Top 5 Clean Energy Tips For The Home! By: Clean Energy Culture STAFF
1. Switch to compact fluorescent lamps
2. Unplug those unused appliances
3. Skip the supersized appliances, buy what you need
4. WALK, don't drive
5. Turn the computer off at night
1. Compact fluorescent lamps have never been cheaper and easier to get. They cost more than the old light bulbs, but can save you $30 (in the US, for example) in
electricity costs over the lamps life time. The average life span of compact flourescent lamps is 8 to 15 times that of incandescants! Lighting counts for about 9% of
household electricity usage in the US.
Start by buying a few to get used to the difference in the light (it's white and not yellow). After a few days, you'll probably end up prefering your new lights! You'll
definitely see a difference in your electric bill.
2. Have a stereo with fancy disco lights that you only use twice a week? Go unplugged! Same goes for the dvd, microwave and anything else in the house that uses lights
while you're away all day. Also, consider not putting compact flourescent lamps in every fixture. Homes often come with more than you need. Let there be light, but let
there not be too much light! Even if you find one fixture that you realize you don't need, you're saving energy!
3. A bigger microwave takes more energy to heat last night's pizza. A bigger refrigerator requires more energy to cool your food. If you don't need an oversized microwave
and fridge, consider buying a small one. You'll save twice - once when you buy it and again every month on your electric bill. Most of us don't do major chef cooking on a
microwave (who does?!) - the smallest model is the way to go. Those oversized refrigerators will encourage you to buy industrial sized food and you'll end up with a
supersized stomach! A smaller model will gently push you to go shopping twice a week instead of once a month. You'll save energy and be healthier.
4. Walk to the store, to work and to your friends! If you live in a smart community, then most of your daily needs should be within a 15 minute walk from home. Make use of
it! The best way to get back at those evil oil exporting countries is to leave the tin box at home. Plan your week so you need the car less. If you just bought that
smaller fridge and you're going to the supermarket twice a week instead of once a month, take a small backpack and go for a walk. Save energy and burn the best kind of
energy - calories!
5. Turn the computer off at night. You're downloading some amazing filesharing stuff and you want to finish. But consider this - you could be spending that same
electricity bill money on buying the cd's and dvd's that you're downloading! Turning the computer off for 7-10 hours a day will make a big difference. If you're going to
be out of the house for over an hour, turn off the computer and save energy!
While we're talking about night time, make a plan for night lights. Go through your house and decide which light you *really* need on at night. There's usually no reason
for more than one - the one between your room and the bathroom. The energy you can save during the time you're asleep in your bedroom will add up to a lot - it's 6-8 hours
a night of less energy. If you do need one light on, make it a compact flourescent lamp that has a small wattage. Saving at night will give you more money to spend in the
day!
Saving energy is the way to go. If we all do our part and lower our energy bills, we can make a big difference. Take a tour of your home - look around and see what *you*
can do! Clean energy can be fun if you keep a positive attitude - see these tips as a fun project that will add extra cash to your wallet.
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You can bet an artist is
grappling with questions of place and home and belonging when she belts out a
line like, “Sometimes I wonder if the world’s so small / that we can never
get away from the sprawl ... Dead shopping malls rise like mountains beyond
mountains / And there’s no end in sight.”
That’s Arcade Fire‘s Régine Chassagne singing on
the tail end of the new album “The Suburbs,” which debuted at No. 1 on the
Billboard charts last month. It’s gotten plenty of well-deserved hype for
taking on big literary themes and setting them to fabulous, soaring rock ‘n
roll. It’s also got quite a bit to say about how our lives are shaped by the
built environments we inhabit.
Quebec-native Chassagne
and her husband, Houston-born Win Butler, take turns singing about growing amid
strip malls and tract homes, revisiting childhood neighborhoods as adults, and wondering
where the hell they belong in a land of “endless suburbs stretched out thin and
dead.”
But let’s be clear
right off the bat: “The Suburbs” is not about Smart Growth. There are no hidden
prescriptions for transit-oriented
development (land-use planning rarely makes for good arena rock). There’s
an unavoidable message here, but it isn’t clunky or didactic.
And neither is the
album an ode to urban cool. Unlike, say, Green Day’s “Jesus of Suburbia,” it
doesn’t take cheap shots at middle-age, middle-class conformity. In fact, Butler
longs (he does a lot of longing) for a time before “the war against the suburbs.”
He doesn’t take sides in the urban-suburban
cultural divide, and the city doesn’t come across as the antidote to
spiritual malaise. The bass-driven “City With No Children” seems to rejects the
notion of city-as-yuppie-playground, suggesting that places thrive only when
they accommodate people from all stages in life.
Here’s my bias: I grew
up in the suburbs outside of Chicago. I was restless, bored, lonely, and
hormone-addled there. Which is
to say I was a teenager there. At the time I thought the suburbs were to blame
for me being bored and restless; now I realize that some things about adolescence
are the same everywhere.
But I’ve also come to
understand that how suburbs are built makes them an alienating environment. There
are few public plazas, few front porches, few places to run into people on foot—and building a web of
community requires these kinds of spontaneous, non-commercial conversations. It
just doesn’t happen in cars. Durable green communities—places like Sweden’s Hammarby Sjostad,
Vancouver’s UniverCity, Chicago’s
Parkside
of Old Town—are attempts to fix this uniquely modern social failure just
as much as they’re attempts to free us from fossil-fuel dependency.
Even cities in North America are mostly built for cars—perhaps why “The Suburbs” contains more seething (and gorgeous) discontent than
celebration of successful places. Underneath that dissatisfaction, there’s
resolve.
“If I could have it back,” Butler whispers on the closing
track. “All the time that we wasted / I’d only waste it again ... You know I’d
love to waste it again.”
All that time stuck in traffic, playing video games,
watching bad movies—whatever—it’s only “wasted” according to adult
notions of productivity. The artist here knows something more: Those hours shaped
him into who he is, a child of the suburbs determined to build something
better.
