This is just some ideas I emailed to my place of work, anyone of us can attempt to influence our place of work and at home towards sustainability.
- Become a leader in green job training to help students and this country stay competitive in the global marketplace.
- Bring out the expertise out of all individuals in this university and apply these ideas locally within the university instead of primarily exporting their ideas elsewhere. This will also help students absorb and practice what they learn better.
- Provide incentives to submit these cost saving suggestions by encouraging a spirit of competition. Giving out some sort of incentive for the top candidate of each really effective suggestion in an area (If an idea can save the company thousands of dollars, small price for a large return) and will get more people thinking.
Conservation ideas
Often departments act like separate silos and don’t think of the whole system, the students, or the taxpayer interest as their main priority. Department interest comes first, the good of the whole sometimes goes by the way side, and this can introduce lots of inefficiencies and bloat in an organization.
- For example, in our organization IT does not pay the electric bill, so the cost of energy is not figured into IT planning. By consolidating or centralizing and virtualizing Sharepoint/web servers/research servers you maximize efficiencies and utilize load balancing and virtualization to distribute the load. This also reduces need for duplicated expertise scattered over people who have many other responsibilities. When I went to Sharepoint training I recall two classes with about 30 administrators each, all were learning how to manage the servers from the hardware, application layer, security layer, and end user layer on top of their other responsibilities to the institution. This is extremely inefficient.
Have experts on all of these layers, utilizing each person’s expertise rather than scattering even more people in many directions, wasting time on duplicating skills, reinventing wheels, etc. If you centralize services such as these, you can now have a few experts manage a centralized server setup for the whole organization, doling out sub sites to departments and campuses, with one fail- over setup at a different location. Not to mention that departments can collaborate without having to reinvent the wheel, and you reduce network vulnerabilities and potentially expensive breaches.
- Use the underground river water for cooling system of data center. This may seem obvious, but it is not to everyone. To this day large air conditioning units are being put on roofs to cool the datacenters in the basements of buildings, while ground water (in our particular case just a few feet underneath the foundations) is running. The Spokane river is literally a stone throw away from this facility and yet this water is not being utilized for cooling. Google and Hanford were located near the Columbia river to take advantage of the water cooling as well as the cheap electricity from the nearby dams.
- To follow up on the paperless initiatives already started, transparency and visibility bring more awareness of waste. Don’t allow personal printers, have only departmental printers, this not only saves on printing costs/maintenance/tech support tickets, but also makes it less tempting for staff, faculty, and management to print non-university related things. Make sure full duplex printing is allowed and turned on and send out directions on how to access and use it. (Having been in IT support, I have seen a lot of people indulge in this behavior)
- Leaving non-essential electronics on at night, during holidays and weekends is a waste of university money, have facilities monitor departmental energy usage in the same way bandwidth usage is monitored. By publishing the usage numbers by department publicly you create transparency and accountability, which induces more mindfulness and awareness of energy use. Our organization is just starting to monitor electricity usage using the many available software on the market today.
- Avista has incentives for organizations that make use of system wide workstation hibernation.Their incentive last checked was 10 dollars per workstation.
- Find and eliminate phantom loads (copiers, printers, adapters not on powerstrips, projectors, etc)
- Make sure all new buildings use passive solar techniques; this is free energy saved in the winter and does not come at a cost of esthetics.
- Use passive solar water heating and geothermal heating and cooling.
- Save water, install or at least replace broken toilets with waterless urinals and dual flush toilets.
- Harvest gray water from roofs for supplemental irrigation.
- This may sounds small, but it nevertheless is reflective of the sometimes-wasteful institutional culture. Here in Spokane in older buildings, toilet paper rolls are thrown out after half or two-thirds is used, meaning in the trash by most janitorial staff. Leaving computers (many with dual monitors) on during nights and weekends costs about 90 dollars per computer per year, times several thousand computers, and you're talking tens of thousands of dollars down the drain, not pennies!
- If it is too expensive to recycle, go directly to the source, only accept vendors who sell containers (such as aluminum cans and glass) that can be recycled for money so there is not a negative cash-flow with recycling. While at it, only accept beverages and snacks that are wholesome and avoid frankenfoods which will ultimately have medical consequences and costs.
Some ideas may be small, but in the global and flattened marketplace America is competing with people who are willing to produce and serve for much less and also don't take these little things for granted. By not taking anything for granted we won’t marginalize the organization's future competitive edge. See "Living Companies" which outlive those companies that don't grow.
- Energy generation may be one of those things that is better to distribute or de-centralize. There is energy loss when importing from far away. Diversify and ad more redundancy in the portfolio of energy sources while becoming a more sustainable campus.
- Reclaim waste heat from the IT server rooms, campus restaurants etc to heat rooms that need extra heating for example by using heat exchangers or a sterling engine. Figuring out how best to do this can be another engineering student project/competition.
- Reuse all fryer oil for organization vehicle use (biodiesel or straight vegetable oil conversions), I have put over 25K miles on “free” waste vegetable oil on my truck with no problems. If you can’t do that, the oil can also be burned in a waste oil heater to generate heat in the winter, either way, it is usable energy.
- Put engineering students to work capturing energy generated from workout machines at the campus wellness/gym, it would not be that complicated for them to hook these machines up to alternators. Again, this sounds small, but people who work out on machines generate energy, why waste it? If anything, it turns the university in an exiting place to learn and directly apply that understanding.
- Put students to work on putting solar water heaters on roofs, this has a much quicker payback or return on investment than photovoltaic at this time.
- Don’t just export the energy efficient houses or cars that students enter into competitions, use this technology in new buildings and retrofit buildings with this new technology.
- Capture methane gas energy from the composting, dairy farms, and waste generated, again put the students to work right on their own campus rather than outside.
Landscaping
- Change to edible (useful and beautiful) landscaping instead of only esthetic landscaping.
- Save some on fossil fuel fertilizers, do mulching instead, and convert some of the lawn to producing vegetables, nuts and fruits, similar to the millions of victory gardens back during the Second World War.
- Landscape maintenance is being paid for already, so why can’t they help produce food, (generating extra income and avoiding imports of foods, while sending a self sufficient sustainable message to the students) while they are maintaining the grounds. Replace new or broken landscaping with edible landscaping (produce can then be sold by the cafeteria, sell fruit to vendors, or let the hotel and restaurant department do the vending, try to keep the money circulating within the university, similar to what the dairy is doing now)
Whole Systems Health
- Business has already found that for every dollar invested in employee health, you can save 3 dollars or more in health care costs (see link below). Yet, surplus sales at its last sale of February 13, this year, was selling high quality exercise equipment to off–campus users. There are lots of people on campus who would love to be able to do a little exercise on their lunch break instead of going off campus and paying a big fee to a gym. With that in mind, encouraging such practices as healthy eating, local diets, exercise, dance, yoga, tai chi and meditation will have long term pay-offs in terms of healthier, happier, more adaptable, and more resilient employees. Happy employees are hard workers too. See concrete cost/benefit cases for large organizations: http://www.welcoa.org/worksite_cost_benefit.html
Our country's new president said, "The question we ask today is not whether our government is too big or too small, but whether it works…We will Transform our schools and colleges and universities to meet the demands of a new age."
