Radical Noesis - Thinking outside the box: George Archives

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March 1, 2006

The F.I.R. Project

The Forest Image Registry Project is particularly the brain child of Harlan Weikle a.k.a. The Naked Vegetarian. Also involved, so far, are myself, Andrew Turner of Green Roof Resource, and Jeff McIntire-Stasburg of Sustainablog.

Link to The F.I.R. Project | March 1, 2006 5:13 AM || TrackBack | Author: By: | Category: Authors --- George

February 21, 2006

National Forests For Sale To Fund Rural Schools

Secure Rural Schools Forest Service FY 2007 Initiative - The FY 2007 President's Budget proposes to reauthorize the Secure Rural Schools program for another five years. To help fund this initiative, the Administration recommends selling a limited number of acres of National Forest System lands around the nation. Lands that are potentially eligible have been identified and are displayed in a table here.

Link to National Forests For Sale To Fund Rural Schools | February 21, 2006 7:57 AM || TrackBack | Author: By: | Category: Authors --- George

February 13, 2006

Industrial Agriculture and Vertical Integration

Modern, industrial agriculture is a massive, global force. Most money spent on food today goes to one industrial food producer or another. The Phillip Morris and Nabisco conglomerate Altria alone gets 10% of all the money consumers spend on food. Three Canadian companies control 70% of all fertilizer sales, five banks control agricultural credit, two companies control 70% of beef packing, and five companies hold most of the control over food sales (Halweil 2004:65). This kind of control over the food system would be very difficult or impossible without industrial, centralized agriculture and vertical integration.

Link to Industrial Agriculture and Vertical Integration | February 13, 2006 10:51 AM || TrackBack | Author: By: | Category: Authors --- George

February 6, 2006

Globalization of Food and Agriculture

Hypocrisy, vast cultural changes, and sheer incompetence are dominating factors in the history of the globalization of food. As one explores the readings, it appears that those in charge of the situation in the 19th, 20th, and now the 21st centuries are either uncaring, not cautious, or simply have no idea what they are doing. Perhaps, in each situation, a different combination of these is at work.

Link to Globalization of Food and Agriculture | February 6, 2006 6:03 AM || TrackBack | Author: By: | Category: Authors --- George

Oil Phaseout - Bush "Didn't Mean It Literally"

I swear to god...:

One day after President Bush vowed to reduce America's dependence on Middle East oil by cutting imports from there 75 percent by 2025, his energy secretary and national economic adviser said Wednesday that the president didn't mean it literally.

How does something like "reduce our dependence on foreign oil by 75%" not get said with the intention of literal interpretation? What, is it a metaphor?

Link to Oil Phaseout - Bush "Didn't Mean It Literally" | February 6, 2006 5:56 AM || TrackBack | Author: By: | Category: Authors --- George

December 7, 2005

Is Recycling Good For The Environment?

I think one of the concerns alot of people have with recycling is the claim that it uses so much energy to recycle some items (such as glass), that it actually cancels out any good that the recycling is doing. Recycling paper is pretty clearly helpful, and I don't think anyone's been able to dispute that. The reason, of course, is that far less trees are being cut down. Plastic and glass are questionable, and I think aluminum has been put into the "better to recycle than not recycle" category. Here's a pdf paper about the issue, which might explain some of this. Of course, Alan Griff, who wrote that article, is a plastics consultant. He's probably a bit biased.

Link to Is Recycling Good For The Environment? | December 7, 2005 6:36 AM || TrackBack | Author: By: | Category: Authors --- George

November 22, 2005

Green Radio and Podcasts Week Ending 11/20/05

I haven't gotten to listen to all of the best ones yet, but here's the roundup of Green podcasts and radio for this week.

Link to Green Radio and Podcasts Week Ending 11/20/05 | November 22, 2005 1:35 PM || TrackBack | Author: By: | Category: Authors --- George

Forest Devastation Due To Biofuels?

