Tuesday, April 26, 2005

[Climate change] The Climate of Man -- 1 First of a three part New Yorker series on climate change. 11:33:37 AM Google It!    [Government regulation] Bush's Most Radical Plan Yet Via Grist Magazine, which comments: Buried deep in the 2,000-page budget bill President Bush recently sent to Congress is a three-sentence provision that threatens to eviscerate environmental and other protections. Authored by the White House Office of Management and Budget, the provision would, if passed unamended, subject any and all federal programs to the scrutiny of a "Sunset Commission." The eight-member panel, appointed by the president, would have the power to kill any programs not "producing results." Programs deemed non-productive would "automatically terminate unless the Congress took action to continue them." "This is potentially devastating," warned Wesley Warren, who served in the OMB under President Clinton. "In short order, this could knock out protections that have been built up over a generation." The provision raises thorny constitutional questions, as it would subject congressional powers to what amounts to executive approval. Still, says Clay Johnson of the Bush OMB, "We just think it makes sense." 11:32:06 AM Google It!    [Grants] Department of Defense Special Funding Available for Environmental Research and Technologies The Department of Defense, through the Strategic Environmental Research and Development Program (SERDP), will be funding environmental research and technologies in order to design an extensive environmental monitoring system at Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune and surrounding environs in east central North Carolina.  The system will be part of a new effort, the Defense Coastal/Estuarine Research Program (DCERP) that is being undertaken by SERDP in order to address military and other impacts on the New River Estuary in eastern North Carolina.  Projects will be selected through a competitive selection process. The due date for all proposals is Thursday, April 28, 2005. Detailed instructions for both federal and non-federal proposals may be found by selecting the appropriate link below, and on the SERDP Web Site under Funding Opportunities:  http://www.serdp.org/funding/funding.html.   FY 2005 Federal Call for Proposals (DCERP). Memorandum for EWG Members Federal Proposal Instructions FY 2005 Non-Federal Broad Agency Announcement (DCERP) Broad Agency Announcement Non-Federal Proposal Instructions 11:29:52 AM Google It!    [Alternative energy] ThermoEnergy Receives Patent For ThermoFuel Wastewater Process Technology ThermoFuel is a renewable energy technology that converts sewage sludge into a bio-fuel with an energy value similar to that of coal. This bio-fuel can be used to generate power on-site or as a blending agent for utility power plants, municipal solid waste incinerators or cement kilns. [Source: Water & Wastes Digest] 11:28:29 AM Google It!    [Climate change] Climate Research Faulted Over Missing Components The Bush administration's program to study climate change lacks a major component required by law, according to Congressional investigators. The program fails to include periodic assessments of how rising temperatures may affect people and the environment. [Source: New York Times -- need a login/pw?] 11:26:42 AM Google It!    [Environmental statistics] You've Come a Long Way, Maybe Stats on how far we've come (or haven't) since the first Earth Day. [Source: Grist Magazine] 11:25:17 AM Google It!    [Green products] Chic by nature: Organic furniture moving into fashionable homes Who knew organic furniture could be so hot? When cousins Fred and Barry Shapiro started Furnature 15 years ago, they just wanted to help people with severe chemical allergies. Now they count David Letterman and Calvin Klein as customers of their organic beds and upholstered furniture, and the posh New York institution ABC Carpet and Home carries their line. [Source: Boston Herald] 11:24:21 AM Google It!    [Schools] Recycling Food Waste: It’s Academic Don’t even try trashing that half-eaten salad at the University of Oregon’s (UO) Annual Folk Festival, the University of Vermont’s (UVM) Orientation Picnic or Humboldt State University’s Spring Fair. The trash stations are manned, making sure you recycle everything from your food-smeared paper plate to soy sauce-soaked chopsticks. [Source: E: The Environmental Magazine] 11:22:21 AM Google It!    [Recycling] Project turns coal waste into valuable building material Working under a $7.2 million U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) cooperative agreement, a Western Pennsylvania-based company recently converted 430 tons of coal combustion by-products (CCB) into valuable building material. In doing so, the company took a major step forward in reducing significant plant operating costs while taking a strong environmental initiative. Routine coal plant operations result in an estimated 28 million tons of the byproducts each year being placed in landfills. With the new procedure, that waste could be turned into useful products. [Source: Environmental Protection E-News] 11:21:13 AM Google It!    [Alternative energy] EPA releases top-25 green power purchasers The top 25 green power purchasers are buying enough energy to run more than 150,000 homes a year, according to EPA. The top-25 list includes a diverse set of companies and organizations that have voluntarily bought the most renewable energy and are part of EPA's Green Power Partnership. Together, the top 25 are purchasing more than 1.6 million MWh (megawatt hours) of green power annually. [Source: Environmental Protection E-News] 11:20:04 AM Google It!    [Schools] Fool for fuel cells Still waiting to buy a car powered by pollution-free fuel cells? So are we. 2004 drove off without a single fuel-cell car reaching the market, mainly due to high cost of the cells, and a shortage of hydrogen fuel. But if fuel cells haven't hit the road, they haven't cruised off to the scrapyard, either. Instead of driving wheels, some fuel cell designs may become a quiet, affordable and (we hope) efficient electric generator that makes heat as a useful byproduct. [Source: The Why Files] 11:17:53 AM Google It!    [Corporate sustainability] CEO Touts Sustainability as Path to Higher Profits Under the leadership of Ray Anderson, Interface Inc. has become a poster child for “sustainable” manufacturing, which aims to slash expenses, boost profits, and bolster the company image by paying extremely close attention to environmental performance. Interface, for example, has dramatically improved its water use practices. The company has reduced the number of pipes funneling liquid waste from its factories to nearby waterways by 47 percent. It also has slashed water use in its carpet-making process by 78 percent. Strategies like these have reduced Interface’s energy consumption, chemical use, maintenance and repair costs, discharge fees, and water bills and added big savings to its bottom line. [Source: Michigan Land Use Institute] 11:16:00 AM Google It!    [Schools] No Kidding. School Food That Tastes Good Farm-to-school programs please kids and enrich farmers. [Source: Michigan Land Use Institute] 11:14:15 AM Google It!    [Environmental policy] At 35, an Earth Day Surprise Environmentalism’s new leading edge is in the red states. [Source: Michigan Land Use Institute] 11:12:07 AM Google It!    [Lawn care] Nontoxic Lawn Care: Products and How-To's Seventy-five percent of American households use lawn care pesticides - many known to harm human health and wildlife. Indeed, according to the US Fish and Wildlife Service, "homeowners use up to 10 times more chemical pesticides per acre on their lawns than farmers use on their crops." The good news is there are many safer alternative lawn care remedies as well as improved lawn care and gardening practices to be tried, and a growing number of individuals, institutions and companies interested in their adoption. To learn more about the health and environmental problems associated with the conventional lawn care arsenal, what to look out for and what to look for when buying lawn care products and what practices can contribute to a healthy lawn, read The Green Guide's new Product Report on Lawn Care. [Source: Green Guide via Jeri Knaus] 11:10:50 AM Google It!    [Green lifestyle] 10 Easy Things You Can Do Today for Your Family's Health and the Earth Nature provides human beings with billions of dollars in health and welfare services, according to the Center for Environmental Research and Conservation in New York. Here are 10 easy ways we can give back to Mother Nature every day. [Source: Green Guide via Jeri Knaus] 11:09:00 AM Google It!    [Biomimicry] Another coup for the science of biomimicry.... Another coup for the science of biomimicry.... Developed jointly by Autotype and the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy in Germany, the new Autoflex film replicates the nano-structures found in the eyes of moths. This just in from Blaine Brownell's fantasic site Transstudio, a collection of innovative material designs that will change the way we interact with our environment: Autotype, one of the world's leading developers and manufacturers of film and chemical products, recently launched a new anti-reflective, anti-glare film inspired by the eye structure of night flying moths. Called Autoflex MARAG (MothEye Anti-Reflective, Anti-Glare), the new film has been designed for use in a wide range of applications, including flat panel displays, touch screen interfaces, electroluminescent lamps and lenses for mobile phones and PDAs. [Z+Blog!] 11:00:02 AM Google It!    [Continuous environmental scan] The Continuous Environmental Scan: Where Do You Get All Your Ideas? The Idea: A nine-step process for setting up a Continuous Environmental Scan in your organization, or just for your own use. For the full post, see http://blogs.salon.com/0002007/2005/04/25.html#a1123. Summary: In their book Jumping the Curve, Imperato & Harari introduce the concept of a Continuous Environmental Scan, which is about using modern technology's 'radar' to harvest a lot of ideas about what is happening in the world in areas (geographical, intellectual, or commercial) that you care about.  Here's the process Dave Pollard (who writes How to Save the World) evolved to do this: Know How You Learn Determine Your Information Universe Discover Infomediaries LB Note: Like your friendly neighborhood librarian. :-) Tap Into the Stuff Inside Your Organization LB Note: Like the WMRC Library. :-) Add Together, Stir and Sift Add Value Organize and Make Available What's Left Don't Forget Serendipitous Reading Have conversations about 'what it means' There's no turnkey way to do this, and it takes a lot of practice. What's amazing is how many large organizations are doing virtually nothing to make use of the immense amounts of interesting and useful information 'out there' in a disciplined and organized manner. It's left up to the individual, and most individuals have neither the time nor the skill to do it. It's a missed opportunity in many companies, and perhaps one of the reason for the dearth of innovation in our world today. [How to Save the World] 10:59:00 AM Google It!

© Copyright 2005 Laura L. Barnes. Last update: 10/25/2005; 12:09:57 PM.