If you’re like me, summer is
chaos: traveling, packing and unpacking, and structureless days. Fall usually brings much-needed order—if I can spend the time to get
organized and to regroup.
For me, cooler
temperatures also mean a return to cooking. For me, Labor Day is the signal to get
the kitchen ready for the season. My goals have been the same for years—I
just try to hone in on them more every year. Like Grist’s resident Urbivore
Jennifer Prediger, I want to eat out less, and eat more healthful, from-scratch,
delicious meals. I want to buy seasonal, local food and waste less of it.
But for this to
work with my busy schedule, I need to do all of this with a minimal amount of
time and effort. I’m not alone in this struggle—endless headlines and TV
shows tell us Americans just can’t find the time to cook for their families,
and that’s why they turn to convenience foods and takeout.
Here’s the
first way I can save you time: I’ve collected all my tried-and-true shortcuts
for getting healthy food on the table, below:
1. Organize, organize, organize
Nothing slows
cooking down like not being able to find the tools that you need to get the job
done.
Clean out the
refrigerator, the freezer, the pantry, and your spices regularly.
If you put up
summer produce in the freezer or in jars in your pantry, make sure you
know what you have and plan to use it.
Remember that
you won’t use what you can’t see. For that reason, invest in clear glass
containers for storing food in the refrigerator, and for extra credit, use
masking tape and a permanent marker to label them with the contents and the
date it was made or prepped.
Organize your
tools and utensils by how and where you do most of cooking. I like to keep my
most used utensils and spices right beside the stove so they are easily at
reach when I am cooking.
Keep your
countertops clear and your kitchen clean. If your countertop is cluttered, your
refrigerator overcrowded, or your sink full of dirty dishes; you’re less likely
to cook. Even if you do, you’ll be wasting a lot of time cleaning up and
looking for things.
2. Invest in a few good tools
There’s not much that you can’t cook with a good, sharp chef’s knife and a good-size
cutting board. (I find that many people have these tiny cutting boards—great
for quartering a lemon, but inadequate for making dinner.) There are a few additional
small tools that I use on a daily basis that really speed things up in the
kitchen and produce great results.
Microplaner: I keep mine right beside the stove, where
I use it for grating lemon peel, cheese, garlic, nutmeg, and other spices.
Large mortar and pestle: I use mine to make pesto and other herb
purees, to coarsely grind fresh toasted spices, to make guacamole, to smash
garlic with a little salt before making garlic mayo or other garlicky sauces.
Mandolin: These devices do require a good bit of
caution to use without nicking your fingertips, but they make slicing
cucumbers, mushrooms, potatoes, carrots, etc. thinly and uniformly a snap. While
French mandolins tend to be ridiculously expensive and complicated, the
economical and small Japanese mandolins can be found in most Asian markets for
under $20.
Handheld immersion blender: I use mine to puree winter squash or
other creamy vegetable soups right in the soup pot. I also use it regularly for
making yogurt and fresh fruit smoothies. Avoid the models with lots of extra
attachments, they aren’t worth the expense.
3. Have a plan, and learn the art of food prep
Thinking ahead
makes a big difference in the quality of food that I eat. I like to set aside
about an hour and a half after a trip to the farmers market to prep food for up
to a week of quick, easy, delicious meals and snacks.
Last Saturday, I
was vacationing at the beach with my family. I came back from the market with a
wealth of produce: green and wax beans, peaches, plums, broccoli, butternut
squash, watermelon, tomatoes, cucumbers, corn, two heads of romaine, a variety
of eggplants, summer squash, sweet red and yellow peppers, sweet onions, red onions,
and lots of fresh herbs. The first thing I did was make a list of what to do
with all the produce. I was planning to feed eight adults and children for a
week, as well so it might look intimidating, but you’ll at least see the
process. It looked something like this:
First, the week’s menu: Crudites with
yogurt-herb dip, grilled vegetables and corn on the cob (to be served with
grilled chicken), quinoa salad with roasted broccoli and winter squash, tomato
and watermelon salad (see my savory Fourth of July
salads post), fresh corn salad, bean salad, baba
ghanoush, marinated pepper salad, simple cucumber salad, faro salad with
grilled vegetables, and peach & plum crisp.
After the plan
was in place, I enlisted my husband to help with washing, peeling, and
chopping. In the restaurant world, we call this step of getting everything ready
by the French term, mise en place,
which translates literally as “everything in place.” It is a tremendously
useful process for making cooking a manageable, quick, and low-stress task.
Our tasks:
Trim and blanch
green and wax beans—some for salad, some for crudites with yogurt-herb dip.
Roast half of
the broccoli and butternut, and mix with cooked quinoa, thinly sliced red
onion, vinaigrette, and herbs for salad.
Blanch
remaining broccoli in the same water used for blanching green beans and use for
crudites with yogurt-herb dip.
Chunk watermelon
and tomatoes for salad; dice a small
tomato for fresh corn salad; cut remaining watermelon into chunks for snacking.
Cut cucumbers
into batons for crudites/dipping, dice some cucumber for adding to corn salad,
slice four to five cucumbers into thin rounds for cucumber salad.
Prep eight ears
of corn for the grill by removing corn silks (but not husks!); cut corn off six
ears for fresh corn salad.
Wash and salad-spin
two heads of romaine; place in a lettuce bag.
Slice two large
eggplant, four summer squash, and three sweet onions into 3/4-inch thick slices
for grilling; reserve two more eggplant for grilling/charring whole. (The grilled
eggplant will get mashed with salt, garlic, tahini and lemon juice for baba
ghanoush.)
Slice two red
or yellow peppers into strips for crudites/dipping, dice one for corn salad,
and reserve four to five more for the grill. (They’ll get mixed with fresh
garlic, salt, pepper, parsley, and red wine vinaigrette for marinated sweet
pepper salad.)
Cut two red
onions in half from root to tip; slice three halves very thinly for quinoa
salad, watermelon salad, and cucumber salad; dice the fourth half for adding to
corn salad.
Chop a whole
head of garlic.