From New Scientist:

THE drive for "green energy" in the developed world is having the perverse effect of encouraging the destruction of tropical rainforests. From the orang-utan reserves of Borneo to the Brazilian Amazon, virgin forest is being razed to grow palm oil and soybeans to fuel cars and power stations in Europe and North America. And surging prices are likely to accelerate the destruction

I don't doubt the validity of this claim; surely there are enterprising folks out there chopping down massive amounts of forests in order to create biofuels from the plant matter they replace them with.

Link to Forest Devastation Due To Biofuels? | November 22, 2005 1:33 PM || TrackBack | Author: By: | Category: Authors --- George

November 1, 2005

Those Miserable Bastards Are Ruining Organics

Congress met quietly on Wednesday to call a yea/nay vote on HR2744, the 2006 Agriculture Appropriations Bill (sponsored by Henry Bonilla, a Rep. from Texas). It passed.

The Bill will:

* Allow a wider use of synthetic ingredients in foods sold under the "organic" label.

* Allow dairy cows to be treated with antibiotics and fed genetically engineered feed prior to being converted to organic production.

* Give the USDA liberal discretion in granting "emergency exemptions" to industry to use chemical synthetics in place of natural ingredients when the natural ingredients aren't readily available or are too expensive.

Organic Consumers Association has more.

Link to Those Miserable Bastards Are Ruining Organics | November 1, 2005 6:03 AM || TrackBack | Author: By: | Category: Authors --- George

October 28, 2005

Evangelical Platform: Homosexuals, Abortion, and Global Warming?

On last week's Living on Earth, which you should really be listening to anyway, Reverend Richard Cizik, director of governmental affairs for the National Association of Evangelicals, laid out his organization's plan for helping the environment.

No, seriously. Stop laughing!

I'm as shocked as you are, but as Cizik points out, any biblical Christian really SHOULD care about the environment.

Link to Evangelical Platform: Homosexuals, Abortion, and Global Warming? | October 28, 2005 6:27 AM || TrackBack | Author: By: | Category: Authors --- George

September 20, 2005

Stop The Attack On Organic Standards THIS MORNING

From Laurie:

A sneak attack on organic standards in the Senate THIS MORNING! We need to speak out RIGHT NOW.

September 8, 2005

Hurricanes and Global Warming

RealClimate has some great info on the connections between hurricane activity and global warming.

I pointed to this story about MIT professor Kerry Emmanuel in my little rant the other day. Emmanuel says that the intensity of hurricanes has increased 70-80 percent since the 1970s. The duration of storms has gone up 50 percent. He says that "you should see about a ten percent increase in wind speed for every two degree sea change. That theoretical prediction has been backed up since then by lots of modeling that has been done elsewhere by other groups." Emmanuel's entire paper from the journal Nature is available here (PDF).

Link to Hurricanes and Global Warming | September 8, 2005 6:22 AM || TrackBack | Author: By: | Category: Authors --- George

August 29, 2005

Decentralizing Infrastructure

Greenpeace just released a report (PDF) that suggests decentralizing energy. I'm an advocate for decentralizing just about everything: energy, food, power. It just makes sense. At least, it makes sense for normal citizens, not the business conglomerates and governments who use centralization to keep their power.

Link to Decentralizing Infrastructure | August 29, 2005 8:54 AM || TrackBack | Author: By: | Category: Authors --- George

August 26, 2005

Jared Diamond's Easter Island Account Incorrect?

I don't know. I'm not an expert on the subject, but the account Diamond gives in Collapse is the same as what I'd heard before, and it's the only one I've ever heard, until now. Benny Peiser takes issue with this account in a paper published in Energy & Environment.

Link to Jared Diamond's Easter Island Account Incorrect? | August 26, 2005 9:01 AM || TrackBack | Author: By: | Category: Authors --- George

August 22, 2005

Alo Novo - Responsible Online Purchasing

Joel Makower points us today to a really great idea, and one I can't see doing anything but succeeding. Alo Novo is basically a portal to Amazon.com, which you're probably all familiar with. Alo Novo takes Amazon's product catalog and allows you to view all of it, but with a twist - they rate the products and companies that make them based on social responsibility, environmental healthiness, workplace rights, business ethics, and customer focus.

