2nd Green Revolution

With the movement for outdoor education and increasing youths’ general experiences in nature gaining steam, legislation referred to as “No Child Left Inside” (NCLI) passed its first major hurdle. Directly related to the work of Richard Louv, author of Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature Deficit Disorder, NCLI aims to combat what Louv terms nature-deficit disorder.

The state of Connecticut has their own initiative of the same name. Intended to “encourage Connecticut families and visitors alike to enjoy all the recreational resources and outdoor activities available in Connecticut’s state parks, forests and waterways”, the state’s directive aims to reconnect families with Connecticut’s natural environs. Read the rest of this entry »

The world's largest lithium reserves are under the salt flats in Uyuni, Bolivia.

There’s no shortage of discussion about what the United States should do to wean itself off of oil. Such heavy dependence on one main fuel source to power our transportation systems (and thus keeping our economy humming) means the U.S. is vulnerable to the unpredictable gyrations of oil and gas prices. Aside from those concerns, security risks and political considerations from having to deal with OPEC (Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries)  and many less than democratic countries are often the cause of much strife. Last but not least are the environmental concerns from relying on a petroleum based economy. Electrification of the transportation sector has been hailed as one of the solutions to our current oil dependence. By switching to electric vehicles, it is argued, we can avoid many of the problems mentioned above. The need for a reliable and renewable electricity source other than coal to charge those cars is one major concern. The batteries needed to power our electric vehicles is another. Those batteries need lithium, and lithium is not so equitably dispersed around the world.  Is there a chance that there will one day be protests against “Big Lithium” or some other mineral instead of big oil? Here are a few facts about lithium today, taken from work by the Electrification Coaltion: Read the rest of this entry »

Despite announcing his intention not to seek a second term as governor of Colorado, Governor Bill Ritter has continued to pursue a clean energy future for the state. While many states have mandates of 20% or 25% electricity generation from renewable energy sources by 2020, Ritter is pushing ahead toward 30%. Ritter’s goal is one of the most ambitious, ranking in the top three states as measured by a percentage of electricity production.  Read the rest of this entry »

In his holiday letter to members, Rick Fedrizzi, President, CEO and Founding Chair of the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) mentioned some statistics that speak to the boom in green building:

• 27,373 people joined Greenbuild 2009 in Phoenix
• 14 million people are employed by a USGBC member company
• Of the 4,328 LEED-certified projects in existence, some 2,090 – more than 48%! – achieved certification in 2009
• Nearly half of all certifications in LEED’s eight-year history occurred during one of the toughest economic years in memory
• Some 33% of LEED-certified homes are affordable homes, and USGBC has worked to bring LEED Platinum affordable homes to the Lower 9th Ward of New Orleans
• With the financial support of USGBC’s individual and organizational donors, five recipients of the USGBC Young Leader Awards and 39 other deserving students and professionals attended Greenbuild 2009 on full-conference scholarships.

- Rick Fedrizzi
President, CEO and Founding Chair
U.S. Green Building Council

Last month’s lengthy post titled “Inefficient Devices and the Laws of Thermodynamics” failed to relate the abstract laws of thermodynamics to everyday life. This post aims to tie the two together in a more easily digestible package.

Devices that consume excessive amounts of energy, convert energy inefficiently, or perform tasks that can be accomplished with less energy are wasteful and need to be replaced. This latter option, achieving a goal with less energy (i.e. carpooling instead of driving individually or cooking indoors on a cold day and leaving the oven ajar to release heat throughout your home) represents a version of low-hanging fruit.
Read the rest of this entry »

The term biomimicry has shown up in a number of posts and served as a central theme in Paul Hawken’s The Ecology of Commerce. However, it remains somewhat nebulous as a concept. The December/January issue of National Wildlife contains an article titled “Mimicking Mother Nature.” Covering a range of inventions that mimic nature, the article espouses the concept of biomimicry – which the spell check on the word processor does not recognize. Literally meaning to imitate nature, biomimicry is widely taken to mean looking to adaptations of organisms when designing products. Read the rest of this entry »

This is a quick addendum to yesterday’s post on the 2011 budget President Obama unveiled. The New York Times got back to us quickly about the discrepancy we found in their chart on the 2011 budget breakdown within the Department of Energy. The two squares under “Energy” in the bottom right of the chart that were marked “Efficient and Renewable Energy” have now been corrected. There is now a clear distinction between money for “Energy Conservation” and money for “Energy Supply”. According to the chart, money budgeted for energy conservation will increase 22.5% from 2010 to $1.30 billion while money put toward energy supply will fall 1.7% to $1.06 billion. The response from the NY Times’ Graphics Department is pasted below.

Sorry for the confusion. We originally were using the labels provided by the OMB but have since clarified some of them, like the one you mentioned. Thanks for the feedback.

- Justin Manger

U.S. National Debt

The $3.8 trillion budget that President Obama proposed today to Congress for fiscal year 2011 (starting October 1, 2010) is a record. With two on-going wars, money to spur an economic recovery, enormous costs for entitlement programs, and ballooning net interest payments on an estimated $1.3 trillion deficit ($12 trillion national debt) it seemed almost a forgone conclusion that this year would see the largest budget numbers ever. To be fair, this was not Obama’s making but it’s now his problem. Spending beyond our means has finally caught up to us and foreshadows an erosion of U.S. influence that will change international politics and the global balance of power. The new budget also shows the reality of how low clean energy and green technology rank in terms of priorities. Read the rest of this entry »

On or around the first of every month, 2nd Green Revolution updates the green events calendar for the coming month. Last November we began including a post highlighting some of the intriguing events for that month. Many of the events on the calendar for February take place in India, New Zealand, and Australia. However, there are a few in San Francisco, California and several intriguing domestic events at the end of the month.

Here is a sampling of a few domestic symposiums that caught our eye. Read the rest of this entry »

On one level I don’t care about global warming, because it doesn’t matter. On the other, I know it is an incredibly important concern, one that may have drastic effects on society. However, because it has become politicized and polarized, I have steered clear of it. I am a science teacher, but not entirely a scientist in the traditional white lab coat sense of the word. I like to stick to the verifiable and the quantifiable. I do not pretend to know all of the data surrounding global warming – from both sides of the argument – and do not have the background of a debater to refute seemingly specious arguments that “deniers” or skeptics make. Skepticism is one of the fundamental “Habits of Mind” for scientists (along with the incredibly important habits of “tolerating uncertainty”, maintaining “openness to new ideas”, and exhibiting “intellectual honesty”). The latter of which may have been violated in last year’s debate over hacked emails from East Anglia University’s Climate Research Unit in England. However, there is a point at which healthy skepticism may be overtaken by radicalism.

What I do care about – which should be readily apparent for those that read my posts – is ushering in an era of sustainable development. We MUST use resources wisely. Read the rest of this entry »