Make
herbed-yogurt dip for crudites and for a sauce for grilled eggplant.
Make red-wine
vinaigrette.
Cook 1 cup faro
and toss with 2 teaspoons of vinaigrette and fresh herbs to have ready for
leftover grilled vegetables.
Make oat-crisp
topping and freeze to have ready for impromptu fresh fruit desserts
With his help
washing, chopping and peeling for 45 minutes, I finished my list in less than
two hours—and for the rest of the week we had fresh vegetables and salads at
our fingertips, which greatly cut down on the prep for each individual meal.
4. Always eke out two (or three) meals from one
I rarely prepare
from-scratch meals one at a time, especially if I am cooking for just me or the
two of us. That’s very inefficient both from a labor and energy perspective.
If I make soup,
I make a large enough batch that half can go in the freezer for next week—ditto
for tomato sauce, chili, and pesto. I will often portion soups into 2-cup
containers for freezing: the perfect healthy grab-and-go lunch. Cooked oatmeal
also freezes well for quick breakfasts.
If I make a pot
of beans, some become soup, some become bean salad, and some become dip or a
topping for crostini.
If we fire up
the grill, I always grill two or three times what we will eat that night. Grilled
vegetables get chopped and mixed with quinoa or faro for salads; I’ll even
throw on a couple of whole eggplant and peppers to char for baba ghanoush and
marinated roasted red peppers; leftover grilled chicken becomes chicken salad
or tacos, leftover grilled fish gets mixed with egg, onion, herbs, and
breadcrumbs to become tomorrow’s fish cakes.
Also, if I use
my oven, I feel like I have to fill it up to save both time and energy. If I
bring a pot of water to a boil to blanch green beans, I’ll go ahead and blanch
greens, broccoli, or boil potatoes all in the same water, successively. I might
even save that vegetable blanching water to use as broth for soup.
5. Learn a few good sauces or condiments by heart
I’ve found that
you can eat very, very simply and still tantalize your taste buds by relying on
a few good sauces for variety. In addition to the yogurt-herb dip and a good
sharp vinaigrette mentioned above, I constantly rely on homemade mayo, homemade salsas,
and kimchi. You can
vary all of these sauces infinitely to suit your needs, your taste, and to a
large extent the ingredients you have on hand.
6. Practice self-preservation
Spending time “putting
up” fresh produce in the summer buys you time later, especially if you’re smart
about what you put up in the first place. Instead of putting up whole canned
tomatoes, why not cook those tomatoes down into your favorite tomato sauce or
into flavor-packed roasted tomatoes?
You’ll be one step closer to getting dinner on the table.
Got any
additional labor-, time-, and/or energy-saving kitchen? Share them with us in
the comments section!
Next: Recipes
for Basic Vinaigrette, Herbed Yogurt Dip, Cucumber and Corn Salads
Basic Vinaigrette
1 part vinegar
or lemon or lime juice 3 parts olive
oil (or other vegetable or nut oil) Salt and pepper
to taste Optional: add a
bit of finely diced shallot or garlic and a dab of Dijon or coarse mustard
Whisk all
ingredients together until well blended. Taste for seasoning. Use right away or
store tightly covered in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.
Other possible
additions—chopped olives or capers, chopped fresh or sundried tomatoes, herbs
or spices, honey, sugar or molasses.
Herbed Yogurt Dip
1 cup plain
yogurt (use your favorite) 1 tablespoon
chopped shallot or 1/2 teaspoon finely chopped garlic 2 tablespoons
finely chopped herbs (I used dill and chives, but also try parsley, basil,
scallions, and fresh thyme) 1/2 teaspoon
fresh ground pepper 1/2 teaspoon
salt
Stir all
ingredients together and store in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.
Simplest Cucumber Salad
4 to 5 small
cucumbers (or substitute 2 medium cucumbers), peeled only if the peel tastes
bitter 1/2 onion,
thinly sliced 1/2 teaspoon
salt Pinch of sugar
(optional) 1 tablespoon of
vinegar
Toss all
ingredients well to combine. Refrigerate for up to a week.
Other possible
additions—a pinch of celery seeds; yogurt and fresh dill; minced hot peppers
and mint
My Mom’s Fresh Corn Salad (Last of the Summer)
5 to 6 ears of
corn, shucked and corn cut off the cob 1/2 red onion,
chopped 1 small tomato,
chopped 1 small
cucumber, chopped 1/2 red pepper,
chopped 1/2 teaspoon
salt 1/2 teaspoon
black pepper 1 teaspoon
cider vinegar 1 tablespoon
extra virgin olive oil 1 tablespoon
mayo (preferably homemade) or sour
cream A small handful
of torn fresh basil
Combine all the
ingredients, mixing well to combine. Refrigerate for up to a week.
Are farmers markets not fresh enough for you? Is the urban farm down the street too full of dirt? Do you love the experience of walking up and down aisles of artificially lit food which the grocery store can offer but cringe at the miles and minutes it took for your dinner to reach you?
It’s the soil-free, pesticide-free, and travel-free concept grocery store, urban farm, and restaurant, all rolled into one. Peruse the produce growing up the walls and pick what you like, while you have visions of tilapia dinners dancing in your head—and swimming in the aquaponic floor tanks under your feet. The high-tech team behind Agropolis envisions “a world where your food is not transported a single mile to get to you.” The only food-miles will be between the store and your dinner plate.
The concept sounds a step or two down the line from Gene Fredericks’ start-up, Big Green Boxes, which also aims to aqua-, hydro-, aeroponically grow food but in abandoned K-Marts. And just like when the spaces were K-Marts, you’ll still get what you want “Right Here. Right Now.”
At only two Hong Kong dollars a pop (that’s one shiny U.S. quarter), Hong Kongers can finally huff and puff and blow their birthday candles out ... just “like the rest of the world does.” With a deal like that, why would you breathe anything else?
Unfortunately for the seven million residents respiring in Hong Kong, they have to breathe some of the dirtiest air in the world. Which is exactly why the Clean Air Network produced this video as a cheeky warning of how their future may look—and smell (flavored like vanilla! and beach! and ... horses?).
