The video below features highlights from the press conference that IFAW held yesterday. The audio is not very good - you’ll need to turn up your volume a bit to hear her speak. One of the highlights is startling - they found roughly 1000 items a week which violated some form of wildlife conservation law. Here’s a thought - Ebay could hire IFAW to police the site for them. Wouldn’t both organizations win? What do you think?
The Blacksmith Institute of New York City and Green Cross Switzerland operate the website worstpolluted.org. They have identified the ten worst environmental threats for 2008.
They are, in no order:
- Artisinal Goldmining
- Indoor Air Pollution
- Groundwater Contamination
- Industrial Mining Activities
- Metals Smelters and Processing
- Radioactive Waste and Uranium Mines
- Untreated Sewage
- Urban Air Quality
- Used Lead Acid Battery Recycling
Check out the site at worstpolluted.org for more on each issue. You can also download the report from their site as well.
According to a recently released study by the Center for Energy, Resources and Economic Sustainability at the University of California, Berkeley, green initiatives at the state level created jobs in the private sector. With consumers able to reduce energy spending, that spending was redirected to other demands.
The number that Berkeley came up with was $44.6 billion, of which $1.2 billion was in the light industrial sector, $11.2 billion was in wholesale and retail trade, $7.3 billion was in the financial and insurance sectors and $17.8 billion was in the service sector. The study primarily focused on household spending and how the spending habits changed after money was removed from the electric bill.
Eric Schmidt, CEO of Google, speaks at the Commonwealth Club about rebuilding the Energy Infrastructure of the United States. It’s so refreshing to hear him speak. Very interesting! A must watch.
Solar energy is so popular in California, solar panels are being stolen. Tom McCalmont, president of Regrid Power, was victim to one such burglary where they took $30,000 worth of panels from the roof of his solar energy business. A homeowner, Glenda Hoffman, has fallen victim to three separate burglaries in which a total of 16 solar panels have been removed from the roof of her home - she now sleeps with a shotgun and a .22 just in case they come back.
Thieves then try to sell the panels on the internet - one such thief was not so lucky as detectives from the police department ended up being his customers after numerous $1500.00 panels were stolen from a California toll road. He charged only $100.00 for the panels and when he showed up to deliver them he was led away in cuffs. Authorities are now recommending that customers engrave their driver’s license number into their solar panels for easy identification.
Garden State Offshore Energy was recently given a $1 Billion contract to construct a giant wind farm offshore in the southern part of New Jersey.
The wind farm will be virtually invisible from shore and is part of New Jersey’s Energy Master Plan, which calls for 20% of all of NJ’s renewable energy to come from alternative energy sources by 2010. 96 turbines will power tens of thousands of homes once the project is complete.
The US Environmental Protection Agency has introduced new initiatives to remove lead from the air. The goal is to slash lead emissions by 90%. The EPA had to introduce the measure to comply with a court order. Smelters and waste incinerators are some of the lead producers that will need to slash their emissions significantly.
Essentia has taken our creed to the good people of Facebook. Join our Facebook group and you’ll be entered into a monthly contest for an Essentia prize - could be a pillow, could be a mattress, could be anything! You’ll never know unless you join.
If you are logged into Facebook right now, go here to join. If you prefer to do a search, look for “Essentia - Natural Memory Foam Mattresses” and join. Get involved with discussions about all things eco and, of course, natural memory foam mattresses.
A new guide on the use of sewage sludge in food production is available for download here. The Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, a lobby group, has taken writing guidelines for use of sewage sludge into its own hands after accusing the EPA of not doing enough.
When I was working in the composting industry, I was astounded to learn that under EPA Part 503 compost containing sewage sludge could have 1000 MPN (Most Probable Number) of pathogens. Pathogens are viruses, bacteria, and all manner of nasty things that you don’t want your food growing in. By contrast a composting toilet, which turns human waste into compost, is supposed to reduce the pathogens to 5 MPN in the final product. Even then you can’t spread it on your garden, just in case. It appears that this regulation is lax on purpose in order to improve fertilizer sales, and the IATP is backing that up.
What to use instead? If you grow your own food or just simply garden, check out organic fertilizer that organic farms use, which is commonly made from fishmeal. Buy organic food where you can and screen landscaping companies that you hire for your home or business to ensure that they are using non sewage sludge based fertilizer.
A bylaw that was restricting the sales of NEV’s in BC (Neighbourhood Electric Vehicle) has been overturned, allowing the vehicles to be used. Previously, cars that didn’t go over 40K were the only ones allowed on the streets, severely restriciting city mobility for NEV’s. The bylaw was changed to 50K in order to allow these vehicles to operate on the road. See this video for more information.
This video gives you a breakdown of an NEV which is made in Quebec - the Zenn Car.
The Blacksmith Institute of New York City and Green Cross Switzerland operate the website worstpolluted.org. They have identified the ten worst environmental threats for 2008.
