Sunday, February 24, 2008
Sheep
These four sheep are my lawn service. They take care of about two acres, clipping the grass like a golf green and trimming the trees until you can walk under them without ducking. They eat nearly everything. If I want flowers and shrubs, I have to fence the sheep out. As a pasture, this field is seriously overgrazed. Larger animals, like horses, cows, and pigs, are even more destructive. The white sheep at the back is Starlight, sired by silver Ramlet, next to her -- about 12 years ago. These sheep are senior, senior citizens. I lost Starlight's mother and her older sister to old age last year. Ramlet may have fathered 150 lambs over the years. When I had a dozen breeding ewes, their offspring were no longer pets. They were livestock. The lucky girls were sold as breeding ewes and pets. The boys became meat.
Neo is the dark wooly guy. Sun-bleached Tootsie, on the right, gave birth today to two little girls, both black. These sheep are Romneys, a dual purpose (meat and wool) breed, and are usually white. Starlight is half hampshire.
Why am I talking about sheep? Because overgrazing is a frequent contributor to habitat destruction. Most Americans are not as close to livestock as I am. Most have no idea how much land is needed to produce meat. In the high desert with a lot of vegetation, you need at least 10 to 20 acres per animal.
Monday, February 25, 2008
Species Extinction
I went looking for and found -- a passinger pigeon -- stuffed, of course. It is located in the wildlife building at Humboldt State University. Here's the link to the Wikipedia article on this extinct American bird. Below is a not-so-commonly related fact about passinger pigeons which undoubtedly contributed to their inability to recover from the massive assault mounted against them.
Passenger Pigeons bred in large colonies, with up to 100 nests in a single tree. Nesting colonies could cover from 30 up to 850 square miles of forest. The nest was loosely made of small twigs. Generally, one egg was laid and incubated by both parents. Both parents tended the chick, and after about 2 weeks, the chick, still unable to fly, would be abandoned. The entire flock would depart, and the chicks would drop to the ground. After a few days, the chicks would begin to fly and to care for themselves (Fuller 1987).
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
2030 Challenge
Architecture2030.org is the site for information about reducing energy expenditure with new and renovated buildings. The site also has a cool Blue Man Group Video about Planet Earth. Here's a partial quote from the website.
Many cities have passed resolutions and/or modified their general plans to include the 2030 Challenge requirements. Here is the Richmond, VA information document. Show this to they mayor of you city.. . . . Data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration illustrates that buildings are responsible for almost half (48%) of all GHG emissions annually. Seventy-six percent of all electricity generated by US power plants goes to supply the Building Sector. Therefore, immediate action in the Building Sector is essential if we are to avoid hazardous climate change.
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Scarce Resources - Wasteful Humans
Source: Lee Sobotka, professor of chemistry, Washington University, St. Louis.Helium is a vanishing byproduct of the oil and gas industry. The United States' cheap supply of helium, from its rich natural gas wells, will run out within the next few decades. There is an increased worldwide demand for the gas. The United States has been the major producer and also the major consumer. China, India, and other countries that are expanding their technology industries have to use helium, so the world demand for helium is going up, but the reserves in the United States are finite. Helium is impossible to reproduce biosynthetically, so it is irreplaceable. It is used as a coolant to achieve very low temperatures in cryogenics, in welding, and in several medical applications, including magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Recapture after use should be promoted. The colorless, odorless element can only be extracted from a handful of locations, as a small -- less than .3 percent -- byproduct of natural gas, making it scarce and difficult to collect. In the United States, most natural gas fields are located in the Texas panhandle. Because it is a small byproduct of natural gas, the process of helium extraction is difficult and is not a priority of the oil and energy companies. The element is often released into the atmosphere. It is therefore disposed of without ever putting it to productive use. Within a few decades, we will have to buy most of our helium from overseas, probably from Russia. While helium is the second most abundant element in the universe, the earth contains only a trace amount. It's only on earth because it is a product of radioactive decay. The decay process is incredibly slow. The helium we have on earth is the result of the accumulation of helium over billions of years. The U.S. Bureau of Land Management is conducting extensive studies to determine the urgency of the helium shortfall. The U.S. government is in the process of transferring the country's helium stockpile to private companies, thereby privatizing helium storage.
Thursday, February 28, 2008
Clean Coal Burning -- Not!
It appears to be difficult to impossible to build commercial-scale power plants that both capture and store greenhouse gases. Without such technology, it may prove difficult to get any coal-fired power plants built at all. Investment banks such as Citi, JPMorgan Chase and Morgan Stanley, have drawn up funding guidelines that would preclude capital for new power plants that lack the ability to adapt to future CO2 regulations.
Read the Scientific American article about the proposed Illinois plant (above) that was just cancelled.
The U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) identified carbon capture and storage as a critical technology for reducing emissions, not only from power plants but also from industries that manufacture cement, chemicals and steel. Given the scale of the climate change problem—and the relatively short window of time left to address it—delays in demonstrating the feasibility of such technology will be difficult to overcome
You may be able to fool the voters, but not the atmosphere. -- Donella Meadows
Friday, February 29, 2008
Leap Day
Here's an article about a couple who got married on a cold day in Hell (Michigan) today. Makes it easy to remember the wedding anniversary date.
Edited from a not-too-technical artical in Wikipedia: Leap year -- intercalary year -- is a year containing an extra day in order to keep the calendar year synchronised with the astronomical year. Because seasons and astronomical events do not repeat at an exact number of full days, a calendar which had the same number of days in each year would, over time, drift with respect to the event it was supposed to track. By occasionally inserting (or intercalating) an additional day or month into the year, the drift can be corrected. A year which is not a leap year is called a common year.
Saturday, March 1, 2008
I Want To Ride My Bicycle
Getting people to walk or ride a bike, especially for short trips of two miles or less, can reduce the number of vehicles clogging the roads, decrease pollution of air and waterways, and address the population's need for exercise to combat weight-related health conditions. It would seem that walking or biking is an easy solution that addresses some of the most difficult problems facing the world.
A healthier population will mean lower health care costs and increased access to limited resources. Fewer vehicles on the road also mean less emission of particulates and carbon dioxide adversely impacting the quality of air, soil, and water. Fewer worn tires and less dirty oil will mean reduced pollution.
The journey of life is like a man riding a bicycle. We know he got on the bicycle and started to move. We know that at some point he will stop and get off. We know that if he stops moving and does not get off he will fall off.
~ William Golding