Personally, I’m not holding my breath over the prospect of mastering “exciting new skills, like balloon animals and yodeling.” Balloon animals are tricky!
Deviating from the nature mockumentary style, this one instead takes the high tech approach to global warming by going the CGI walrus route. This pretty clearly emphasizes the difference between humans mitigating climate change (e.g., driving less) and marine life adapting to climate change (cue flying walruses).
It’s probably also worth noting that John Cleese narrates it and, according to the Aquarium, “to date has refused 3,982 plastic water bottles.” I assume he uses the Holy Grail instead.
Oh, the irony, then, when one of the town’s top “priority” casinos sent an email invitation to the League of American Bicyclists, along the lines of ‘hey maybe did you ever think of having one of your bike conventions at our delightful resort in Black Hawk, Colorado?’
It’s not often that natalism makes the news—and with guns
and bombs and hostages, no less! But population
and procreation are in the headlines thanks to James J. Lee, the
eco-wacko who took hostages at the Discovery headquarters building in Silver
Spring, Md., before being shot by police.
His list of demands, posted at savetheplanetprotest.com, is a teabagger’s
wet dream of enviro idiocy. His primary
obsession: “stopping the human race from breeding any more disgusting human
babies!”
For every human born, ACRES of
wildlife forests must be turned into farmland in order to feed that new
addition over the course of 60 to 100 YEARS of that new human’s lifespan! THIS
IS AT THE EXPENSE OF THE FOREST CREATURES!!!! All human procreation and farming
must cease!
It is the responsiblity of everyone to preserve
the planet they live on by not breeding any more children who will continue
their filthy practices. Children represent FUTURE catastrophic pollution
whereas their parents are current pollution. NO MORE BABIES! Population growth
is a real crisis. Even one child born in the US will use 30 to a thousand times
more resources than a Third World child. It’s like a couple are having 30
babies even though it’s just one! If the US goes in this direction maybe other
countries will too!
Lee seems to have been pushed
over the deep end by the kid-glorifying content on TLC, which is owned by
Discovery. Its pro-natalist offerings
include 19 Kids and Counting, Jon &
Kate Plus 8, and Baby
Block. Yes, the Duggars and Gosselins could drive one to drink ... but kidnap? C’mon.
“All programs on Discovery Health-TLC must stop encouraging
the birth of any more parasitic human infants and the false heroics behind
those actions,” Lee demands. “In those
programs’ places, programs encouraging human sterilization and infertility must
be pushed.” (Might I suggest instead some
Sex
and the City reruns?)
The Discovery Channel and it’s affiliate
channels MUST have daily television programs at prime time slots based on
Daniel Quinn’s “My Ishmael” pages 207-212 where solutions to save the
planet would be done in the same way as the Industrial Revolution was done, by
people building on each other’s inventive ideas. Focus must be given on how
people can live WITHOUT giving birth to more filthy human children since those
new additions continue pollution and are pollution. A game show format contest
would be in order. Perhaps also forums of leading scientists who understand and
agree with the Malthus-Darwin science and the problem of human overpopulation. ...
Develop shows that mention the Malthusian
sciences about how food production leads to the overpopulation of the Human
race.
Lee is giving us sane and humane
enviros and childfree people a bad name.
And Ishmael fans too, but
they kinda had it coming.
Here’s the full manifesto with Lee’s demands:
The Discovery Channel MUST broadcast to the
world their commitment to save the planet and to do the following IMMEDIATELY:
1.
The Discovery Channel and it’s affiliate channels MUST have daily television
programs at prime time slots based on Daniel Quinn’s “My Ishmael”
pages 207-212 where solutions to save the planet would be done in the same way
as the Industrial Revolution was done, by people building on each other’s
inventive ideas. Focus must be given on how people can live WITHOUT giving
birth to more filthy human children since those new additions continue
pollution and are pollution. A game show format contest would be in order.
Perhaps also forums of leading scientists who understand and agree with the
Malthus-Darwin science and the problem of human overpopulation. Do both. Do all
until something WORKS and the natural world starts improving and human
civilization building STOPS and is reversed! MAKE IT INTERESTING SO PEOPLE
WATCH AND APPLY SOLUTIONS!!!!
2. All programs on Discovery Health-TLC must stop encouraging the birth of any
more parasitic human infants and the false heroics behind those actions. In
those programs’ places, programs encouraging human sterilization and
infertility must be pushed. All former pro-birth programs must now push in the
direction of stopping human birth, not encouraging it.
3. All programs promoting War and the technology behind those must cease. There
is no sense in advertising weapons of mass-destruction anymore. Instead, talk
about ways to disassemble civilization and concentrate the message in finding
SOLUTIONS to solving global military mechanized conflict. Again, solutions
solutions instead of just repeating the same old wars with newer weapons. Also,
keep out the fraudulent peace movements. They are liars and fakes and had no
real intention of ending the wars. ALL OF THEM ARE FAKE! On one hand, they
claim they want the wars to end, on the other, they are demanding the human
population increase. World War II had 2 Billion humans and after that war, the
people decided that tripling the population would assure peace. WTF???
STUPIDITY! MORE HUMANS EQUALS MORE WAR!
4. Civilization must be exposed for the filth it is. That, and all its
disgusting religious-cultural roots and greed. Broadcast this message until the
pollution in the planet is reversed and the human population goes down! This is
your obligation. If you think it isn’t, then get hell off the planet! Breathe
Oil! It is the moral obligation of everyone living otherwise what good are
they??
5. Immigration: Programs must be developed to find solutions to stopping ALL
immigration pollution and the anchor baby filth that follows that. Find
solutions to stopping it. Call for people in the world to develop solutions to
stop it completely and permanently. Find solutions FOR these countries so they
stop sending their breeding populations to the US and the world to seek jobs
and therefore breed more unwanted pollution babies. FIND SOLUTIONS FOR THEM TO
STOP THEIR HUMAN GROWTH AND THE EXPORTATION OF THAT DISGUSTING FILTH! (The first
world is feeding the population growth of the Third World and those human
families are going to where the food is! They must stop procreating new humans
looking for nonexistant jobs!)
