This is a great site and this is just some of the discussion
http://www.permies.com/permaculture-forums/2414_0/alternative-building/alternative-roofs
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Go there to add your voice to the discussion. More tomorrow.
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Not even close which as it should be. But when they picked the worst, they picked all third world countries. I mean really. Unless you have money no one wants to live in a third world country. What is the point? Also much of the pollution there is created by US corporations one way or another. Anyway.
http://blisstree.com/live/cleanest-and-greenest-places-in-the-world-71/
By: Noel
I delved deeper into the study done by Reader’s Digest as I have talked about in my previous post. After all, come the day I decide to go live in another country, I would certainly want to live in somewhere green.
As per the authors of the study, they said, “It’s an inescapable fact: People living in affluent countries tend to be better educated, enjoy a higher standard of living, live longer lives and have a brighter future. The downside: Their material wealth results in a larger carbon footprint.”
Anyhow, here are some of the top ten lists that you may want to know about as per the results of the study.
10 best countries
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Read more there. More here next week.
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OK so I did the dirtiest beaches so now I have to reciprocate. Actually the dirtiest beaches were not all that dirty and were faulted mainly for not sending warning notices…though I know there are some in California where you are actually swimming in sewage. Then there are the people who swim off Long Island and New Jersey. Yuck.
http://www.cleanbeaches.com/index.html
(Washington, DC) – The Clean Beaches Coalition released its annual list of beaches which have been officially certified as clean, healthy and environmentally well managed. However, the ongoing Gulf of Mexico oil spill disaster has had devastating effects on past qualifying shores in Mississippi and Alabama. Walter McLeod, founder of the Coalition noted, “My family has vacationed in the impacted region for years, and will continue to support a “special way of life” we have come to love.”
This year beaches in nineteen states and U.S. territories, including American Samoa, California, Florida, Hawaii, Indiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, South Carolina, Texas, U.S. Virgin Islands, Virginia, Washington and Wisconsin, are on the list. (See complete list below).
For generations, American families have traveled to the shore for the simple pleasure of playing on sandy beaches, boating on the open seas, or swimming with our children. Every year Americans make over 2 billion visits to ocean, gulf, and inland beaches. Beach recreation and tourism are estimated to contribute over $640 billion annually to the U.S. economy. However, the environmental disaster unfolding in the Gulf of Mexico will have devastating effects on our coastal heritage for generations to come.
“The devastation in the Gulf of Mexico has crystallized the importance of clean beaches to Americans” stated Walter McLeod, founder of the Clean Beaches Coalition. He pointed to the Blue Wave Program as a symbol of the need to protect our beaches. Blue Wave is the first environmental certification program for beaches in the U.S. Now in its 11th year, the program is recognized as a reliable benchmark for well-maintained beaches.
Press Release/2010 Clean Beaches List
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Check it out. More tomorrow.
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http://crunkish.com/top-10-pollution-causes/
The United States is best known as the country with greener pastures. You’d probably move to the US because of this reason. Then again, if you were told that the US is a silent killer, wouldn’t you rather move to China?
Pollution is a silent killer that endangers not just a person’s health, but also his or her environment. Here are the top 10 most polluted countries in the world along with the reasons for why you should be more concerned about your environment.
1. Peru: The Grass is Never Greener
The environmental problems in Peru include deforestation, soil erosion, soil pollution, water pollution and air pollution. Water pollution in Peru is caused by oil-related waste, sewage waste and industrial waste.
Peru has 1,746 cubic kilometers of renewable water resources. Seven percent is for industrial activity and 86 percent is used for farming. In Lima, Peru, vehicular and industrial emissions bring air pollution, which has always been a serious problem in the country’s capital city.
2. Pakistan: Because Cleanliness is the New Virtue
There is hardly any attention paid to the environmental issues in Pakistan. Potable water and sanitation are the main problems in this country. Almost 80 percent of the total population in Pakistan does not have flush toilets.
Research conducted by the Pakistan Medical Research Council show that a large number of people with diseases in Pakistan suffer specific health problem because of the consumption of polluted water. A whopping 38 percent of the entire population of Pakistan receive water that run through dirty pipelines, which, in turn, may lead to the consumption of seriously contaminated water.
3. Kuwait
The oil fires have already been put out and a large part of the oil spills are now cleaned up. However, Kuwait is still suffering from the health and environmental costs brought about by the Gulf War and Iraq’s occupation.
Oil pollutes a large part of the deserts of Kuwait. Oil envelopes the large patches of Kuwait’s sea bed off the coast. The coral reefs in Kuwait need to undergo a serious recovery. The ruptured tanks from the war left debris all over Kuwait that still pollute and destroy Kuwait’s environment after 10 years. Since 1991, children in Kuwait have been acquiring leukemia caused by residues from DU or depleted uranium.