Link to Alo Novo - Responsible Online Purchasing | August 22, 2005 10:34 AM || TrackBack | Author: By: | Category: Authors --- George

August 8, 2005

U.S. Bill To Re-Legalize Hemp Farming

Via Sustainablog, this article at hemp.com gives us some possibly good news: For the first time since the federal government outlawed hemp farming in the United States, a federal bill has been introduced that would remove restrictions on the cultivation of non-psychoactive Industrial Hemp.

Link to U.S. Bill To Re-Legalize Hemp Farming | August 8, 2005 11:49 AM || TrackBack | Author: By: | Category: Authors --- George

August 2, 2005

U.S. Crafting e-Waste Bill

FINALLY.

According to this article, A 2003 EPA report estimates that roughly 50 million computers and 20 million televisions are disposed of each year, but that only 10 percent are recycled. That's a big deal, considering that consumer electronics often contain heavy metals such as lead and mercury, not to mention all of the plastic and other materials, which could be recycled or properly disposed of. The bill will rely "on incentives, rather than up-front fees or end-of-life penalties, to deal with electronic waste."

This is, supposedly, a "bi-partisan effort." I hope this actually works out, because it's a very serious issue that many have absolutely no idea about. We toss our old TVs and computers with nary a thought as to the environmental consequences, and it's high time we started thinking about that.

Link to U.S. Crafting e-Waste Bill | August 2, 2005 5:50 AM || TrackBack | Author: By: | Category: Authors --- George

July 28, 2005

The Venerable China and U.S. To Work On Climate Change Pact

Story here. WELL, with the venerable China involved, I'm sure that the U.S. is planning a stunning environmental campaign!

*insert rolling eyes here*

So far, the "clean air act" has decreased smokestack regulations, the "healthy forest act" has increased logging.

Why should I think that this new idea will be any different? Here's to hoping, but I'm not going to count my chickens.

Link to The Venerable China and U.S. To Work On Climate Change Pact | July 28, 2005 7:04 AM || TrackBack | Author: By: | Category: Authors --- George

July 27, 2005

Pimentel's Biofuel Study Is Bunk

The word is that the study by Cornell's Dr. Pimentel, documented by me here and here, might be worthy of a little mocking. The problem I see, however, is that we have conflict of interest on both sides of the argument.

On the one hand, we have Dr. Pimentel, apparently known for "dissing" biofuels for years, saying that there is a net energy loss, especially when using petroleum, when biofuels are created. Then, on the other hand, we have a pretty good rebuttal from The National Corn Growers Association. The problem with the rebuttal, of course, is that it's from the National Corn Growers Association.

Link to Pimentel's Biofuel Study Is Bunk | July 27, 2005 6:10 AM || TrackBack | Author: By: | Category: Authors --- George

July 25, 2005

Environmental Taxes

SustainaBlog has a great post about Environmental Taxes. It's based on an op-ed from The Washington Examiner on the subject. SustainaBlog mentions Ecology of Commerce by Paul Hawken, which is a book I mentioned in my Final Paper for my Simple Living course in Grad School.

Link to Environmental Taxes | July 25, 2005 7:03 AM || TrackBack | Author: By: | Category: Authors --- George

July 21, 2005

I'm Disappointed In Car Alternators

So, I had this idea yesterday, which I now know isn't feasible because of the extremely energy inefficient way that alternators work in cars. For those of you who don't know, the alternator creates an electric current from the engine being run in order to charge your car's battery, thereby powering your radio, the starter, air conditioning, etc.

My idea was that if the alternator stops when the battery doesn't need to be charged, then I could install a few solar panels on the car (like those trickle chargers you can use to keep RV batteries from dying if they're not going to be used for a while) to keep your battery topped off and therefore use less gas to charge it.