6. Find solutions for Global Warming, Automotive pollution, International
Trade, factory pollution, and the whole blasted human economy. Find ways so
that people don’t build more housing pollution which destroys the environment
to make way for more human filth! Find solutions so that people stop breeding
as well as stopping using Oil in order to REVERSE Global warming and the
destruction of the planet!
7. Develop shows that mention the Malthusian sciences about how food production
leads to the overpopulation of the Human race. Talk about Evolution. Talk about
Malthus and Darwin until it sinks into the stupid people’s brains until they
get it!!
8. Saving the Planet means saving what’s left of the non-human Wildlife by
decreasing the Human population. That means stopping the human race from
breeding any more disgusting human babies! You’re the media, you can reach
enough people. It’s your resposibility because you reach so many minds!!!
9. Develop shows that will correct and dismantle the dangerous US world
economy. Find solutions for their disasterous Ponzi-Casino economy before they
take the world to another nuclear war.
10. Stop all shows glorifying human birthing on all your channels and on TLC.
Stop Future Weapons shows or replace the dialogue condemning the people behind
these developments so that the shows become exposes rather than advertisements
of Arms sales and development!
11. You’re also going to find solutions for unemployment and housing. All these
unemployed people makes me think the US is headed toward more war.
Humans are the most destructive, filthy, pollutive creatures around and are
wrecking what’s left of the planet with their false morals and breeding
culture.
For every human born, ACRES of wildlife forests must be turned into farmland in
order to feed that new addition over the course of 60 to 100 YEARS of that new
human’s lifespan! THIS IS AT THE EXPENSE OF THE FOREST CREATURES!!!! All human
procreation and farming must cease!
It is the responsiblity of everyone to preserve the planet they live on by not
breeding any more children who will continue their filthy practices. Children
represent FUTURE catastrophic pollution whereas their parents are current
pollution. NO MORE BABIES! Population growth is a real crisis. Even one child
born in the US will use 30 to a thousand times more resources than a Third
World child. It’s like a couple are having 30 babies even though it’s just one!
If the US goes in this direction maybe other countries will too!
Also, war must be halted. Not because it’s morally wrong, but because of the
catastrophic environmental damage modern weapons cause to other creatures. FIND
SOLUTIONS JUST LIKE THE BOOK SAYS! Humans are supposed to be inventive. INVENT,
DAMN YOU!!
The world needs TV shows that DEVELOP solutions to the problems that humans are
causing, not stupify the people into destroying the world. Not encouraging them
to breed more environmentally harmful humans.
Saving the environment and the remaning species diversity of the planet is now
your mindset. Nothing is more important than saving them. The Lions, Tigers,
Giraffes, Elephants, Froggies, Turtles, Apes, Raccoons, Beetles, Ants, Sharks,
Bears, and, of course, the Squirrels.
The humans? The planet does not need humans.
You MUST KNOW the human population is behind all the pollution and problems in
the world, and YET you encourage the exact opposite instead of discouraging
human growth and procreation. Surely you MUST ALREADY KNOW this!
I want Discovery Communications to broadcast on their channels to the world
their new program lineup and I want proof they are doing so. I want the new
shows started by asking the public for inventive solution ideas to save the
planet and the remaining wildlife on it.
The Colorado River hasn’t reached the sea in ages. Is there
hope left for this storied but manhandled river? Jonathan Waterman, author of
Running Dry: A Journey from Source to Sea Down the Colorado River, brought
together two experts from either end of the river to talk about what’s happened
to the river over the years, and how to get more water flowing in the future.
Brad Udall is the director of Western Water Assessment, based out of the
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) offices in Boulder, Colo. Osvel Hinojosa works as director of the water and wetlands program from the Mexican environmental group Pronatura.
Jonathan Waterman: So while you’re
both involved a lot with agencies that have to do with safeguarding water and
the Colorado River throughout the basin, we’ve also chosen to talk with you
because you live, essentially, at opposite ends of the spectrum—in the state
of Colorado near the headwaters, and then in the Mexican delta, where the river
runs dry. And these are ideal positions to show the range of river issues. So
if you guys could introduce yourself and your work, especially your work
related to the Colorado River.
Brad Udall: I work for the University of Colorado where I’m on the research
faculty. I run a program here called the Western Water Assessment which is
supported with NOAA funding. We utilize a team of 30 researchers to look at
climate issues in the American West with the idea to help folks—decision-makers make better decisions with respect to climate. And when I say climate
I mean what we can learn about past climate—for example, tree-ring studies—what we know might happen in the next six to 12 months, and what we might
know into the future, say 100 years out, because of climate change. The 30
people that are associated with this program range from climate scientists to
economists to policy folks, environmental scientists, you name it—we’ve got
access to them, and we’re trying to produce the best science we can. In
particular, my area of expertise is the Colorado River basin, and I’ve been
party to a number of studies that look into the future of this river.
Osvel Hinojosa: I work for Pronatura in Mexicali, based mostly in the delta region and upper Gulf of California. And
we have been working on the restoration of the Colorado delta for almost 10
years now, working with organizations from both sides of the border. We have
been doing basic research to understand
the issues and how can we restore the delta that is feasible, and then we have
also been involved in active restoration and community work, monitoring, and
more recently a lot on the water issues. We’ve created a water trust with some
other organizations to purchase water and restore the flow in the Colorado
River delta.
JW: Great, thank you. Brad, I’ll start with you again in the
headwaters. What are the biggest challenges for water sustainability, for both
humankind and natural habitat today in the Colorado River basin?
BU: When I think of sustainability issues with regard to the
Colorado River, it really revolves around how much water is going to be in the
river in the future, and are we using what we have now wisely. Like most Western
states, roughly 75 percent of all the water here goes to agriculture. The
remainder goes to municipal and other uses. The model projections for the
future of the river show us anywhere from 10 to 20 percent reductions in flows
mid-century, and obviously more possible by the year 2100. And if these come
true, and there are many scientific reasons to believe that they will, it means
we’re going to have to take a hard look at how we’re using water, and is there
in fact any left to develop? Or maybe we’ve already overdeveloped what’s here.