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Read the rest. There was a reason why Russia caught fire.
More tomorrow.
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Go Unions!
As they say in the article, make sure it is not a dip in an open sewer. I have had this experience. It was one of the reasons I left Tampa never to return. They built their sewage ponds right next to the ocean and when there was a bad storm…it would all wash into the water. Yuck.
Careful! The beach you’re rushing off to this weekend might actually be a sewer.
Human and animal waste, among other sewage overflow, contaminate the beachwaters of virtually every sandy retreat in the country.
There were over 20,000 closing and advisory days last year at ocean, bay and Great Lake beaches because of high levels of bacteria and pollutants in the waters, according to the annual beachwater quality report – Testing The Waters – released today by the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC).
The agency also provides 5-star rating guide for 200 of the nation’s most popular beaches, based on beachwater quality, monitoring frequency, and public notification of contamination. Beachgoers who swim in polluted waters are at risk of contracting from various types of skin rashes and infections to meningitis and hepatitis.
Coastal cities can implement various green strategies such as green rooftops and permeable sidewalks to reduce and eliminate stromwater runoff, which overflows the sewage systems and dump polluted water in the oceans and lake.
This popular New York beach, where boaters also often anchor, has failed many of the twice-weekly tests for the last three years. Bacteria-infested water is not the only problem here: Advisories telling you about the high levels of pollutants in the water are almost never posted online or at the beach.
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More Tomorrow.
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I am not sure if I agree with the list below, but if you can only pick 9 when there are that many in the Old Soviet Union alone. Well then:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/08/31/photos-most-polluted-plac_n_693008.html
9 Of The Most Polluted Places In The World (PHOTOS)
Huffington Post | Barbara Fenig First Posted: 08-31-10 08:26 AM | Updated: 09- 1-10 01:55 AM
From the highways of Los Angeles to the Citarum River of Bandung, Indonesia, earth’s most polluted city of Linfen, China to the streets of London, the world is laden with man-made pollution. Chemical, air, water and oil pollution ruin the environment, cause premature deaths, spoil the world’s resources and worsen climate change.
As the world’s population soars to nearly 7 billion, we here at HuffPost Green decided to take a virtual tour of some of the world’s most polluted places. Check out our slideshow of nine of the most polluted places in the world. Find out which city’s death rate surpasses its birth rate by 260 percent. Or which city has 50,000 people die prematurely each year due to man-made air pollution. As always, we want to hear from you. Tell us what you think in the comments.
Linfen, China is the most polluted city on earth. According to Mother Nature Network, if one puts laundry out to dry, it will turn black before finishing drying. Located in China’s coal belt, spending one day in Linfen is equivalent to smoking three packs of cigarettes. 3 million people are affected by Linfen‘s coal and particulates pollution, which is residue from automobile and industrial emission
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Only one of nine. Please go see the rest. More tomorrow
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Testing Results Returning With High Levels
Report by: Wilma Subra
Results of sampling performed by the Lower Mississippi River Keeper in the Lower Atchafalaya Bay area on August 2, 2010
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Results of sampling performed by the Lower Mississippi River Keeper in the Mississippi River Delta on August 3, 2010
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Samples were also collected from the vegetated area (reed vegetation) behind the beach. The vegetated area contained oil sheens on the vegetation and on the water that collected in the sampling area. The soil/sediment samples contained Carbon Disulfide, 2-Butanone (MEK), Toluene, 0.4 to 1.16 % Hydrocarbons, and 20 to 40 PAHs (49 to 189 mg/kg). The PAHs in the soil/sediment strongly support that the soil/sediment is contaminated with crude oil from the Deepwater Horizon.
 Visit SaveOurGulf.org to get more information about the BP Deepwater Horizon disaster from Waterkeeper organizations across the Gulf Coast and donate to Save Our Gulf!
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Everything is fine. No news is old news. Emergency over. Forgetaboutit. The modern news cycle and the short term memory public moves on. We need our gas. We need all our unnecessary commercial STUFF and we need to get back to school. So what if 10 percent of the nation is unemployed by the corporate capitalists. So what if Russia just burned and Pakistan just drowned. This in from LEAN.
Don’t forget: If there is oil out there we must find it.
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http://www.flickr.com/photos/lowermississippiriverkeeper/sets/72157624713485348/
LEAN member and New Orleans photographer Jerry Moran revisited Raccoon Island on August 8, 2010 to find more of the same death and destruction that he found on his visit on July 18, 2010.