Rather than the idea of how do we keep business as usual the same old way without cutting jobs etc, what if this could be seen as an opportunity to change and the way we do business, to transform our institution into the change we wish to transmit into the world through our own example and through the graduating students?
There is a lot of collective knowledge and experience to tap into within this university's community and yet in various areas there is disconnect between what is being taught in the organization versus what the organization practices on their own campus.
This recession is an opportunity in this new era of interdependence, responsibility, humility, transparency, and openness. During this time of uncertainty people are more motivated to change if that would save job cuts etc, making people more likely to adopt new ideas and practices as well as give them some ownership in the future.
Friday, June 26, 2009
Friday, May 15, 2009
True Cost Accounting by David Bainbridge
Another very closely related topic to Ecological Intelligence, is assessing the true costs of stuff. David Bainbridge has written a great book about this topic called, "True Cost Accounting". Inserting some of the first chapter, as I don't think it is officially published yet. Edit, it has now been published online, you can download the whole book in chapters here
http://www.sustainabilityleader.org/Sustainability_Leader/About_me.html
Chapter 1. The Causes of the Crisis
There is also waste, in the sense of injury to the sum of total economic satisfaction, when one generation, though not destroying more stuff than it itself obtains, uses up for trivial purposes a natural product which is abundant now, but which is likely to become scarce and not readily available, even for very important purposes, for future generations.
—Arthur C. Pigou (1932)
The world is in a set of increasingly severe and
interlocked economic, social, and environmental crises.
The financial markets are in steep decline, fisheries are
collapsing, resources are running short, food supplies are
failing, and droughts, floods, and severe storms continue
to cause catastrophic losses. Many of the world’s
governments are running large deficits and throwing
hundreds of billions into the financial markets in an
attempt to stem the decline, with little effect (Figure 1.1).
Note: current efforts may reduce the rate of decline or may increase it,
but policy changes as of early March, 2009 are unlikely to offset
remaining problems in residential and commercial real estate,
industrial and commercial financing, derivatives, and consumer credit.
Figure 1.1. The Dow Jones Industrial Average
To develop solutions that will avert further collapse,
and to repair existing damage, we need to understand and
address the causes of these crises, not just the symptoms.
One of the primary causes of the current problems is a
critical flaw in the market. This was first identified by
British economist Arthur C. Pigou, who affirmed early in
the twentieth century that a market would fail unless it
includes all costs.
Today, many important and large costs are either
uncounted or incorrectly attributed, and as a result the
U.S. and global markets perform very poorly. Social and
environmental costs, referred to as “externalities” by
most economists, are left out of the pricing of goods and
services. These externalities include the very real costs of
pollution, disease, death, community breakdown, and
damage to vital ecosystem services as well as to natural
and social capital. Many of these costs are passed on to
future generations or to the poor and the powerless.
The growing awareness of very serious problems
with local and global ecosystem stability and resource
availability in the scientific and business communities is
encouraging new consideration of the sustainability of
current lifeways, communities, and economy. The critical
flaw of existing economic policy, however, is rarely
addressed. According to an old Dutch saying, “No sense
mopping the floor until you turn off the water.” We need
to “turn off the water” with market reforms that include
all the costs of our choices. Only then can sustainable
solutions for a more secure and prosperous future be
developed.
Our Common Future, a 1987 report of the United
Nations World Commission on Environment and
Development chaired by Norwegian Gro Harlem
Brundtland, defined sustainability as, “development that
meets the needs of the present generation without
compromising the ability of future generations to meet
their own needs.” The report highlights the importance of
addressing the problems of poverty and inequity as
necessary steps in preventing continued environmental
deterioration. Although this is a start, proper accounting
for sustainability is also necessary to ensure that there is
comfortable and safe housing, healthful foods, clean
water to drink, and security even in times of natural
disasters or terrorist attacks.
Reforming the market by itself is not enough. A
sustainable future also demands changes in government
policy that are based on more ethical principles and
proper consideration of future generations. Incentives
must be developed and structured that encourage
conservative and regenerative actions, not speculation
and waste.
People depend on natural systems for air to breathe,
food to eat, water to drink, and materials for building. For
people in many parts of the world, however, modern
conveniences mask the critical connections humankind
has to natural and managed ecosystems. Water comes
from a faucet or in a bottle; food comes prepared,
packaged, and free of dirt; energy flows from a wall
socket from distant power plants; and wastes are simply
flushed away. But even though they may not see it, each
Rebuilding the American Economy ©2009 D.A. Bainbridge 2
individual has an impact on the planet, and the wealthier
the nation the greater the impact.
Almost all of the 6.5 billion people on Earth
participate in the world market at some level. There are
more than 500 million small- and medium-sized
enterprises that trade 5 to 6 million different products
internationally, and almost every one of them can cause
environmental or health problems, depending on the
materials and processes used to make, distribute, and
dispose of them. These enterprises operate in more than
200 countries of differing climates, resources, politics,
economies, histories, and cultural realities; yet each
country depends entirely on the health of a single
system—the Earth. This dependency would not be a
problem if humankind did not take more from Earth than
it gives back, and did not dump more than nature can
absorb. By any measure we are taking too much and
disposing of wastes improperly, leading to global
warming, extensive and often severe health problems,
societal crises, and ecosystem destruction.
On average, each American in 2008 required almost
24 acres (10 hectares) to support his or her lifestyle. This
ecological footprint is unsustainable. At least five more
planets the size of Earth would be needed if everyone on
Earth were to demand as much as we use, while still
leaving some space for nature. Only a handful of
countries are living within their ecological means, and
trends are not encouraging. The global ecological
footprint, for everyone living on Earth, is projected to
increase 50 percent by 2015. The Millennium Ecosystem
Assessment project, composed of 1,360 experts from
around the world, found that two-thirds of the services
provided by nature are in decline. Global environmental
deterioration has accelerated as pollution control efforts
in developed countries have shifted more and more toxic
industrial emissions and effluents to poorer countries.
The apparent “wealth” of many industrialized countries is
based on material flows, pollution, and labor exploitation
in the rest of the world.
Sustainability is not simply about the environment.
To be sustainable a community must have a healthy
economy and programs, policies, and traditions that
provide support for community, safety, cohesion,
cooperation, education, health, and equity. These can be
as elusive as ecological sustainability and will not happen
without more careful consideration of the impacts of the
policies, regulations, and incentives that determine
market forces. Decisions need to be made to improve the
triple bottom line (social, economic, and environmental),
while respecting the 3Ps—people, prosperity, and planet.
