Category: Environment

Flushing Rainwater

Clean, drinkable water is a precious resource, so why are we flushing it down the toilet? I ask this question almost daily (no joke). Well, LifeHacker has a great comment thread going on this very question.

The thread is part of a post about how one man actually uses rainwater to fill his water toilet basin. This is a great way to do to less harm to the environment, but some municipalities in Canada don’t like people doing this though. Other parts of the world, buildings are built incorporating rainwater collection.

“Domestic potable water collection requires effort, energy, and chemicals for purification and transport. Toilets use 20 to 25% of water consumed in a residential house. Why are we flushing drinkable water down the toilet? In some other countries of the world, rainwater harvesting on a residential level is a mandatory part of building codes.”

Weather Network Explores Global Warming

For some bizarre reason some people refuse to realize that climate change, best known as global warming, is happening. Well, the Weather Network is sick of that ignorance and wants to change people’s approach to global warming. They want them to realize how climate change affects everyone, so they are making a show about climate change.

I think it’s great that the weather network is going to communicate the complexities of climate change to people.

“For the most part, the debate over global warming has taken place among politicians, scientists and activists. But it has not been a high priority for most Americans. Cullen hopes to change this. She wants people to understand that global warming is not an exotic issue and that it directly affects them.

“The climate is connected to energy, which is connected to population, which is connected to the economy,” Cullen said. “So I want each show to start with the science and then eventually lead you to your back yard.”

That approach makes a lot of sense.”

Judge Rejects Bush

In a lawsuit filed last year, the Sierra Club and other conservation group sued the U.S. Forest Service over its plans for managing the 328,000-acre Giant Sequoia National Monument preserve, home to two-thirds of the world’s largest trees. U.S. District Judge Charles R. Breyer sided with the state attorney general to halt further logging in the national monument created by President Clinton in 2000.

The plan would have allowed up to 7.5 million board feet of timber — enough to fill 1,500 logging trucks — to be removed each year from the preserve, the plaintiffs said. The Forest Service was disappointed with Breyer’s ruling and may appeal, said spokesman Matt Mathes. The Forest Service’s wonky science approved the removal of small diameter trees (not the 100+ year old trees) to “save” the older trees from fire. Green (young) trees are usually better at repelling fire since they are young and relatively water logged and most fires start from old underbrush. Removing the underbrush would prevent dangerous fires, but not worth a profitable venture.

TorGame: Waking City

Toronto is becoming more and more interesting, and this time a group of people are doing something truly amazing. TorGame is a puzzle game kinda like the Da Vinci Code, but with no religious undertones. You explore the city and interact with people (or something) around the city. A great way to explore the urban space of Toronto.

The game is starting to get a lot of press coverage so you should register your teams soon. The game starts mid-September. There is also an info session this coming Thursday.

(I am volunteer with TorGame)

Gold in the Landfill

tyresBusiness Week is running a great article on innovative green entrepreneurs. The article is appropriately titled From Garbage to Gold, and is an easy read to make your weekend good.

“For a slew of new entrepreneurs, garbage is not just a matter of personal opinion, it is, ahem, their business. In other words, they’re creating new companies out of other people’s junk.
…
Reich says he is looking to broaden his product line and expand his distribution channels. “After we started the company, I didn’t see a lot of other recycling [products],” he says. “I’ve learned quite a bit about companies taking similar innovative approaches to product design. It’s a niche now, but it’s a growing field. People are becoming more aware of what products are made of and where they go after they are done owning them.””