seems that we Americans are no longer #1 in trash production! (I don't know how this is possible given that my neighbors throw out enough trash on garbage pick-up day to sink a battleship, but anyways.....) The good folks of Hong Kong threw out  an estimated 2,000 pounds of garbage per person last year with Americans throwing out around 1,700 pounds per person.

There is currently little environmental awareness amongst the citizens of China (I could say the same things for the U.S.) and the government is attempting to change this. Some sort of incentive program you say? Nope. This being China the incentive comes in the form of a penalty. Residents of several Guangzhou suburbs have had to start sorting their trash into recyclables, trash, and kitchen waste or face up to a 500 yuan penalty (about $78).

It will be interesting to see if this approach to trash reduction will work. Could it work here? I doubt it. I am sure someone would point out that we have a constitutional right to as much trash as we want (do you hear my sarcasm?).

Tuesday, July 12, 2011

Boomer Yard Sale

There is an article today over at SmartMoney about the sheer amount of "stuff" that Baby Boomers have accumulated over the years. Now that many are empty-nesters and are trying to downsize they are having a hard time unloading all this "stuff". The American obsession with accumulation has gotten so out-of-control that Goodwill has a glut of used clothing that it is trying to contend with.

In my house we have strict rules about what can come in (no freebies from conferences for instance). Of all the problems my husband and I might experience as we age (which is happening way too fast in my opinion) what to do with "stuff" will not be one of them.

If I can offer any advice to people in my age group, it is to go ahead and start helping your parents unload their "stuff" so that when they need to move into a smaller dwelling place or their time here comes to an end you wont be left having to deal with it. And as far as yourself, how about not buying this "stuff" in the first place so we don't end of in our parents position with a thousands of unused or little used items that most often end up in a dump as waste?

Thursday, July 7, 2011

Ethanol Subsidies

Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D, Calif.) says she had reached an agreement with Sens. Amy Klobuchar (D, Minn.) and John Thune (R, S.D.) over ethanol subsidies. Under this agreement the 45-cent-a-gallon tax credit for blending ethanol into gasoline would expire on July 31. The 54-cent-a-gallon tax on imported ethanol would also expire at the end of the month.

Ethanol, once seen as a possible solution for our oil-based consumption problems, has been shown to have greenhouse-gas emissions that exceed or match those from fossil fuels. Ethanol production also takes prime farmland out of production for food crops, therefore exacerbating food prices, which disproportionately affect the world's poor.

It is good to see Congress doing something positive for both the economy and the environment for once.

Saturday, July 2, 2011

As American as Kudzu

Kudzu... As much part of the American South as sweet tea and fried chicken. Until relatively late in life I had no idea that kudzu was not native to the region. It came to the United States in 1876 by way of the Philadelphia Centennial Exposition. It has made itself at home ever since.

Kudzu is what conservation  biologists call an invasive species. For those who don't know, invasive species are considered the great evil of the biological world, crowding out beloved native species and generally ruining everything good in the world (o.k., not really, conservationists can get a little over-wrought at times).

An article published recently in Nature magazine questions whether in today's globalized world if the idea of invasive species even has a place anymore. The authors argue that conservationists should assess organisms on environmental impact rather than on whether they are natives. I had a professor last semester at GMU (a freshwater ecologist that spends much of his time in the Potomac watershed, a hot-spot for invasive species) that argues invasive species tend to reek havock for a short time after their introduction and then gradually settle in to their new home.

So, maybe the moral of this story is that we should relax and not worry so much about the kudzu encircling the neighborhood. It might not be native, but it is very much at home.