Articles by Biodiversivist
My real name is Russ Finley. I also have my own blog called Biodiversivist, which contains articles in addition to those submitted to Grist. I live in Seattle, married with children. Suffice it to say that although I am trained and educated as an engineer, my passion is nature. I very much want my grandchildren to live on a planet where lions, tigers, and bears have not joined the long and growing list of creatures that used to be.
All Articles
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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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Good idea
Making biodiesel from used restaurant grease and other waste products is a good idea. This article shows us how a large city is managing to turn waste into useful energy. They have convinced about 130 restaurants to donate their grease to the cause:Restaurant owner Mike Dormont says that he could earn a few dollars per month selling the grease to recyclers for uses other than biodiesel fuel, but that he would rather do something that benefits the area.
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Swamp coolers
If I lived in Phoenix, I would own a swamp cooler powered by solar panels. I would be immune to rolling blackouts and could reduce my electric bill by about 75% during the hot months.
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Poof …
... 4,000 square miles of carbon sink gone, and all of the associated biodiversity with it.
The timeline: Cargill builds a port in the Brazilian State of Mato Grosso. A soy version of a gold rush ensues, destroying thousands upon thousands of square miles of the Amazon. From Agriculture Online:
[The farmers] bought land in three- or four-year payments (of soybeans). Then, with the expansion of land, they needed to buy more machinery, so they did.
An unfavorable exchange rate plunges these farmers into debt:
