This has been submitted to the Lake County Record-Bee It’s Not Easy Being Green: The Top Five Green Stories for 2012 Tis the season for looking back on the previous year; here are my picks for 2012’s top environmental stories plus a bonus story: 1. California’s Cap and Trade Program Begins. As U.S. CO2 emissionsContinue reading “It’s Not Easy Being Green: The Top Five Green Stories for 2012”
Category Archives: environment
The True Cost of Lumber Substitutes
Lumber and building material can be replaced with look-alikes made from non-renewable materials but it may not be wise. One example, a U.S. National Science Foundation panel analyzed the amount of energy necessary to extract, transport, and convert various raw materials into finished products found that substituting other materials for wood products comes at aContinue reading “The True Cost of Lumber Substitutes”
What the Frack? U.S. CO2 Output the Lowest in 20 years.
“The best is the enemy of good.” – Voltaire Good news travels slowly, if at all. Given headlines of the century you might think that good news does not exist. A newspaper will not stay in business without readers—and they need drama to get readers—so even good news often gets described as bad news. AtContinue reading “What the Frack? U.S. CO2 Output the Lowest in 20 years.”
Charbroiling puts more particulate into our air than diesel trucks
According to a media release, researchers at the University of California, Riverside have found that commercial charbroilers — the same ones that grill hamburgers from your favorite burger joint — emit more particulate matter into the air we breathe than large diesel engines. “Emissions from commercial charbroilers are a very significant uncontrolled source of particulateContinue reading “Charbroiling puts more particulate into our air than diesel trucks”
16 Fire
As of 7:30 PM the 16 Fire is 500 acres and 10% contained.
Proposition 37 Doesn’t Go Far Enough
California’s Proposition 37, the awkwardly titled “California Right to Know Genetically Engineered Food Act,” does not educate consumers enough about what is in their food.
Genetically engineering microbes to work for us
Interesting video from the Open University. Genetically engineered (GE) E. coli bacteria produce much of today’s insulin supply. By using GE, we are turning microbes into “tiny factories” that happily churn out what they get re-programmed to do.
“Hey, I care about the planet—can I go to Rio?”
My latest Green Chain column for the Lake County Record-Bee. Last month the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD) marked its 20th anniversary of the “Earth Summit,” meeting once again in Rio de Janeiro. In 1992, Earth Summiteers envisioned the future they wanted, which included uplifting the “social and economic development” status ofContinue reading ““Hey, I care about the planet—can I go to Rio?””
Sites Complex Buildup to Quiescence July 9
These pictures show the increase and decrease in energy on at least one of the fires at the Sites Complex Incident from 2:15pm to 5:50pm. The photos were taken at ~10 minute intervals. Below those is the California Fire Situation Report which features footage from the Sites Complex.
Morning view: smoke looks like marine layer
Here’s the view from my deck this morning. What looks like low-hanging clouds is actually smoke from the Sites Complex Incident in Colusa county on the Mendocino National Forest.
Nullius in Verba 