Link to I'm Disappointed In Car Alternators | July 21, 2005 6:51 AM || TrackBack | Author: By: | Category: Authors --- George

July 20, 2005

Justice Nominee Roberts Isn't Environmentally Friendly

John Roberts has been nominated by President Bush as the replacement for Sandra Day on the Supreme Court. So, what should we make of that? The political perspective will be all over the place, and I'm sure his views on abortion and privacy will come into play, but I don't know how much his ideas about environmental protection will be discussed. Therefore, I'll send you to all of the great posts that the green end of the blogosphere is producing:

Link to Justice Nominee Roberts Isn't Environmentally Friendly | July 20, 2005 10:11 AM || TrackBack | Author: By: | Category: Authors --- George

July 18, 2005

Attaining Simple Living Through Peace and Chaos

Written For My Simple Living Class:

The idea of "living simply" can be many things to many people. To Puritan settlers in early America, it meant wearing plain clothes, not being ostentatious, and even enacting laws to make sure these ideas were carried out (Shi, The Simple Life, Chapter 1). To the Transcendentalists, such as Henry David Thoreau, it could mean living in a small cabin in the woods (The Simple Life, p. 140). To the hippies of the 1960s, it was about living freely, without allowing oneself to be stifled by cultural stigmas (The Simple Life, p. 251). All of these are examples of what the simple life can mean to people, depending on when and where they lived and what influenced them.

Link to Attaining Simple Living Through Peace and Chaos | July 18, 2005 2:01 PM || TrackBack | Author: By: | Category: Authors --- George

June 5, 2005

Oil Storm on FX

The FX Network is showing right now, and again tomorrow, a movie called "Oil Storm." It's a fake documentary set in the future about when the oil ran out. Watch it.

UPDATE: Eh, watch it if you want. Pretty disappointing, and in the end people were still driving SUVs. Alterative fuels were only mentioned like once the entire time. Poor.

Link to Oil Storm on FX | June 5, 2005 8:33 PM || TrackBack | Author: By: | Category: Authors --- George

May 24, 2005

Humor: Douglas Adams, Super Genius

I suggest you read the short story Young Zaphod Plays It Safe by the late Douglas Adams of Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy fame. It will be funnier if you know the Hitchhiker's Guide story, but you don't really need to know it to get most of the jokes.

Link to Humor: Douglas Adams, Super Genius | May 24, 2005 5:46 AM || TrackBack | Author: By: | Category: Authors --- George

May 16, 2005

Evolution vs. Creationism - Pseudoscience

In part II of my Evolution vs. Creationism battle, I wanted to center on the timely (though unfortunately timely) issues of creationism as science and the fight currently raging in the Kansas school board. This "discussion," if it can really be called that, involves changing the very definition of science according to the school board from "seeking natural explanations for what we observe around us," to "a continuing investigation that uses observation, hypothesis testing, measurement, experimentation, logical argument and theory building to lead to more adequate explanations of natural phenomena." The reason, of course, is to allow "intelligent design" to be taught in Kansas science classes and insert disclaimers into discussion on evolution that evolution is "still only a theory."

Link to Evolution vs. Creationism - Pseudoscience | May 16, 2005 9:27 AM || TrackBack | Author: By: | Category: Authors --- George

May 9, 2005

Maryland Rep. Roscoe Bartlett's Third Talk

Maryland Representative Roscoe Bartlett has been giving talks on Peak Oil to the Congress. Here is the transcript of the third one, his most recent.

Link to Maryland Rep. Roscoe Bartlett's Third Talk | May 9, 2005 12:08 PM || TrackBack | Author: By: | Category: Authors --- George

April 25, 2005

Douglas Adams: Froopy Dude and Conservationist

All of you who are excited as I am about The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy Movie coming out next weekend are probably excited because you're already fans of Douglas Adams' work. He's one of my favorite fiction authors, namely because of his ability to poke fun at the human condition and, well, life, the universe, and everything.

There's an interview in this week's Living On Earth with Robbie Stamp, a close friend of the late Douglas Adams and executive producer of the new film. He talks about something that is rarely discussed about Adams in comparison to his humor and fiction. Adams was a hard core conservationist. Stamp discusses the underlying environmental messages in the Hitchhiker's Guide series and Adams' book on endangered species called Last Chance To See.

Link to Douglas Adams: Froopy Dude and Conservationist | April 25, 2005 1:43 PM || TrackBack | Author: By: | Category: Authors --- George

April 22, 2005

Earth Day, 2005

Today is Earth Day, 2005. This Earth Day is bittersweet, however, as yesterday the House kicked the planet in the groin before its special day. It passed an energy bill that gives away billions of dollars to energy companies and OKs ANWR drilling.