So it’s a challenge on almost any aspect of water management, from the critters
needing water to live in, to humans, to agriculture, to even our new energy
economy here in Colorado, which potentially, depending on how it evolves, might
utilize significant amounts of water that might in fact not be here.
JW: And I’ll hand it to you, Osvel, in terms of water
sustainability in the Colorado River basin, what do you think the biggest
challenge is?
OH: Well, I agree with Brad in that sense, and a lot of the [problem]
came from the past and extended to the future. I mean, clearly the river was
overallocated, and in different locations was given away to different cities
and municipalities in the U.S. and in Mexico, too. The environment was not considered.
And so into the future, we’re facing this challenge: How can we figure out a
way to meet those allocations that have already been given away, and then at
the same time how can we recover that water to retain environmental functions?
So it’s quite hard. At the same time, I guess that this challenge and the
stress into the system has opened a lot of dialogue that used to be closed
between water managers, between agencies between countries, and also we have
environmental organizations’ water managers. And so the discussion is more
open, to try to collaborate and find solutions.
JW:When was the last time the river flowed into the sea, through the delta?
OH: The last event when there was water flowing from the
Colorado River into the Gulf was around 1998-1999. There were big flow releases
from the dams that reached into the Gulf of California. After that, there were
some small releases that almost reached the upper Gulf, but not quite. Then
there was a big earthquake on April 4 this year, causing quite a bit of damage
in the irrigation system in Mexicali. So most of the Mexican allocation of
water was directed into the river. So for a few days, there was water flowing
into the river into the Gulf of California.
JW: I didn’t realize that, I thought most of those systems
were patched.
OH: Well, there was significant damage in the canal system,
over 80,000 acres of land. So Mexico was not able to deal with the water
delivery, so they would just open Morales dam. And for four days, there was
continuous water from the Morales dam into the Gulf.
JW: The Morales dam—the diversion dam—is the only one
owned by Mexico that brings water west toward Mexicali rather than toward the
delta. So either of you—are we still in a drought today? The drought that
started nearly a decade ago. I’ll toss that to you, Brad.
BU: Absolutely, yes. It’s the biggest drought in the
historic record since 1906 or so, when we started keeping records in the
Colorado River basin, and it’s really significantly a more pronounced drought
than the next-nearest drought. You can look at droughts in a lot of different
ways, but one way to look at it is in 10-year period flows, and this period of 10-year
flows is 3 percent more than the next nearest period, if you will. Which
doesn’t sound like a lot, but when you’re talking about flows over 10 years,
it’s a huge amount of water. I think Lake Mead, for example, would be almost 50
feet higher if we were in the next-nearest drought, just to give you an idea.
And Mead has dropped approximately 100 feet during this 10-year period.
JW: Can you clarify for people who might be in the Rockies
that have seen snowfalls that are approaching average over the last few years,
why the drought continues?
BU: Sure, and you’re right, I’m looking at a graph right now
of precipitation over the last 10 years. And there were three years that were
really bad at the beginning of the 2000s, 2001-2003. Almost all the years since
then have been about average in terms of precipitation. But runoff has been
significantly less. And we believe that these significantly high temperatures
that we’ve been experiencing, especially over the last 10 years because of
man’s emissions of greenhouse gases, have reduced the runoff in the river. What
our research shows is a couple different things: We can develop relationships
between temperature and runoff, and precipitation and runoff, and it appears
that this system is very sensitive to increased temperatures. And as temperatures
go up, and this is the reason for these predictions for 2050, even if you have
the same amount of precipitation as we currently have for snow and rain, you
get significantly less runoff as the American west heats up due to climate
change.
JW: That’s fascinating. So to recap that, even though skiers
have been having a heyday the last three winters, at least in the Colorado
Rockies, it doesn’t translate to water runoff because the temperatures are much
warmer throughout the year.
BU: That’s correct. And there’s another little piece to the
puzzle here, brand new science—red snow that shows up in Colorado in the
springtime these days. And it appears that all this dust, which is originating
out of Arizona and Utah, is impacting runoff in very interesting ways. We think
it might be leading to an average decrease of 5 percent runoff every year.
JW: And that’s because of the evaporation?
BU: Yes, the dust sits on top of the snow, and as the snow
begins to melt in the springtime, the dust doesn’t sink down through the snow
pack; it sits on top and absorbs more solar energy. Some of it evaporates, and
because the snow melts sooner, the plants begin to use water sooner. So it’s a
combination of two different forms of what scientists call evapo-transpiration,
both evaporation and transpiration of water used by plants.
JW: Well, you both know a lot about the river, not only as
scientists and researchers and through your careers, but Brad I know you were a
boatman, and you both were kicking around in the basin for many years. I
floated through Cataract Canyon and the Canyonlands National Park, Utah, for a
few days again, and saw as many other people see, what seems to be an intact
river mid-summer. From your experiences, is there any place where people can go
to still see sections of the river, or even its tributaries that are relatively
intact? Or is it really all a masquerade, are we looking at a river that’s a
glimmer of its former self?
BU: I think when you ask that question, in some sense you
lead us to the other tributaries that aren’t dammed and otherwise, because the
dams obviously change the natural sequence of flow. And in the case of being in
Cataract, there aren’t too many dams about you but there’s enough to change the
flow. You’re still at the end of July, you probably are seeing some runoff from
the snowpack, maybe not a lot. But rivers like the Dolores that only have one
dam, might be a good place to see the river in its natural state, though I
think some people would disagree with me, because that dam on the Dolores does
change the hydrogravity pretty seriously.
JW: Or the Yampa, in early spring?
BU: Yes, the Yampa has no dams on it. That’s a classic case,
much better than the Dolores.