The current “race to the bottom” is moving
production to countries with little or no environmental or
worker protections. Why pay more if a company can hire
a worker for a dime an hour or less? China is beginning
to see many companies fail because small increases in
wages and environmental rules have priced them out of
the market. Wal-Mart and other companies will succeed
in finding those who will work for less elsewhere.
Social and environmental externalities are integral
costs of goods and services and often exceed the
currently counted costs. In many cases, these externalities
have not been studied, because governments and
consumers do not want to know (or pay for) the true costs
of goods and services. By not paying these costs,
consumers and nations become “free riders” who prey on
others and wreak havoc around the world and on future
generations.
The enormous subsidies that result from not paying
true costs also reward powerful interest groups, who
skillfully use their wealth and political influence to
insulate themselves from paying their share of the costs.
One clear example of this in the United States is the
automobile industry.
True Costs: The Automobile in America
The automobile is an essential part of most people’s
lives in the United States. The internal costs of the auto
industry (production, transport, sales, advertising,
facilities, profits) are fairly clear. It is much harder to
identify and understand the true costs, because the
external or uncounted costs of pollution, health impacts,
depletion of non-renewable resources, and so forth, are
not factored in.
The automobile, its parts (air conditioner, tires,
brakes, etc.), its use, and its disposal, creates a wide range
of significant external costs throughout its lifetime. These
costs begin with mining the ore for steel and other metals
and move on to resource processing, parts manufacturing,
automobile assembly, distribution, maintenance,
recycling, and disposal. Oil, gas, and other materials are
extracted and shipped around the world, and leaks and
spills occur at every step. Auto users, automakers, oil
companies, and highway builders all “benefit” from the
true costs not being accounted for. Taxpayers who do not
use cars as well as future generations around the world
will ultimately pay more than their share. Key external
costs of the automobile include health effects, global
warming gases, nitrogen pollution (which damages
ecosystems), accidents and injuries (medical care and
costs), time wasted by traffic congestion, mining damage,
pollution from production facilities, chlorinated
fluorocarbon leaks (from air conditioners) and resultant
ozone layer depletion, wildlife kills, and much more.
The roads, highways, and parking lots needed for
auto use also create very high costs for mining,
construction, maintenance, operation, and disposal. The
construction of streets and parking lots is a key cause of
watershed disruption, blocks wildlife corridors, involves
extensive use of herbicides to control weeds in the rightof-
way, creates serious storm water pollution (laden with
toxics), and increases the urban heat island effect, raising
http://www.sustainabilityleader.org/Sustainability_Leader/About_me.html
Chapter 1. The Causes of the Crisis
There is also waste, in the sense of injury to the sum of total economic satisfaction, when one generation, though not destroying more stuff than it itself obtains, uses up for trivial purposes a natural product which is abundant now, but which is likely to become scarce and not readily available, even for very important purposes, for future generations.
—Arthur C. Pigou (1932)
The world is in a set of increasingly severe and
interlocked economic, social, and environmental crises.
The financial markets are in steep decline, fisheries are
collapsing, resources are running short, food supplies are
failing, and droughts, floods, and severe storms continue
to cause catastrophic losses. Many of the world’s
governments are running large deficits and throwing
hundreds of billions into the financial markets in an
attempt to stem the decline, with little effect (Figure 1.1).
Note: current efforts may reduce the rate of decline or may increase it,
but policy changes as of early March, 2009 are unlikely to offset
remaining problems in residential and commercial real estate,
industrial and commercial financing, derivatives, and consumer credit.
Figure 1.1. The Dow Jones Industrial Average
To develop solutions that will avert further collapse,
and to repair existing damage, we need to understand and
address the causes of these crises, not just the symptoms.
One of the primary causes of the current problems is a
critical flaw in the market. This was first identified by
British economist Arthur C. Pigou, who affirmed early in
the twentieth century that a market would fail unless it
includes all costs.
Today, many important and large costs are either
uncounted or incorrectly attributed, and as a result the
U.S. and global markets perform very poorly. Social and
environmental costs, referred to as “externalities” by
most economists, are left out of the pricing of goods and
services. These externalities include the very real costs of
pollution, disease, death, community breakdown, and
damage to vital ecosystem services as well as to natural
and social capital. Many of these costs are passed on to
future generations or to the poor and the powerless.
The growing awareness of very serious problems
with local and global ecosystem stability and resource
availability in the scientific and business communities is
encouraging new consideration of the sustainability of
current lifeways, communities, and economy. The critical
flaw of existing economic policy, however, is rarely
addressed. According to an old Dutch saying, “No sense
mopping the floor until you turn off the water.” We need
to “turn off the water” with market reforms that include
all the costs of our choices. Only then can sustainable
solutions for a more secure and prosperous future be
developed.
Our Common Future, a 1987 report of the United
Nations World Commission on Environment and
Development chaired by Norwegian Gro Harlem
Brundtland, defined sustainability as, “development that
meets the needs of the present generation without
compromising the ability of future generations to meet
their own needs.” The report highlights the importance of
addressing the problems of poverty and inequity as
necessary steps in preventing continued environmental
deterioration. Although this is a start, proper accounting
for sustainability is also necessary to ensure that there is
comfortable and safe housing, healthful foods, clean
water to drink, and security even in times of natural
disasters or terrorist attacks.
Reforming the market by itself is not enough. A
sustainable future also demands changes in government
policy that are based on more ethical principles and
proper consideration of future generations. Incentives
must be developed and structured that encourage
conservative and regenerative actions, not speculation
and waste.
People depend on natural systems for air to breathe,
food to eat, water to drink, and materials for building. For
people in many parts of the world, however, modern
conveniences mask the critical connections humankind
has to natural and managed ecosystems. Water comes
from a faucet or in a bottle; food comes prepared,
packaged, and free of dirt; energy flows from a wall
socket from distant power plants; and wastes are simply
flushed away. But even though they may not see it, each
Rebuilding the American Economy ©2009 D.A. Bainbridge 2
individual has an impact on the planet, and the wealthier
the nation the greater the impact.
Almost all of the 6.5 billion people on Earth
participate in the world market at some level. There are
more than 500 million small- and medium-sized
enterprises that trade 5 to 6 million different products
internationally, and almost every one of them can cause
environmental or health problems, depending on the
materials and processes used to make, distribute, and
dispose of them. These enterprises operate in more than
200 countries of differing climates, resources, politics,
economies, histories, and cultural realities; yet each
country depends entirely on the health of a single
system—the Earth. This dependency would not be a
problem if humankind did not take more from Earth than
it gives back, and did not dump more than nature can
absorb. By any measure we are taking too much and
disposing of wastes improperly, leading to global
warming, extensive and often severe health problems,
societal crises, and ecosystem destruction.
