(From THE BEST book on how to create a sustainable future)
RAISING ENERGY EFFICIENCY IN A NEW MATERIALS ECONOMY - Part II*

http://www.earthpolicy.org/Books/Seg/PB3ch11_ss6b.htm

Lester R. Brown

There is a vast worldwide potential for cutting carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions by reducing the use of materials. This begins with the major metals–steel, aluminum, and copper–where recycling requires only a fraction of the energy needed to produce these metals from virgin ore, and with the recycling and composting of most household garbage. It continues with designing cars, appliances, and other products so they are easily disassembled into their component parts for reuse or recycling.

Germany and, more recently, Japan are requiring that products such as automobiles, household appliances, and office equipment be designed for easy disassembly and recycling. In May 1998, the Japanese Diet enacted a tough appliance recycling law, one that prohibits discarding household appliances, such as washing machines, TV sets, or air conditioners. With consumers bearing the cost of disassembling appliances in the form of a disposal fee to recycling firms, which can come to $60 for a refrigerator or $35 for a washing machine, the pressure to design appliances so they can be more easily and cheaply disassembled is strong.

Closely related to this concept is that of remanufacturing. Read the rest of this entry »

Consider for a moment that an asteroid is about to strike the earth. Think about it for a second. Has it been a second? Do you have it in mind? Here, let me help: It’s twice the size of the moon and really rocky looking. Looks like it would hurt if you punched it. Make your knuckles bleed, even. Okay, you’ve fully considered this asteroid? Now, understand that it’s going to wallop our planet in two days. We can see it coming, a bright, growing ball of fire, visible day and night, headed right for us. Dogs howl, cats mewl, grandma calmly asserts that Judgment Day is nigh. Now imagine that we’re told that all we have to do to avert calamity (and judgment!) is BLOW–as hard as we can, all of us, all six billion Earth inhabitants, at the same time.

Don’t you think we’d organize somehow, across the globe immediately to make sure that every last one of us went PUFFFFFFF! or WHOOOF! or however people blow in foreign lands, at the given time? Damned straight we would. We’d have billions of people, from the Congo to Iceland, from Wichita to Istanbul, puffing like mad to blow that asteroid off course.

I know it’s silly to talk about Read the rest of this entry »

Confession time: I’m addicted to pinball. It’s Friday night, I’ve sixteen quarters in my right front pocket and rather than cuddle with my girl and watch movies or read obscure historical treatises to one another, I’m going to abandon the roost and head off to a rumored new machine in town.  I really do love the incline plane, the smooth wood, the rolling ball.

It’s really just a simple bout with gravity, much like the one we fight daily, only compressed into a few rounds. Instead of legs or chairs or jet planes, one is given a pair of flippers. Every one of us loses the years long fight to the universal centrifuge…it’s refreshing to be reminded of the process. Pinball and a pint, then I turn in.

Fucking beautiful. No, really. Have you played? Have you really played? That’s it. That’s the Thing You Have to Do:

Go forth and play pinball. Then you’ll understand. Then you’ll know. If you’d like, tell me how you fared and what you learned. I’ll be here waiting, collecting your tales of wisdom. I know, it sounds like madness. Trust this stranger, if only one time.

It’s obvious, I know, but…it still rocks: [audio:Pinball Wizard.mp3]

HEADLESS IN SEATTLE
Photo/Story © 2007 Tod Brilliant
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I decided right then and there to propose. No prepared speech. Not even a ring. She lay upon the grass, eyes closed against the sun, blissful. Looking at her relaxed features and slight smile, a surge of admiration and happiness swept through me. Perfectly curtained by auburn bangs, her soft freckled cheekbones and china white eyelids drew and held my attention. I savored the moment, beaming thoughts of coterminous future happiness into this delicate frame.

After a time, I lifted my gaze past the lush green of the park, beyond the adjacent inlet and to the low mushrooms of suburbs that lined the far bank. Perhaps, I thought to myself, we would one day settle among those homes and businesses to start a family. We spoke often of escaping Seattle’s urban core, excusing ourselves from the sterile right angles of our modern condominium Read the rest of this entry »

ZACH & SARAH HAPPEN TO VEGAS: A Quick Dialogue Exercise

Photo/Story © 2007 Tod Brilliant

So this one is kind of lame, and pretty gross. But…what the hell. We all have lame, gross moments.
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EXT. SIDEWALK - DAY

ZACH and SARAH stand on a Las Vegas sidewalk looking at a sign that reads “CHAPEL BY THE COURTHOUSE: WEDDINGS $40” in bold red letters.

Z: Do you want to do it?

S: No.

Z: Why not? It’s a good deal.

S: I just don’t want to get married.

Z: To me, or in general?

S: Both, I think. Maybe someday, but not right now. It’s too hot.

Z: For forty bucks you’re together for life. It’s a pretty good deal.

S: You can get Ginsu knives for twenty, and they’re guaranteed for life.

Z: Yeah, but they have plastic handles. They’re not human.

S: A good set of knives can do far more than a good husband.

Z: Like what? Read the rest of this entry »

Big thanks to Larry O of ENTERMODAL (You understand the convention, no? When I link to a site, as I’ve just done with ENTERMODAL, you’re expected to not only click through, but support the linked organization/business/individual) for turning me on to Matt Ruff’s “Sewer, Gas & Electric”. It may well be the most entertaining surrealistifiction novel I’ve read this decade.

