"Rejuvenating Environments"
"Rejuvenating Environments"
This section focuses on natural resources but makes the distinction between non-renewable and renewable. The standard definition of natural resources states they are made up of "Materials or substances such as minerals, forests, water, and fertile land that occur in nature and can be used for economic gain". I would define Non-Renewable Resources as primarily coming from below the ground (lithosphere)... in materials that were formed and stored for thousands and even millions of years. I make an exception to include old growth forests in this category... imagine how deep into the Earth the roots of a centuries old tree reach. Renewable Resources however, would primarily be derived from materials & substances found in the Biosphere to include things that grow (Agriculture), flow (Water), blow (Air) or emit heat (Energy - ie. Solar and Geo Thermal) in real time... "the actual time during which a process [cycle] or event occurs".
Key Words: Extractive Industries (oil, gas, and mining), Old Growth Forests, Synthetic Oil, Bio-Mass, Ethanol, Alternative Fuels, Waste to Resource, Reuse, Recycling, Fire Element
Ethanol does not require more energy to make than it yields.
Argonne National Laboratory research has shown that corn ethanol delivers a positive energy balance of 8.8 megajoules per liter. The energy balance from second-generation biofuels using cellulosic sources is up to six times better, according to a study published in Biomass and Bioenergy Journal.
Ethanol does not take food away from humans.
Only 1 percent of all corn grown in this country is eaten by humans. The rest is No. 2 yellow field corn, which is indigestible to humans and used in animal feed, food supplements and ethanol.
Ethanol does not emit more greenhouse gases than gasoline.
A 1996 EPA study analyzing sources of air pollution confirmed that gasoline vehicles and non-road equipment are the largest contributors to vehicular gaseous hazardous air pollutants. However, another study showed ethanol reduces tailpipe carbon monoxide as much as 30 percent and tailpipe particulate matter emissions by 50 percent. Also, the Journal of Industrial Ecology at Yale University published a study in 2009 that found that greenhouse gas emissions are reduced by up to 38-59% when using ethanol as a transportation fuel.
Ethanol can be made from waste.
Cellulosic ethanol can be made from agricultural waste and biomass such as corn cobs and stover, wheat straw, wood, energy crops & even municipal waste.
Ethanol is cleaner burning.
Compared to gasoline, ethanol reduces every single tailpipe emission (CO; CO2; smog; particulates; NOx and SOx) because ethanol contains 35% oxygen and results in a higher temperature burn.
12 billion gallons of ethanol were produced in Canada and the US in 2010.
This will grow to 36 billon gallons by 2020. Currently, the ethanol industry replaces 364 million barrels of imported oil each and every year in the USA and Canada.
There are 8 million flex fuel vehicles already on the road, which is 3% of US vehicles.
We're adding 800,000 to 1 million new flex fuel vehicles each year. There are already over 2,200 E85 and ethanol blender stations with over 60 E85/blender stations per month being installed.
Ethanol creates jobs and is good for the economy. A major study by the Windmill Group identifies 645,000 jobs created by ethanol in the USA and $92 billion.
Get involved: www.thefreedomfilm.com
Van Jones: The economic injustice of plastic
Van Jones lays out a case against plastic pollution from the perspective of social justice. Because plastic trash, he shows us, hits poor people and poor countries "first and worst," with consequences we all share no matter where we live and what we earn. At TEDxGPGP, he offers a few powerful ideas to help us reclaim our throwaway planet.
Plundering Appalachia - The tragedy of Mountaintop Removal Coal Mining.
Appalachia, a region of extraordinary beauty and natural diversity, is under attack. Mountaintop removal is strip mining on steroids — a radically destructive form of surface mining whereby coal companies bulldoze the forest, decapitate the peaks with explosives, push the shattered rubble into adjacent valleys, and destroy the ecologically crucial headwater streams that had been there before. This is an ecological and human tragedy of epic proportions - and yet few Americans realize how the coal industry, seeking maxium profit and abetted by lax government regulation, is turning an entire region into an undeclared national energy sacrifice zone.
Plundering Appalachia is a searing exposé, in words and images, of the greatest ecological calamity now being wreaked upon America—an outrage justified by the desire for "cheap" power. With large-format photography and engaging writing from Wendell Berry, Judy Bonds, Ross Gelbspan, Denise Giardina, Richard Heinberg, Mary Anne Hitt, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., David Orr, Carl Pope, Erik Reece, Vivian Stockman, and others, Plundering Appalachia illuminates Big Coal's assault on the people and wildlife of the region. The book includes first-person testimonies from coalfields residents about life in the shadow of mountaintop-mining operations, and dissects the current coal-powered energy economy that is toxic to people and nature—and helping cook the planet.
Ultimately, Plundering Appalachia offers hope, celebrating the growing movement led by Appalachian citizens to stop mountaintop-mining, heal their communities, and fight the industry's dirty lie that coal is clean.
To find out more, go to: www.plunderingappalachia.org
Biodiesel & Straight Vegetable Oil - Over the past 5 years, Herminia and I have gone through two Reagan Era Mercedes 300D's with single tank straight vegetable oil conversions and currently run B-99 in our 2003 VW golf TDI and 97 Chevy Express van (commercial delivery vehicle CaterGreen! Zero Waste Solutions). We can help you navigate all of the information on diesel conversions and with setting up your own home fueling operation including finding restaurants who want you to pick up their oil and where to obtain biodiesel at the pump.
Ethanol - We are also exploring offering Flex Fuel conversions for gas powered vehicles... please keep checking as we update this section.
Synthetic Motor Oil and Lubricants - If you are running some form of alternative fuel in your vehicle (WVO, E-85, BioDiesel, CNG etc.) or own a stand alone electric or electric hybrid vehicle, there is still one more step you can take. By switching to "True" Synthetic Motor Oil and Lubricants, you can virtually stop all use of crude oil and all that is associated with it... war, disease, political and environmental degradation etc. EnviroMeasures is an authorized dealer of AMSOIL products. Some of the offerings you can choose from are synthetic motor oil, transmission, brake & power steering fluid, oil & air filters and propylene glycol engine coolant. Watch this page as it develops.
If you don't know your stuff, you don't know your world. Stuff: The Secret Lives of Everyday Things takes you to the places and people you touch every day-when you sip your coffee, tie your shoes, click your mouse, or step on the gas. Once you follow a... (read more)
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