Eating local is a big buzzword right now. The idea is to cut back on carbon emissions. But this report on Discovery shows that it’s not so much where your food comes from, it’s what you’re eating.
From the article:
transporting food from the farm or production site to the store contributed only 4 percent of the total greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S. food supply, while producing the food accounted for 83 percent.
That’s taking into consideration more than just carbon production. Carbon dioxide isn’t the only problem we’re dealing with here, after all.
So what should you do?
Well, just what you’d expect. The article says that red meat produces about 2.5 times the amount of greenhouse gases than any chicken or pork. So the more you cut back on beef, the more impact you’re having.
Fine by me. I’m not ready to become a vegetarian, but I already prefer chicken to beef anyhow.
If you’re wondering about the groupings, here’s more from the article:
Dairy products come in second in greenhouse impact in most of the team’s analyses, since they also come from cows. Cereals and carbohydrates; chicken, fish and eggs; and fruits and vegetables were similar to each other in their contributions.
Of course, all this doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t go local; there’s nothing wrong with decreasing those aspects you can control. But it brings up the very good point that there are bigger things you should be thinking about too.
This is just delightful. I read today that Nanosolar is shipping its first panels. They’re going to Germany, but no matter who is getting them, that more affordable panels are being produced is great news.
The really great news is that their thin-film solar panels are expected to cost as little as $0.99/watt. That’s just amazing.
These panels are flexible, so they can be installed in more places. They deliver 5 times the current of any other thin film solar panel.
I find it very hopeful that at last a lower cost solar panel solution is really being produced and shipped. That’s a step people have been watching for for all too many years. This is the kind of thing needed to make solar power a practical alternative energy source.
With any luck we’ll see more companies coming out with great products like this. It’s been a long time coming, but it’s very much needed.
Technorati Tags: nanosolar, solar power, thin film solar panels, solar energy
I spotted yet another article on how we need to make electronics more recycleable. This one was on Wired’s website. And it’s quite true. There’s so much innovation, but little interest in taking care of the mess created as people buy new electronics whether or not the old are any good.
Worse is how many break down in just a few years.
I think this is one of those topics we really can’t afford to let go of. Electronics are a major part of modern life, and I don’t expect or want them to go away, but we need to think more on the long term impact.
Technorati Tags: electronics recycling, old electronics, wired
Saw an interesting article over on TreeHugger, discussing a very disappointing article in the New York Times. It’s pretty much just discouraging people from thinking green at Christmas, as though it’s a rather selfish, potentially unAmerican thing to do.
Perhaps the most annoying quote of the entire article:
Still, to some ears, the call for less excessive consumption during the holidays sounds almost un-American.
“The point of the holidays for many people is the joy people get in giving,” said Kenneth P. Green, a resident scholar on environmental issues at the American Enterprise Institute. Environmentalists who scold their families are simply making “ritualistic gestures that won’t solve the problem,” he said.
Silly me, I thought there was something more. At least, that’s what I learned in church, as well as being the major point of How the Grinch Stole Christmas
. Perhaps I need to reread it. Maybe the presents were the point after all.
I do think there are a lot of ways to green a Christmas, and I’ll be going over a lot of green gift ideas in the days to come. Some will be greener than others, but I do think we can have fun, give good gifts and still think of the environment.
This is certainly more challenging in some families than in others. My inlaws, for example, are decidedly not environmentalists. Wonderful people in so many ways, but my father-in-law in particular is fond of the term “eco-Nazi”. Anything too blatantly “green” isn’t going to please him. We don’t talk politics much.
I’ve been improving my own habits and those of my husband, although we’re certainly not as green as we could be yet. Just this morning I stopped my husband from buying a ton of THINGS from a clearance website. Yes, all very cool gadgets and toys, lots of fun, and if I weren’t so interested in saving money and the environment I probably could have gotten into more mischief there than he wants to. But I’ve learned to control those impulses somewhat better, and nixed several items on him.
Overall, I’d far rather give my family the lesson that things do not make for a great Christmas. The people you care about do. It’s more relaxing, generates less trash, costs less money and can be a whole lot more fun.
Technorati Tags: green christmas, environment, greening holidays
Given my preference that old electronics be recycled, it was quite disappointing to read this article the other day on CNN about what really happens to most ‘recycled’ electronics. As they say, it’s not what you would expect. A lot of them just go to other countries, with the unusable parts still ending up in landfills.
I don’t really have a problem with usable electronics being reused. That’s a good thing. But mixing reusable with unusable and shipping the problem out is not acceptable.
Eight states so far have the right idea, in requiring manufacturers to recycle their old electronics. That needs to just be common practice. I’ve said before that I would love to see electronics stores be required to take the old electronics back. Nice, easy locations for people to get to. Perhaps a surcharge on purchases to help with the expense of doing this if necessary, and a rebate for returning products as a motivation.
It is important to note that companies like Apple, Dell, Hewlett-Packard and Sony now do take back their electronics for recycling. If they’re doing it right, this is a wonderful development.
As with any solution, it’s going to take time to get things going right. On the other hand, I do have an old, broken down Dell we hadn’t decided what to do with yet….
Technorati Tags: recycling, electronics recycling, environment, recycled electronics