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Of his July 18, 2010 trip to Raccoon Island Jerry wrote:
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Of his August 8, 2010 trip to Raccoon Island Jerry wrote:
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Visit SaveOurGulf.org to get more information about the BP Deepwater Horizon disaster from Waterkeeper organizations across the Gulf Coast and donate to Save Our Gulf!
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Jack Lundee asked if he could do a guest post. I am not fond of algae as a fuel source. Well, I am neutral about it. I think it is counter productive to continue to lust after liquid fuels. Still given the second article I list it is plausible as they say on Myth Busters.
http://everythingleft.wordpress.com/
Fed-Funded Algae Fuel Research making a Strong Comeback
Algae fuel is a biofuel, which is derivative of algae. In 1978, Former President Jimmy Carter pulled the trigger on a 25 million dollar research project into algae fuel production. To make a long story short, the project was somewhat unsuccessful because of the inability of scientists to find a way to make the organisms produce lipids gifted enough to be turned into biofuels, that is, in a high volume, low cost style.
One of the biggest concerns during early research was the fact that burning this algae fuel still released CO2 into the air. Nonetheless, the burning varies much so in that it doesn’t produce any new CO2 emissions like that of fossil fuels. This was a minor concern however, as the fuel was never really able to be inexpensively mass produced.
Now, there are definite signs of hope in the field of algae-based biofuels, as a number of firms and fortune 500 companies are delving into the research, investing billions of dollars. Alternative energy and carbon emission reduction efforts are widespread, funded by large collaborate organizations like the Clinton Global Initiative. Fathered by ex-President Bill Clinton and Doug Band ( http://politicalinsider.blogs.heraldtribune.com/10498/clinton-heaps-praise-on-band-family/ ), the CGI ( http://www.clintonglobalinitiative.org/ ) has made large strides in the San Francisco Bay area, reducing fleet emissions in large numbers. Even more recently, Google made an astounding investment of $38 million dollars into wind farm production.
Ultimately, Exxon Mobile has been one of the largest cooperators/investors into algae-based biofuels, setting aside nearly $600 million dollars as of 2009. In their quest for alternative energy, they joined with Synthetic Genomics Inc., to research and develop next-generation biofuels produced from sunlight.[ http://www.nytimes.com/gwire/2009/07/14/14greenwire-exxon-sinks-600m-into-algae-based-biofuels-in-33562.html ]
But why algae? Here are some major reasons why algae would be a great substitute:
All in all, the 40 percent lipid yield of some species (according to some studies) can produce up to 10,000 gallons of oil per annum (1 acre). This is far more productive than Soy or cellulosic ethanol, which range between 50 to 2700 gallons. [ http://journeytoforever.org/biodiesel_yield.html ]
As in any study, there are drawbacks, and for most companies, it’s the failure to indentify the right strains of algae for high lipid concentration. Also, there are elements like contamination or predation, and dealing with the complicatedness of de-watering and oil withdrawal; all processes which have yet to be perfected.
On July 1, the department of energy (DOE) announced the investment of $24 million for approximately 3 different research groups. Their mission is to target all these obstacles in the mass production of algae-based biofuels. Sustainable Algal Biofuels Consortium, Consortium for Algal Biofuels Commercialization and Cellana LLC Consortium will all perform separate tasks in hopes of igniting an algae fuel based society.
Jack Lundee – Follower of all things green and progressive.
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http://www.usnews.com/science/articles/2010/08/03/converting-algae-into-fuel.html
By Marlene Cimons, National Science Foundation
The algae that keep salmon and shrimp a bright pink might keep jet airplanes and automobiles running someday.
It’s no secret that government, scientists and industry are devoting considerable resources and talent to developing renewable, cost-efficient and environmentally-friendly energy sources, the path to energy independence and to reducing the harmful effects of burning fossil fuels.
One solution could come from the fatty acids produced by certain species of salt water algae.
“All photosynthetic plants take water, sunlight and carbon dioxide and make either sugar or fatty acids,” said Dr. William L. Roberts, a professor in the department of mechanical and aerospace engineering at North Carolina State University. “We want the ones that produce a lot of fatty acids.”
He and his colleagues, four biologists and three engineers, are working on ways to produce and extract these fats from Dunaliella, a microscopic species of algae, and convert them into fuel on a large scale, much larger than is possible today. Their research is funded by $1.99 million over four years from the National Science Foundation as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.
The North Carolina State University project is one of several teams in the nation studying the potential of algae as an energy source, and with great promise. This year the Department of Energy has awarded more than $100 million for bio-fuels research, an investment that includes a recently announced $24 million to specifically address the challenges in the commercialization of algae-based fuels.
“This is going to be one of the most important and dominant industries of the future because we will run out of fossil fuel,” Roberts said.
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More tomorrow
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