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A dispatch from Matt Petersen, head of Global Green
Global Green USA -- in partnership with Brad Pitt -- has been running an architectural contest. People from around the world are competing to design the best, cheapest, most efficient, most sustainable 12-unit apartment building, to be built in post-Katrina New Orleans. Hundreds of entries have been winnowed down to six finalists.
Global Green head honcho Matt Petersen sent us this dispatch, discussing the contest and his latest trip to New Orleans. Enjoy.
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I returned to New Orleans last week to meet the six finalists selected by our design jury (with guidance and stringent review from our technical jury, made up of representatives of Global Green USA, AIA, and the U.S. Green Building Council).
It was exciting and edifying to meet the teams. They dedicated so much time and energy to coming up with innovative ideas for the design, meeting aggressive green-building and affordable-housing goals. Some had ideas like a solar barge or river turbines to power the buildings, as the site is adjacent to the Mississippi River.
Now they have to prove that their designs and green features are feasible and affordable.
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Batteries gone wild
Looking for some hot entertainment? Try shorting out a lithium battery. Apparently, exploding laptops are not all that uncommon. Imagine this happening to the hundred pounds of lithium in your plug-in hybrid after a fender-bender. I have been following the development of a new kind of lithium based battery (nano-phosphate) over the past year that is inherently safe (they won't explode or burn) and of course environmentally friendly (no heavy metals). It can also be recharged ten times more often than other batteries, faster than other batteries, and is designed for high power applications (power tools instead of laptops).
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Ahead of the Times
Long have I suspected that New York Times staffers sit around trolling Grist. At last, here's the evidence. Earlier this week, Daily Grist covered Schwarzenneger's meeting with Blair; later, I added a few details about upcoming global warming legislation in California. Now, after digesting all this good stuff, NYT editors summed it up nicely in Saturday's paper for the rest of America. The only quibble I have with their commentary:
A bill like this would not only help California meet its targets but could also help jump-start clean-coal technologies that will be essential to reducing carbon dioxide emissions in countries like China and India.
Hmmm. "Clean coal" technologies like carbon sequestration are certainly better than dirty coal, but they might have unintended effects, mainly leakage of toxic trace metals and possible CO2 escape. Surely these NYT folk have not missed Grist's coverage of wind and solar power?
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Oxygen
I was driving home from my father-in-law's house in Tacoma this evening: the wife and kids were asleep, the wind was cool, my head was clear. One of those nice highway moments.
I was thinking about the overwhelming odds against creating a humane, sustainable culture out of the chaos and violence gathering around us. Just then, a song called "Oxygen" by Willy Mason came on. I'd heard it dozens of times, but for some reason this time it spoke to me, reminded me that all I can do is what I can do -- be the best person I can be, and tell the truth as I see it. You too.
Song and lyrics below the fold.
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Stockholm congestion tax
Interesting story from Alan AtKisson about a traffic congestion tax in Stockholm that was tried, succeeded, and was discontinued.
I wonder if we could get one of these going in Seattle.
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Electric Car director on Daily Show
Chris Paine, director of Who Killed the Electric Car?, appeared on The Daily Show last night, and did pretty well.
Video below the fold.
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Beanies and the jets
Get out your propeller beanies, folks. I'm going into full-on geek mode.
On Monday I mentioned that -- despite my family's best efforts to cut back on our CO2 emissions by reducing how much we fly -- the world has conspired to defeat us. Sure, we're flying less, but the rest of our extended family is flying more as a consequence.
One commenter asked if I shouldn't forget all the personal sacrifice folderol, and just work to convince Boeing to build more efficient planes.
Oh, if only it were so easy ...
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As China’s exports boom, its farmland shrinks and food imports rise. Coincidence?
The philosopher Slavoj Zizek once remarked that the United States does still have a working class -- it's simply in China.
With the U.S. manufacturing base shriveling (Ford Explorer, anyone?) and imports from China booming (set to surpass a quarter trillion dollars this year), it's hard to contradict that trendy Slovenian academic.
China's manufacturing miracle means (among many other things) that even in a period of stagnant wage growth, U.S. consumers can march into Wal-Mart and fill their carts with lots and lots of stuff.
The most famous environmental impact of China's boom has to do with crude oil: As China's economy surges (it grew at an annualized 11 percent in the second quarter), it burns more and more crude, burdening the environment with greenhouse gases. While we ramble from strip mall to strip mall in SUVs stuffed with Chinese goods, Chinese factory smokestacks send plumes of black gunk into the air.
But here's another way to look at the situation: While China expands its industrial base to supply the world with everything from mops to electronics, it's cutting drastically into its farmland. Might some wag soon be moved to remark, "China does have farmers -- they're just in Brazil"?
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Idle hands …
Does anyone care about Marc Morano's hack blasts any more? He's now flinging lies at Bob Herbert's wan little column on global warming, which to me gives the distinct odor of busywork.
Maybe if we all just ignore him, Inhofe will put him to work doing something else. Hey, I hear the pesticide industry is in need of some FUD.