On average, each American in 2008 required almost
24 acres (10 hectares) to support his or her lifestyle. This
ecological footprint is unsustainable. At least five more
planets the size of Earth would be needed if everyone on
Earth were to demand as much as we use, while still
leaving some space for nature. Only a handful of
countries are living within their ecological means, and
trends are not encouraging. The global ecological
footprint, for everyone living on Earth, is projected to
increase 50 percent by 2015. The Millennium Ecosystem
Assessment project, composed of 1,360 experts from
around the world, found that two-thirds of the services
provided by nature are in decline. Global environmental
deterioration has accelerated as pollution control efforts
in developed countries have shifted more and more toxic
industrial emissions and effluents to poorer countries.
The apparent “wealth” of many industrialized countries is
based on material flows, pollution, and labor exploitation
in the rest of the world.
Sustainability is not simply about the environment.
To be sustainable a community must have a healthy
economy and programs, policies, and traditions that
provide support for community, safety, cohesion,
cooperation, education, health, and equity. These can be
as elusive as ecological sustainability and will not happen
without more careful consideration of the impacts of the
policies, regulations, and incentives that determine
market forces. Decisions need to be made to improve the
triple bottom line (social, economic, and environmental),
while respecting the 3Ps—people, prosperity, and planet.
The current “race to the bottom” is moving
production to countries with little or no environmental or
worker protections. Why pay more if a company can hire
a worker for a dime an hour or less? China is beginning
to see many companies fail because small increases in
wages and environmental rules have priced them out of
the market. Wal-Mart and other companies will succeed
in finding those who will work for less elsewhere.
Social and environmental externalities are integral
costs of goods and services and often exceed the
currently counted costs. In many cases, these externalities
have not been studied, because governments and
consumers do not want to know (or pay for) the true costs
of goods and services. By not paying these costs,
consumers and nations become “free riders” who prey on
others and wreak havoc around the world and on future
generations.
The enormous subsidies that result from not paying
true costs also reward powerful interest groups, who
skillfully use their wealth and political influence to
insulate themselves from paying their share of the costs.
One clear example of this in the United States is the
automobile industry.
True Costs: The Automobile in America
The automobile is an essential part of most people’s
lives in the United States. The internal costs of the auto
industry (production, transport, sales, advertising,
facilities, profits) are fairly clear. It is much harder to
identify and understand the true costs, because the
external or uncounted costs of pollution, health impacts,
depletion of non-renewable resources, and so forth, are
not factored in.
The automobile, its parts (air conditioner, tires,
brakes, etc.), its use, and its disposal, creates a wide range
of significant external costs throughout its lifetime. These
costs begin with mining the ore for steel and other metals
and move on to resource processing, parts manufacturing,
automobile assembly, distribution, maintenance,
recycling, and disposal. Oil, gas, and other materials are
extracted and shipped around the world, and leaks and
spills occur at every step. Auto users, automakers, oil
companies, and highway builders all “benefit” from the
true costs not being accounted for. Taxpayers who do not
use cars as well as future generations around the world
will ultimately pay more than their share. Key external
costs of the automobile include health effects, global
warming gases, nitrogen pollution (which damages
ecosystems), accidents and injuries (medical care and
costs), time wasted by traffic congestion, mining damage,
pollution from production facilities, chlorinated
fluorocarbon leaks (from air conditioners) and resultant
ozone layer depletion, wildlife kills, and much more.
The roads, highways, and parking lots needed for
auto use also create very high costs for mining,
construction, maintenance, operation, and disposal. The
construction of streets and parking lots is a key cause of
watershed disruption, blocks wildlife corridors, involves
extensive use of herbicides to control weeds in the rightof-
way, creates serious storm water pollution (laden with
toxics), and increases the urban heat island effect, raising
Ecological Intelligence, Radical Transparency, and Life Cycle Assessment
Ecological Intelligence book by Daniel Coleman
Measure the resource footprint and life cycle assessment of stuff you plan to buy by going to the http://www.goodguide.com/
We are entering the age of "Radical Transparency"!!! Or to put it another way, we are "radically revisioning our relationships" to everything. By being aware of the resource or harm footprints of everything we vote with our dollars for, we also become more intimate with everything and vice versa. This is an exiting time of change to live in.
Measure the resource footprint and life cycle assessment of stuff you plan to buy by going to the http://www.goodguide.com/
We are entering the age of "Radical Transparency"!!! Or to put it another way, we are "radically revisioning our relationships" to everything. By being aware of the resource or harm footprints of everything we vote with our dollars for, we also become more intimate with everything and vice versa. This is an exiting time of change to live in.
Friday, April 17, 2009
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Friday, March 13, 2009
Humor about the "Entitlement Era"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LoGYx35ypus
Comedian examines why everything is amazing but yet people are removed from fully appreciating, fully realizing, how amazing everything really is :-) Taking things for granted or wanting something else than what is, is related to unhappiness. Unhappiness is another symptom of an unsustainable lifestyle in which nothing is ever "good enough". Like bottomless pits always looking for the next best thing. However, "Not good enough" is not neccessarily "bad" either though, how can we progress and learn as a species without the desire to improve our condition and the condition of others?
Robert S. McElvaine has written about the depression and has noted the similarities of the period before the last depression and the big consumption bubble developing in the last few decades. "In 1920 one of three households had a car, 9 years later that was one car per household. The car makers started to provide credit". In 1930 there was an article mentioning a manager of General Motors who said,
Yet this relationship and perception gets covered up with kind of a "foreign installation" as Juan Matus called it. These bubbles or barriers start in the mind and reflect themselves in the bubbles and gated "communities" that we created in the brick and mortar world. Walls that separate the person from the "texture of life" and inclusion.
While this seems like a downer, it seems that this moving away from freshly experiencing reality into this unhappiness or dis-ease, is actually the prerequisite for a growing and sincere desire to get back to reality more aware and grounded then before. As an eastern person so simply stated, "Affliction creates awareness, awareness negates affliction", one state of mind helps create the conditions and fertile soil for another state of mind. Without dark how can we realize and appreciate light?
Joe Campbell observed that people looking for meaning are simply trying to have an experience of being alive. This accumulated misery is all compost for transformation.
What is lost when we are filled in our own bubbles of self absorbtion?
How about everything that has been missing!
Comedian examines why everything is amazing but yet people are removed from fully appreciating, fully realizing, how amazing everything really is :-) Taking things for granted or wanting something else than what is, is related to unhappiness. Unhappiness is another symptom of an unsustainable lifestyle in which nothing is ever "good enough". Like bottomless pits always looking for the next best thing. However, "Not good enough" is not neccessarily "bad" either though, how can we progress and learn as a species without the desire to improve our condition and the condition of others?