The title of this post is just one of a glittering trove of grand nuggets I’ve extracted to date. Pretty much sums up the entire eco-movement, if you axe me - which you didn’t, now did you? You did? Well, next time ask me via email, as my psychic powers are limited to a 50km range, give or take a few hundred meters.
This brief description spells things out fairly well:

Sewer, Gas & Electric is the exuberant Read the rest of this entry »

Wow, the title of this post is patently offensive. What’s stuck in my craw today?

THIS is an interesting article for several reasons. In it, the head of the International Monetary Fund, Dominique Strauss-Kahn warns that continued food cost increases will lead to widespread starvation and an escalation of resource conflicts (Darfur, anyone? BTW why aren’t we screaming at China to help out in Darfur instead of focusing on Tibet? Is the ‘religious’ (Buddhism isn’t a religion) persecution of a small population to trump genocide?) in large swaths of the world.

The interesting bits:

“Thousands, hundreds of thousands of people will be starving. Children will be suffering from malnutrition, with consequences for all their lives,” Strauss-Kahn told reporters.

He said the problem could lead to trade imbalances that may eventually affect developed nations, “so it is not only a humanitarian question”.

So we see the real priority is economic stability here, not any sort of global compassion. The Illuminated Mother Fuckers continue to have their collective heads screwed on straight. What’s more, for the IMF to of a sudden go Chicken Little on us, to me, a bit staggering. As if the organization hasn’t seen for YEARS the steady march toward the present reality. The impact of food-for-fuel projects isn’t an overnight phenomenon. They could have pulled funding on any number of such projects. Instead, it was more than happy to stand by while starving children were left to suck exhaust fumes as industrialized nations turned the world’s staple crops into gasoline. A bit ironic, me thinks, that starving kids suck on gas-soaked rags to alleviate hunger pangs.

Meanwhile, all around me, my U.S neighbors clamor for lower gas prices, continuing to deny the global need for true-cost pricing of fuel. The best thing that can happen for us, for those who have little more than their own fingernails as a protein source, is for prices at the pump to triple. Every time I see gas increase, I am a bit more hopeful. Business as usual must be shuttered permanently. Hey, obese Americans - all 200 million of you! Be thankful that you’re going to be doing a lot more walking in the coming years. You just might get to see your toes again.

Oh, there are several more interesting points to mention, but I must be off. Besides, a good blogger shouldn’t simply spell it out. Instead, the reader must do some thinking on her own. As well, a good blogger does his best to insult the vast majority of his readers. So, if you’re not a trust-fund hippie with a Free Tibet sticker, morbidly obese or fuel-dependent, maybe you’re financially fucked due to your mortgage and seek relief. I say too fucking bad, and yes, this puts me in agreement with McCain (scary!) You got into it to flip that house, to make a profit. Housing is NOT a commodity, you greedy asshole. Sleep in that bed of yours and quit your bitching.

Not sure what to say about this for fear of being labeled as a pro-eugenics freak, but, well, here’s a sample from the article which quotes Evolutionary theorist Oliver Curry:

“…in the nearer future, humans will evolve in 1,000 years into giants between 6ft and 7ft tall, he predicts, while life-spans will have extended to 120 years, Dr Curry claims.

Physical appearance, driven by indicators of health, youth and fertility, will improve, he says, while men will exhibit symmetrical facial features, look athletic, and have squarer jaws, deeper voices and bigger penises.

Women, on the other hand, will develop lighter, smooth, hairless skin, large clear eyes, pert breasts, glossy hair, and even features, he adds. Racial differences will be ironed out by interbreeding, producing a uniform race of coffee-coloured people.”

Bigger penises! Pert breasts! I need me a time machine! Oh, wait. . .then I’d feel awfully inferior. Guess I’d better stick to my own time where I’m anatomically unremarkable.

I think Curry left out the part about the third species, the surviving one. The one that becomes greatly reduced in size and longevity, to match the absolute scarcity of resources on a scalding planet.

Here’s the rest of the short article.

There really isn’t anything more important than what I’m about to cut and paste into this wee text box. Some of you will think of the words below as hollow text unrelated to the present day. As a Citizen (not a consumer, home owner, renter, shopper, voter, target, Nielsen Point, customer, or any of the other disempowering labels cast upon my fellow citizens) of the United States, I recently discovered that it had been many years since I’d revisited what are perhaps the most important 456 words written. Penned by a 33 year old Thomas Jefferson (in the U.S., we’d NEVER consider voting for someone under 50 for President, yet many of our Founding Fathers were quite young), some two centuries ago, it bears re-reading. It really does. If you’re a U.S. Citizen and you ignore my entreaty to read once again the words which provided your every liberty, you may as well ignore the ballot box come November.

This is the original first draft of Read the rest of this entry »

Op-Ed piece in the L.A. Times that clearly discusses the horrific idea that is the 2008 Farm Bill subsidy package. Written by Dan Imhoff, a hero in the sustainable-living community, as well as my local community, and someone I feel lucky to know.

The great news is that both Dems and Repubs are equally guilty of screwing us over with these massive subsidies. What? Ralph Nader said what, again? And what? You clapped your hands over your ears again?

PLEASE, SPEND THREE MINUTES OF YOUR LIFE READING THIS.

What else do you have to do? Why read it? Because, as Dan puts it, “There is still time to let everyone in Congress know that they should vote on the farm bill as if the nation’s very health, future and security is at stake. Because it is. And we deserve better.”