JW: So we have a few of those places left. Osvel, what is
your favorite section of water in the Colorado River basin?
OH: I have to say, when you go in the upper basin, you feel
it’s much more of a river than going into the lower basin or into the delta,
and it’s fascinating to go there in the Dolores and Yampa and see the river
behaving as a river. And as you walk down into the lower basin, I would say
that the tributaries, it’s quite a good stretch. The Williams [is] quite a good
patch. It’s below the Parker dam, and it’s used mostly for flood control, not
for storage. So it still has pretty much a natural flow most of the year. So I
would say in the lower basin the Williams River is the most natural stretch.
But I have the say I enjoy parts in the Colorado Delta, like the Santa Clara.
It’s very artificial in many ways; it’s basically maintained by agricultural
return flows. But in the wetlands there, you feel the wilderness.
JW: Tell me more—a lot of people who have seen that the
river doesn’t flow through the delta have concluded that the delta is gone. So
tell us more about the delta, and what’s alive there and why the Cienega is a
great hope.
OH: Yes, it’s a very interesting—there is no water flow in
the river, but there are still very significant wetlands, and they are very
important for wildlife. Every year in the winter, there are about 30,000
migratory water birds moving through the Colorado River in places like the Cienega,
the Santa Clara, and the Rio Grande. And the funny thing is that these wetlands
were basically maintained by agricultural return flows and seepage from canals.
Just a small part of them are maintained by dedicated water, so that is one of
the things that we’re trying to change. There are still about 60,000 to 80,000
acres of wetlands in the delta, mostly marshes and some shallow pools, and very
important mudflats. But also there are still significant patches of cottonwood
and willows, so again they don’t have this allocated water, but they still have
very important environmental values.
JW: So to put that in context—I hear a large note of hope
and logically a good reason for hope—how much of the delta is missing,
compared to what we would have seen if we traveled there a century ago?
OH: Oh, probably about 80 percent is missing, and the
remaining 20 percent is not the same quality as what it used to be. So yes,
certainly it has been a very large loss. This area including the whole Mexicali
valley, and you can extend that farther into Mexico, used to be the Colorado
River delta. We’re talking about 500,000 acres of mixed wetlands, riparian
forests, marshes, and into the estuary and upper Gulf of California, though now
that has been mostly converted to agriculture. But there are still some patches
in good shape.
JW: So are there sufficient resources being brought to bear
on issues on the river, whether it’s habitat that you’re talking about Osvel,
or even climate change issues, Brad?
BU: Good question, I think not in the realm of science. I
think people would like to bring more resources to bear, there’s a $2 million
dollar study underway that’s trying to look at future supply and demand on the
system, and it’s a big enough system that $2 million isn’t nearly enough. By
comparison, the Australians did a study on their effective analogue, the
Murray-Darling basin, and they spent $10 million on that study to get the kind
of information that we’re trying to get out of $2 million. I think there are a
lot of people that are interested in this and a lot of concern about the future
from many different perspectives, including water providers and users, but we
haven’t figured out how to get the necessary resources directed at the river.
JW: On the eastern seaboard on
this country, there’s a great deal of rain. There’s more than 40 inches of
rainfall a year there, and in the west we have half that, and down where Osvel
is, maybe 2 inches of rain a year. So I wonder if it’s not a complete
misunderstanding of climate and the lack of water to begin with that people
can’t bring for their resources to bear.
BU: It’s clearly partly that, Jon.
OH: I agree, there is not enough understanding, and I agree
that there has not been enough resources to address the issue, from the science
perspective, getting all the information that we need to make the best
decisions, I don’t think we are there yet, and also for the policy work that is
needed in order to bring together different perspectives in the basin, that
needs a lot of resources and time and commitment from the different parties,
and I don’t think we are there yet.
JW: Yeah, rather than the $2 million or $10 million that is
being used in Australia, perhaps we need three times that much to begin a study
so we can figure out where to begin. So that brings me to the question of how
do we make people aware? Whether they’re users of the river here in the west,
or whether they’re policy-makers in D.C. What can we do to call people’s
attention to what I often think of as a potential train wreck?
BU: What it really takes is an extreme event. And I really
hate to say this, but it’s true. It takes a [Hurricane] Katrina, or it takes an
enormous drought. We may be getting close to that in terms of where Lake Mead
is and where it’s headed. It’s 90 percent of the water supply for Las Vegas,
and if Lake Mead drops another 25 feet the entity that runs the river, the U.S.
Bureau of Reclamation, is going to have to implement shortages to some of the
users in the lower basin, the first time ever that will occur. So I’m a firm
believer in crisis as being a good driver in change and awareness.
JW: If it’s not too late, I guess.
BU: Yeah, if it’s not too late. There are a lot of people
who are trying to do the educational component on this river, and there’s a
subset of people who absolutely pay attention and know the risk, and then there
are a whole bunch more of American people in the West who are totally oblivious
to where their water comes from.
JW: Alright Osvel, your take on that crisis model?
OH: Well yes, crisis absolutely is a driver—and it’s
already working. For the first time, Mexico perceived that there could be a
shortage. Since 1944, with the
International Water Treaty, the U.S. has always delivered the amount of water
they have to deliver to Mexico. But now, in the future, there is this very real
risk that the U.S. could deliver less water. So it has certainly called
attention to officials in Mexico City, who now are more attentive to the
situation and more willing to have a dialogue with U.S. counterparts and taking
into consideration the point of view the managers, the water users from the
Colorado Delta-Mexicali region.
JW: So our audience can understand restoring whole flows to
the delta, could you talk about that briefly, how much money it would take and
what it would take to see the type of restoration that could bring us back—not to a completely restored delta—but a delta that at least has some
natural function left to it.
OH: Right, well that’s one of the bases of the restoration
work we’re doing for the delta, not just the planting of native trees, but
restoring flows. And that has two components: one is that the base flow, which
we think does not need to be a large amount—we’re talking something between
16,000 to 18,00 acre feet a year, we’re still refining that number. And we’re
considering that we can get that water from purchasing water rights from the
Mexicali valley. So that’s one of the ideas. The other component is a post-flow.