Robert S. McElvaine has written about the depression and has noted the similarities of the period before the last depression and the big consumption bubble developing in the last few decades. "In 1920 one of three households had a car, 9 years later that was one car per household. The car makers started to provide credit". In 1930 there was an article mentioning a manager of General Motors who said,
Just last week on board a plane someone behind me said that when he was a kid he really thought flying was amazing, yet now he just thinks it is a pain! This is a frequent thing you'll hear, when someone was a kid, everything seemed more vivid, more amazing, you could sense that he would like to feel that way again."The only reason why you always see new car models brought to the market, is to keep your customers dissatisfied with what they have"
Yet this relationship and perception gets covered up with kind of a "foreign installation" as Juan Matus called it. These bubbles or barriers start in the mind and reflect themselves in the bubbles and gated "communities" that we created in the brick and mortar world. Walls that separate the person from the "texture of life" and inclusion.
While this seems like a downer, it seems that this moving away from freshly experiencing reality into this unhappiness or dis-ease, is actually the prerequisite for a growing and sincere desire to get back to reality more aware and grounded then before. As an eastern person so simply stated, "Affliction creates awareness, awareness negates affliction", one state of mind helps create the conditions and fertile soil for another state of mind. Without dark how can we realize and appreciate light?
Joe Campbell observed that people looking for meaning are simply trying to have an experience of being alive. This accumulated misery is all compost for transformation.
What is lost when we are filled in our own bubbles of self absorbtion?
How about everything that has been missing!
Thursday, March 12, 2009
Mainstream Columnist questions infinite growth
The World is Flat author questions infinite growth. Glad to see him join the sustainability crowd.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/08/opinion/08friedman.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/08/opinion/08friedman.html
Sunday, February 22, 2009
Gyms put in some fancy equipment, no money being spend on capturing the clients energy though
Checking out the YMCA in spokane, some of the exercise equipment is impressive. They come with LCD video screens and other fancy bells and whistles. I have yet to see any of them generate energy though. Ideally all this equipment would generate electricity, why a gym owner has not yet thought of doing this eludes me. Theoretically with net-metering the gym owner could sell excess electricity back to the grid, and thus start paying off this initial up-front investment, while securing extra income in the future.
The only reason I can think of why this is not yet logical is that electricity is still relatively cheap, here in Spokane it is around 5.4 cents a KW, for inland power. It might be a little more for Avista. But again, instead of buying one bike with an LCD screen, simply buy one with an alternator instead. Just having one will give a gym owner a sense of what is possible, as well as make gym attendents more aware of the energy they generate.
Of course using a real bike or walking to get to work may be the best bang for the buck, as well as the best way to reduce one's resource footprint, but not everyone can do that, gyms will be around for a while. The idea is to improve on it.
The only reason I can think of why this is not yet logical is that electricity is still relatively cheap, here in Spokane it is around 5.4 cents a KW, for inland power. It might be a little more for Avista. But again, instead of buying one bike with an LCD screen, simply buy one with an alternator instead. Just having one will give a gym owner a sense of what is possible, as well as make gym attendents more aware of the energy they generate.
Of course using a real bike or walking to get to work may be the best bang for the buck, as well as the best way to reduce one's resource footprint, but not everyone can do that, gyms will be around for a while. The idea is to improve on it.
Spokane's waste incinerater burns tons of usable goods every day
When you go to the waste to energy plant in west Spokane, there you'll see people dumping perfectly good building materials, consumer electronics, aquariums, you name it. Many times I have wanted to just take something as it was still usable, but this is not allowed. I understand that they don't want people scavenging, however, this is a completely unsustainable system.
First of all, why is there not a Goodwill or other thift store drop-off point directly in the vicinity of the plant? If you think about it, people who are moving or in a hurry, don't have the time/energy/patience to go to a thriftstore to drop usable items off. I asked a truck with good looking kindling wood last time why he didn't just post that on Craigslist, he had not thought of it as having value to someone else, so he didn't think of it. So in many cases people are not even aware of the value of goods. This is regrettable, but it is the way it is.
So then why not have a drop-off point, a drive-through, where a second hand store employee can take out the usable items before the driver proceeds to the plant, that would significantly reduce the barrier to recycling usable goods, and result in a win-win for both the driver having less weight, so less cost to dump their trash. The Thrift store would have more goods to sell, and finally folks who buy recycled or second hand goods have more to choose from. Perhaps I'll bring the camera next time.
Related, go here to help the effort to prevent e-waste dumping:
http://www.care2.com/go/z/e/AFKI_/zjVp/PfoO
First of all, why is there not a Goodwill or other thift store drop-off point directly in the vicinity of the plant? If you think about it, people who are moving or in a hurry, don't have the time/energy/patience to go to a thriftstore to drop usable items off. I asked a truck with good looking kindling wood last time why he didn't just post that on Craigslist, he had not thought of it as having value to someone else, so he didn't think of it. So in many cases people are not even aware of the value of goods. This is regrettable, but it is the way it is.
So then why not have a drop-off point, a drive-through, where a second hand store employee can take out the usable items before the driver proceeds to the plant, that would significantly reduce the barrier to recycling usable goods, and result in a win-win for both the driver having less weight, so less cost to dump their trash. The Thrift store would have more goods to sell, and finally folks who buy recycled or second hand goods have more to choose from. Perhaps I'll bring the camera next time.
Related, go here to help the effort to prevent e-waste dumping:
http://www.care2.com/go/z/e/AFKI_/zjVp/PfoO
Saturday, January 24, 2009
Recycling old computers and monitors, etc
"To encourage recycling, a law takes effect Jan. 1 that will allow Washington households, schools, charities and small businesses to recycle TVs and computers for free. Electronics manufacturers will pay for the program, which is expected to cost about $8 million annually.To find a free drop-off location after the New Year, call 1-800-RECYCLE"
Goodwill drop-off locations will take your old computers and monitors, as well as some of the local recyclers, like Inland Retech.
Goodwill drop-off locations will take your old computers and monitors, as well as some of the local recyclers, like Inland Retech.
Friday, January 02, 2009
Sunday, December 28, 2008
Snow storms of December 2008 created some local downhill skiing opportunities on the west slope of South Hill
December of 2008 dumped around 5 Feet of snow, most of it powder. The west slope of the south hill is about 500 feet vertical, black diamond skiing a stone throw from downtown spokane. Small window of opportunity for powder skiing on this south/west facing slope. Walking back up is a workout!
Looking down halfway on the slope to Tidymanns Cheney Trading company off Hwy 95
Looking down halfway on the slope to Tidymanns Cheney Trading company off Hwy 95
Some other winter pics:
One of the casualties of snow, this boat storage facility down our road.
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
360 + miles per gallon!
Here is an update on the bike hybrid.