Link to Earth Day, 2005 | April 22, 2005 1:48 PM || TrackBack | Author: By: | Category: Authors --- George

April 21, 2005

Modern War and Civilization

The last time I wrote something like this, we weren't at war. Our environment wasn't being overrun by a tyrannical administration headed by a puppet president whose only real job is to pretend that he thinks hes doing the right thing. I hadn't read all that I have now, and I hadn't sent a cousin off to Iraq to risk his life for something that doesn't actually affect anyone in this country. We weren't in dire need of a change.

Link to Modern War and Civilization | April 21, 2005 3:59 AM || TrackBack | Author: By: | Category: Authors --- George

April 19, 2005

Video of Rep. Bartlett on E&E; TV

Read the transcript here:

Congressman Roscoe Bartlett has discussed global peak oil in a one-half hour taped program, E&E; TV.s .On Point,. that will be distributed via the Internet in flash video format on Monday, April 18 after 12:00 noon. Host Colin Sullivan, Editor of Environment and Energy Daily, moderated the discussion with Congressman Bartlett and Mr. Roger Diwan, Managing Director, Markets and Countries Group, PFC Energy. It can be downloaded from E&E; TV.s website www.eande.tv/main/.

Link to Video of Rep. Bartlett on E&E; TV | April 19, 2005 2:38 PM || TrackBack | Author: By: | Category: Authors --- George

April 11, 2005

The ANWR Drilling Myth

Imagine 2,000 acres of this:

Ending up like this:

Well, great. He wants us to drill ANWR. I mean, not that this is surprising, but here's the problem I have with it. It's drilling in a wildlife preserve, first of all, which makes it bad enough. Also, it's oil, which we should be trying to lower our dependence on rather than find more sources of. However, the really stupid thing is this: the article says that "drilling on just 2,000 acres of the vast ANWR would provide access to all of the refuge's estimated 10 billion barrels of oil."

Link to The ANWR Drilling Myth | April 11, 2005 2:04 PM || TrackBack | Author: By: | Category: Authors --- George

April 8, 2005

Environmental Fear-Mongerering In The Media?

TreeHugger points out that though the situation does have dire possibilities for the future, the UN-sponsored Millennial Ecosystem Assessment does not simply paint a bleak picture.

Link to Environmental Fear-Mongerering In The Media? | April 8, 2005 2:09 PM || TrackBack | Author: By: | Category: Authors --- George

April 6, 2005

Rep. Bartlett's Peak Oil Presentation

Earlier post by me here. US Congressman Roscoe Bartlett of Maryland, Chairman of the Projection Forces Subcommittee of the Armed Services Committee, gave a talk to the rest of Congress about 'peak oil.' It's good to see a Congressman actively taking part in this situation.

Link to Rep. Bartlett's Peak Oil Presentation | April 6, 2005 4:49 AM || TrackBack | Author: By: | Category: Authors --- George

April 5, 2005

George's Intro

Well, I figure that since everyone else is doing an introduction, I will too. This is always hard for me, though, because I feel like I go through a metamorphosis pretty often, so it's hard to pin "myself" down in words. I'll try.

Link to George's Intro | April 5, 2005 9:14 PM || TrackBack | Author: By: | Category: Authors --- George

April 4, 2005

Living Beyond Our Means

The most comprehensive survey ever into the state of the planet concludes that human activities threaten the Earth's ability to sustain future generations. The report says the way society obtains its resources has caused irreversible changes that are degrading the natural processes that support life on Earth . . . The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA) was drawn up by 1,300 researchers from 95 nations over four years.

Link to Living Beyond Our Means | April 4, 2005 2:40 PM || TrackBack | Author: By: | Category: Authors --- George

Radical Noesis - Thinking outside the box

Radical: proceeding from a root; fundamental; considerable departure from the usual. <> Noesis: pure knowledge; understanding. From the Greek nous (emotion): that which is responsible for one's thoughts and feelings.