So if we only have a base flow, the riparian system does not work as it should.
It needs this flowing every certain amount of year, even if they are only for
two or three months, but in a larger flow, maybe 700 cfs [cubic feet per
second]. For that, that aspect needs to have international collaboration,
because it needs release from the dams that go all the way to the delta. And
that’s part of what’s happening now with international negotiations between the
United States and Mexico, trying to figure out if we can make that happen.
In terms of how much it will require, in terms of the base
flow, it’s a very good question because water prices are changing and we’re
still not sure about the total amount of water. We’re talking about several
million dollars, at least.
JW: And is that just Mexico’s share?
OH: Yes, and that’s for the base flow, and we’re thinking of
getting the water from the Mexicali valley.
BU: If I can, let me just get that in context. 100,000 acre-feet is less than 1 percent of the annual flow of the river. It’s something
that we should be able to figure out how to do. Many people north of the border
think this is solely a Mexican problem—that they have their water down there
and we have our water up here. I tend to look at it more inclusively and think
that this is a joint problem between the two nations, and we should jointly
figure out how to solve it. And some people will think this is blasphemous of
me, but I think the U.S. should supply some of this water.
JW: We talk about water grabs even from the headwaters that
the U.S. has to deal with and the upper and lower basin have to deal with; we
have performed a water grab essentially, on one of the most important features
of the river. And I think as Brad says, it behooves us to look for a solution
to bring water back to the delta.
BU: It’s really a tiny amount of water that is needed, and
it seems to me through savvy water management, we could come up with this
water.
JW: Well, if you guys could choose between limiting
greenhouse gasses, curbing population growth in the basin, readdressing issues
of allocation, or farm water—remanaging the use of agricultural water—which
would you take as the most important cure for the water’s predicted demise?
BU: All of the above!
OH: Yes, all of the above absolutely. I don’t think we can
solve the river issues picking just one issue. It’s really a function of
different things. Certainly managing and
looking differently at the management of agricultural water would probably
yield results sooner, so I guess it’s like a first step you can go to and have
more water available to work in a direction. But if you don’t tackle the issue
of population in the basin and the over-allocation problem and the system-wide
management and the issue of climate change, then we will be in the same spot in
a few years. So I guess all of the above.
BU: It’s easy to tag climate change as the big boogeyman of
the 21st century. If you do that, I think you overlook an enormous
amount of stresses that the world and the American Southwest are facing. And I
think you put your hand on all of them when you posed that question, and
they’re all really important. This century is going to be unlike any other, and
it’s not just climate change. Climate change is an additional stressor to all
these other ones. And yes, there is a lot going on right now that we need to
pay attention to.
JW: To wrap this up, can either of you make suggestion as to
what readers at Grist.org can do in terms of their own daily lives for issues
of water sustainability, whether it be in Oklahoma or Seattle or here in the
drying southwest?
OH: Well, the first thing is to just get informed. Get
informed about your water sources and your basin, and the environmental
component of the water we use, and how it affects the environment in your basin
and the issues. And probably there are organizations already working on those
issues. So getting informed is certainly the first thing you need to do to
participate better.
BU: I think that’s absolutely true. Too many people think
that their water comes “out of the tap”, and the truth is that it comes out of
a river somewhere, or a groundwater basin somewhere. Understanding the impacts
of the local use on the source of water is pretty important. That falls under
getting informed. On a very local sort of home-issue, over the last five years
I’ve begun to keep track of the water usage in my house, just looking at the
bill, and also my electricity use. And it’s really interesting to see what you
can do in terms of conservation with just a little bit of effort, it doesn’t
take much. My electrical use is down about 30 percent, just by doing savvy
things around my house, and your water use can be pretty similar if you’re
savvy about it. People frequently over-water outside, and they take long
showers that they don’t need to, and there are tons of ways to save water.
JW: I do the same thing at my home, and I like to look
toward water products. The food that I eat and where it comes from is
overlooked by a huge portion of consumers, and the things we do as consumers of
water; things like beef or cotton or all the dairy productions, all which come
from the Colorado River Basin consume an enormous amount of water, whether it’s
through giving this water to agriculture, or the water we’re using for alfalfa
throughout the basin.
Last week, the
roommates’ plan for an organic garden resulted in a plague instead of paradise. This week (in Episode 6), some little ladies-in-red take back their role as the original pesticide for these pests outside—and not a moment too soon for these would-be organic gardeners. For the scoop on all the characters, and links to every so-called comic strip, visit the My Intentional Life homepage.
As a healthy, affordable, and non-polluting way of getting around, the two-wheeled wonder that is bicycling can’t be beat, which is probably why it’s enjoying such an enthusiastic resurgence in popularity right now. However, U.S. streets, drivers, and even pedestrians may not be quite ready to welcome an influx of well-spoked folk. The pervasive attitude that roads were made for cars, not bikes, has pushed cyclists toward guerrilla street art to get their point across (and toward some cult-ish tendencies too).
In homage to those positive and creative forces pushing non-gas pedals across the nation, we invite you to strap on a helmet and steer yourself into the “I’m loving bikes” lane with these artistic examples of bike activism taken quite literally to the streets.
When you’re looking for that extra boost during your morning commute, forgo coffee and try this Mario Kart-style route in Portland, Ore., instead. Once you’re in this bike lane, you’ll soon be feeling invincible ... as long as you can avoid the banana peels. 1-UP!
Hat tip to Grist reader Caleb, who regularly bikes this route—around the bananas.
Cycling’s benefits aren’t limited to those doing the two-wheeling. Streets with painted bike lanes are 40 percent less dangerous to those of us going about on two feet, according to New York City’s Department of Transportation. That’s good news for cyclists who may be reincarnated as pedestrians.
Perhaps you’re starting to catch on that cyclists are not often—to put it delicately—“transportation neutral.”
This is where those odd, cultish tendencies reveal themselves.
H8ers gonna h8, but it’s no sweat off our bike-commuting backs.