My commute is 7.5 miles each way (if all shortcuts are taken) or 15 miles round trip. Installed the bike engine for a friend in 2007, she didn't use it. I was interested but figured I'd give it a little more time before deciding what to do, I initially wanted to be able to do the full commute 3-4 times a week by bike, but ended up most of the time using the poor man's hybrid, taking the car down the 480 feet hill that we live on, parking, then doing the rest of the commute by bike.
This shaved 8 miles of the commute each day which does make a difference over 4 days in the week. However, the problem is that dragging that heavy piece of metal up and down the hill only to get on a bike the rest of the way is still inefficient, not to mention that the car engine is least efficient when it is started from cold.
That hill we live on is a long hill and it would be nice if you had regenerative breaking on the car to capture some of the energy in braking. On a bicycle though, gravity takes care of just about 2 miles, going down at top speeds of 37 miles an hour, a very nice ride. Going up is a different story, and frankly the energy is not there for that 480 vertical feet every day. This is where the bike engine comes in, it adds relatively few pounds compared to an electric engine, and while making the bike heavier, has no drag when you remove the kevlar belt. The engine made all the difference, now being able to go the whole commute instead of partial commute by bicycle. The last month and a half have proven to me that this works, the bike has gone over 200 miles in less than two months, so that means it will pay for itself in probably about 6-10 months, when figuring in car maintenance and gas prices.
One added side benefit is that both ways one gets a good workout. Towards work there are a few smaller hills, and coming back that last big hill is steep enough to where hard peddling is still required together with the engine, still working up a significant sweat. Having grown up in the Netherlands, where gymns are still kind of a novelty due to the amount of bicycling and walking to work. Commuting and working out can be combined and therefor leave more time for other things instead of driving to a gymn and working out on machines. Exercise machines that don't capture the energy you generate, seems bizarre but is probably more a symptom of the age of cheap and for granted energy.
Finally, being out of the insular bubble (house, car, work bubbles) that separates us from experiencing the texture of reality is a treat. Below taking a break on a dirt path, the October sun still radiating warmth.
My commute is 7.5 miles each way (if all shortcuts are taken) or 15 miles round trip. Installed the bike engine for a friend in 2007, she didn't use it. I was interested but figured I'd give it a little more time before deciding what to do, I initially wanted to be able to do the full commute 3-4 times a week by bike, but ended up most of the time using the poor man's hybrid, taking the car down the 480 feet hill that we live on, parking, then doing the rest of the commute by bike.
This shaved 8 miles of the commute each day which does make a difference over 4 days in the week. However, the problem is that dragging that heavy piece of metal up and down the hill only to get on a bike the rest of the way is still inefficient, not to mention that the car engine is least efficient when it is started from cold.
That hill we live on is a long hill and it would be nice if you had regenerative breaking on the car to capture some of the energy in braking. On a bicycle though, gravity takes care of just about 2 miles, going down at top speeds of 37 miles an hour, a very nice ride. Going up is a different story, and frankly the energy is not there for that 480 vertical feet every day. This is where the bike engine comes in, it adds relatively few pounds compared to an electric engine, and while making the bike heavier, has no drag when you remove the kevlar belt. The engine made all the difference, now being able to go the whole commute instead of partial commute by bicycle. The last month and a half have proven to me that this works, the bike has gone over 200 miles in less than two months, so that means it will pay for itself in probably about 6-10 months, when figuring in car maintenance and gas prices.
One added side benefit is that both ways one gets a good workout. Towards work there are a few smaller hills, and coming back that last big hill is steep enough to where hard peddling is still required together with the engine, still working up a significant sweat. Having grown up in the Netherlands, where gymns are still kind of a novelty due to the amount of bicycling and walking to work. Commuting and working out can be combined and therefor leave more time for other things instead of driving to a gymn and working out on machines. Exercise machines that don't capture the energy you generate, seems bizarre but is probably more a symptom of the age of cheap and for granted energy.
Finally, being out of the insular bubble (house, car, work bubbles) that separates us from experiencing the texture of reality is a treat. Below taking a break on a dirt path, the October sun still radiating warmth.
Friday, October 17, 2008
New Blog contributer joins with 2 decades of off-grid experience
I've been living Offgrid going on 2 decades now.
My trusty, yet ugly solar panels were burned brown with cracked cells even when I got them, yet still harvest 200watts on thier best day. Given the unfortunate truth of the toxins created manufacturing solar panels, I chose to get all the use possible from ones already made.
My new project will harnest the suns power stored in vegetable oil extracted from plants; first used by resturaunts to fry greasey food, then the remaining energy released and stored in batteries or used to power tools, with the remaining carbondioxide returned to the earth to complete the cycle. Again, the choice to use recycled oil, rather than support the use of agriculture for fuel production.
To do this I am using a replica of one off the earliest stationary diesel engines, which is still in production in India. I chose this design for its long lasting, time proven, clean burning, simple technology with very few moving parts. Again, considering the impact of manufacturing, I chose engine that may last for generations.
My trusty, yet ugly solar panels were burned brown with cracked cells even when I got them, yet still harvest 200watts on thier best day. Given the unfortunate truth of the toxins created manufacturing solar panels, I chose to get all the use possible from ones already made.
My new project will harnest the suns power stored in vegetable oil extracted from plants; first used by resturaunts to fry greasey food, then the remaining energy released and stored in batteries or used to power tools, with the remaining carbondioxide returned to the earth to complete the cycle. Again, the choice to use recycled oil, rather than support the use of agriculture for fuel production.
To do this I am using a replica of one off the earliest stationary diesel engines, which is still in production in India. I chose this design for its long lasting, time proven, clean burning, simple technology with very few moving parts. Again, considering the impact of manufacturing, I chose engine that may last for generations.Tuesday, October 07, 2008
Centralizing energy generation breeds dependency.
This is something I don't hear the candidates for president talk about. I'm glad they talk about diversified alternatives to oil, and Obama encourages the consumer to take action within their own household by reducing one's own energy consumption. However, centralizing alternative energy production, simply shifts the production and sale of energy once again in the hands of a few, starting the cycle of complacent energy consumption and dependency all over again. It also still means that it leaves cities vulnerable when those energy lines get attacked or other disaster strikes. And finally, sending energy through lines is inefficient, as opposed to living right next to the source of energy, or having energy be distributed and decentralized.
If you go to "Follow the oil money",
http://prezoilmoney.oilchangeusa.org/ you can see that the more money you take from the oil industry, the more they take up a piece of real estate in your head. An increase in special interest money and face time with the lobbyists, makes folks more inclined to allow the special interests into one's policy decisions.
Look at the successful example of the Barefoot College in India which teaches and empowers illiterate women, making them into engineers in six months showing them how to make their villages energy independent and off-grid, by installing solar and other sustainable technologies.
If you go to "Follow the oil money",
http://prezoilmoney.oilchangeusa.org/ you can see that the more money you take from the oil industry, the more they take up a piece of real estate in your head. An increase in special interest money and face time with the lobbyists, makes folks more inclined to allow the special interests into one's policy decisions.
Look at the successful example of the Barefoot College in India which teaches and empowers illiterate women, making them into engineers in six months showing them how to make their villages energy independent and off-grid, by installing solar and other sustainable technologies.
Friday, September 19, 2008
Grease Competition heats up in Spokane
New signs, and various stories of people bidding on grease are going around in Spokane. One of my restaurants now has this threatening sticker on the barrel, looks like I'm not going here again.
There are now three big companies who more or less own the Spokane market:
Baker Commodities - Supposedly ships all the grease to California
Greasespot - Supposedly ships all their oil to Seattle for biodiesel
Bartlett Greasecar - intends to sell biodiesel locally here in Spokane and intends to take a big chunk out of Baker and Greasespot
Then there are the greasecars and homebrew biodiesel folks here in Spokane, since most don't advertise they are doing it, it could be a few hundred home brewers and greasecars here.
There are now three big companies who more or less own the Spokane market:
Baker Commodities - Supposedly ships all the grease to California
Greasespot - Supposedly ships all their oil to Seattle for biodiesel
Bartlett Greasecar - intends to sell biodiesel locally here in Spokane and intends to take a big chunk out of Baker and Greasespot
Then there are the greasecars and homebrew biodiesel folks here in Spokane, since most don't advertise they are doing it, it could be a few hundred home brewers and greasecars here.
Monday, September 15, 2008
Ongoing power consumption monitoring using Kill-A-Watt meter
In our house I'm found the following phantom loads, or energy leaks, meaning these things are not "on", just plugged in:
Microwave - 1 watts average - 8736 watts per year or 8.7 Kilowatts
TV-VCR-DVD combination - 13 watts average - 113880 per year or 114 kW
Garage opener - 5 watts average - 44 kW year
Stereo system - 5 watts - 44 kW
Computer/LCD/peripherals combination (downstairs) - 28 watts - 245 kW
Computer/printer/lcd combination (upstairs) - 9 watts -79 kW
Sprinkler system (in standby) - 3 watts - 26 kW
Still looking for more, but by turning the above energy drains off, we are saving 560 kW per year just in phantom loads, times our current rate 6 cents (includes the fees) in Spokane which is cheap compared to other parts of this country. This is a total of 33 dollars per year.
To avoid these leaks, combo things were put on power strips, and turned off when not in use, microwave/sprinkler just get unplugged when not in use, and the cable router/wireless boxes are put on timers. Fridge got coils cleaned as well, see tutorial link below.
Ideas for saving energy (more added soon):
- Loose 10 percent off your power bill by cleaning the refrigerator coils:
- caulk air leaks around windows, blow extra insulation in attic, basement etc.
- replace leaking weather/jam strips on doors
- wrap water heater and pipes in 6" fiberglass insulation
- install water heater timer if you have electric water heat (if possible), you can also simply turn down the heat in the water heater, by using a screwdriver and checking the manual.
- put all electronics on switched outlets or switched power strips
- change all lights to CFL's
- Turn lights off as you leave a room, only use regular bulbs in things like pantries where you need it on and off for a few seconds as apparently most CFL's don't like on/off cycling much.
- Use a small toaster oven to cook or warm up small foods rather than the big oven.
- Use an electric steamer rather than the stove.
- Eat produce food cold, you're eating closer to the source/sun that way as well.
- Dry clothes on a clothes line.
- Keep the big PC off until you need to use it, turn on the hybernation feature in your computers, if you are leaving them on for a while. Most keyboards also have a sleep button. Our system goes from consuming 70 watts to consuming 10 watts with the hybernation feature.
- Put on a sweater and have a hot beverage instead of turning on or up the heat.
- Compare costs on various heating methods, clearly geothermal is the winner in this list.
http://www.inlandpower.com/pdf/CostComparison.pdf You can also install a wood burning/pellet stove to heat your house with renewable energy wood or pellets. Heat rises so have it on the lowest level.
- Use an electric kettle to heat up water, rather than the stove burner.
- T V, PC, Dryer, Fridge, and Stove use the most, so limit these and you will save money.
More tips:
http://hes.lbl.gov/hes/makingithappen/tips.html
Tuesday, December 11, 2007
The Story of Stuff
Teaser Trailer about a site that shines awareness on consumer culture and the forces behind it. To view this video in it's entirety, go here:
The Story of Stuff
Couple of the main points that this 20 minutes video shows:
- Only one percent of all the new stuff bought after 6 months is still being used. The rest either trashed or filling up people's increasingly large homes. This is an almost unbelievable statistic, have to check where they got that figure from.
- Victor Lebow on how to keep the economy growing after WWII, "Our enormously productive economy ... demands that we make consumption our way of life, that we convert the buying and use of goods into rituals, that we seek our spiritual satisfaction, our ego satisfaction, in consumption.... we need things consumed, burned up, replaced, and discarded at an ever-accelerating rate."
- President Eisenhower's council of economic advisors chairman stated:
"The American economy's ultimate purpose is to produce more consumer goods."
- Paul Wachtel writes in The Poverty of Affluence: "Having more and newer things each year has become not just something we want but something we need. The idea of more, ever-increasing wealth, has become the center of our identity and our security, and we are caught up by it as the addict is by his drugs."
How does an unsustainable economy keep people spending money on stuff?
- Planned Obsolescence
An endless market is created by introducing rapid, disposables, one time use items, basically designed for the trash heap, so you have to go out and buy it again. Examples, disposable diapers, cameras, brooms, carpets, etc. Upgrade the motherboard on the computer, and likely many other things will need upgrading as well, many just get a new computer to avoid the hassle of incompatibilities. Disconnection from the earth as a whole system is literally written all over these products. It is a symbol of our disconnected separate thinking state of mind. The video discusses designers figuring out a way to keep consumers loyal to their products while at the same time making components break fast.
- Perceived Obsolescence
Convince the consumer to throw away stuff that is still useful. How to do that? By changing the way things look, basically, changing the fashions often, whether that is for clothes or gadgets. Look at advertising, it appeals to people's manufactured self image, "do you really want to look, breath, show yourself in that way?", with our product, xyz, you will look cooler, more color coordinated, get more happiness, more girls, look younger, act more confident, show you care, etc, etc. Basically preying on people's insecurities, and limited self image. The video mentions the example of shoe fashion changes each year. An important element in this conditioning is creating a perceived value to the user. Again, this comes from a disconnected, separate thinking self identity, one that puts ficticious value judgements on people things and planet.
How to keep people from questioning their conditioning and continue shopping?
- Carpet bomb them with advertising, a bombardment of the average person of 3000 ads per day.
- Telling the consumer that they are not happy, unless they buy xyz. Similar to a priest a few centuries earlier telling people that they are sinners, and they can only go through the church to get a chance at eternal rewards. Basically by projecting small identities onto the consumer.
- Keep the nasty stuff or REALITY out of the field of vision, as though it doesn't exist. Examples are the cartoony happy chickens running around on the farm (instead of the undignified factory farms where they are fattened up with who knows what, beaks cut because they are stuffed in small cages so they can't kill each other, avoiding humane killing to save a penny, etc), the bugers that grow on trees, the face that suddenly looks 50 years younger. It truly is the "matrix" of manufactured happiness, version of reality. The advertisers have no incentive to show where the stuff comes from, as that would bring out the citizen, or perhaps move people's heart, which is in conflict with the non-feeling, non-connected consumer persona which just wants to consume, neural networks which are encouraged to grow like weeds in people's heads and sanctified (endorsements by public figures, heros, or celebrities).
- The connection between national happiness falling and consumerism rising is made. We have the gross national product as a standard for wealth, Butan has the gross national product of happiness. Different emphasis, different outcome. While neither might be the best way to go into the future, it sure would be nice to have product life cycle cost, national wellness, and impact on environment or future generations included in this mix.
- More time off is not neccessarily better if it is not quality time, but less time off in order to buy more, which creates a cycle of even more work to pay for keeping up with the Jones's.
The Story of Stuff
Couple of the main points that this 20 minutes video shows:
- Only one percent of all the new stuff bought after 6 months is still being used. The rest either trashed or filling up people's increasingly large homes. This is an almost unbelievable statistic, have to check where they got that figure from.
- Victor Lebow on how to keep the economy growing after WWII, "Our enormously productive economy ... demands that we make consumption our way of life, that we convert the buying and use of goods into rituals, that we seek our spiritual satisfaction, our ego satisfaction, in consumption.... we need things consumed, burned up, replaced, and discarded at an ever-accelerating rate."
- President Eisenhower's council of economic advisors chairman stated:
"The American economy's ultimate purpose is to produce more consumer goods."
- Paul Wachtel writes in The Poverty of Affluence: "Having more and newer things each year has become not just something we want but something we need. The idea of more, ever-increasing wealth, has become the center of our identity and our security, and we are caught up by it as the addict is by his drugs."
How does an unsustainable economy keep people spending money on stuff?
- Planned Obsolescence
An endless market is created by introducing rapid, disposables, one time use items, basically designed for the trash heap, so you have to go out and buy it again. Examples, disposable diapers, cameras, brooms, carpets, etc. Upgrade the motherboard on the computer, and likely many other things will need upgrading as well, many just get a new computer to avoid the hassle of incompatibilities. Disconnection from the earth as a whole system is literally written all over these products. It is a symbol of our disconnected separate thinking state of mind. The video discusses designers figuring out a way to keep consumers loyal to their products while at the same time making components break fast.
- Perceived Obsolescence
Convince the consumer to throw away stuff that is still useful. How to do that? By changing the way things look, basically, changing the fashions often, whether that is for clothes or gadgets. Look at advertising, it appeals to people's manufactured self image, "do you really want to look, breath, show yourself in that way?", with our product, xyz, you will look cooler, more color coordinated, get more happiness, more girls, look younger, act more confident, show you care, etc, etc. Basically preying on people's insecurities, and limited self image. The video mentions the example of shoe fashion changes each year. An important element in this conditioning is creating a perceived value to the user. Again, this comes from a disconnected, separate thinking self identity, one that puts ficticious value judgements on people things and planet.
How to keep people from questioning their conditioning and continue shopping?
- Carpet bomb them with advertising, a bombardment of the average person of 3000 ads per day.
- Telling the consumer that they are not happy, unless they buy xyz. Similar to a priest a few centuries earlier telling people that they are sinners, and they can only go through the church to get a chance at eternal rewards. Basically by projecting small identities onto the consumer.
- Keep the nasty stuff or REALITY out of the field of vision, as though it doesn't exist. Examples are the cartoony happy chickens running around on the farm (instead of the undignified factory farms where they are fattened up with who knows what, beaks cut because they are stuffed in small cages so they can't kill each other, avoiding humane killing to save a penny, etc), the bugers that grow on trees, the face that suddenly looks 50 years younger. It truly is the "matrix" of manufactured happiness, version of reality. The advertisers have no incentive to show where the stuff comes from, as that would bring out the citizen, or perhaps move people's heart, which is in conflict with the non-feeling, non-connected consumer persona which just wants to consume, neural networks which are encouraged to grow like weeds in people's heads and sanctified (endorsements by public figures, heros, or celebrities).
- The connection between national happiness falling and consumerism rising is made. We have the gross national product as a standard for wealth, Butan has the gross national product of happiness. Different emphasis, different outcome. While neither might be the best way to go into the future, it sure would be nice to have product life cycle cost, national wellness, and impact on environment or future generations included in this mix.
- More time off is not neccessarily better if it is not quality time, but less time off in order to buy more, which creates a cycle of even more work to pay for keeping up with the Jones's.
Wednesday, December 05, 2007
Bicycling Spokane and bike to work in Spokane
Nice street relatively quiet street to bike on.
Biking underneath brown's edition along hangman's creek, then under the I-90 freeway and towards Cheney-Spokane road through hangman valley.
Biking towards the merge with Spokane river, then up the hill into Brown's edition.
Along the downtown library
The view towards the court building and the falls.
Courtesy of metro spokane, this is a great idea for Spokane as well. Imagine a car free Sunday on the majority of Spokane's streets, great way to encourage downtown business, health and wellness for people living here, a win-win.
For more information on Bike to work, go to their web site:
http://biketoworkspokane.org/
Wednesday, November 28, 2007
Sterling Engine Tour
Here are some good sources, courtesy of Justin Bell
- The best one, in myopinion, is the first one. Good introduction to Robert Stirling and his engines
http://www.cse.iitk.ac.in/~amit/courses/371/abhishe/main.html - American Stirling Company
http://www.stirlingengine.com/faq/one?scope=public&faq_id=1 - Guide and refrence and a touch of engine theory
http://www.stirlingengine.com/catalogs/catalog1.pdf - Coffee cup version
http://jlnlabs.ifrance.com/jlnlabs/html/stirling.htm - Animated version
http://web.mit.edu/2.670/www/spotlight_2005/engine_anim.html - In use by San Diego gas and Electric? Worlds largest array?http://www.stirlingenergy.com/breaking_news.htmhttp://www.wired.com/science/planetearth/news/2005/11/69528http://pesn.com/2005/08/11/9600147_Edison_Stirling_largest_solar/
- Tin Can version by University of Austin
http://www.physics.sfasu.edu/astro/courses/egr112/StirlingEngine/stirling.html - Space Craft Versiomhttp://www.spaceref.com/news/viewpr.html?pid=15063
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