Globally Green Living

It turns out that ethanol is not as environmentally benign as some people thought. Since the U.S. decided to invest heavily on ethanol production from corn, the food supply that relies on corn syrup and the underground water sources have been strained. This is so ridiculous that I laugh at the thought.

Why are we investing so heavily on corn ethanol? So that we can have cheap fuel.

Why do we want cheap fuel? So that we can drive to Wal-Mart twice a week instead of once in our fuel inefficient vehicles.

Good grief…

Would it not make more sense just to conserve gasoline while investing in truly sustainable energy sources? You know the ones that don’t suck freshwater or natural gas, as corn does.

I don’t get it! Why isn’t responsible driving a conservation practice?

The top polluting countries in the world have gotten together to see what they can do to address climate change. The meeting was called by the U.S., in particular by President Bush who, a few years ago, was saying that there is no global warming or effect on climate, for that matter.

Now, after Katrina, you’d better not even utter the idea that global warming is a hoax. Although, it seems that some people also take it to the other extreme, where everything you do causes global warming, but let’s move on.

To fight climate change, the U.S. has “aspirational” goals. What does that mean exactly? Because I aspire to win the lottery but since I don’t play, I don’t see it ever happening. Is that it? Are good intentions sufficient to say you’re trying to make a change?

Let’s get real people. We live in a wealthy country! If the effects of climate change are such that natural disaster will be more likely to occur then the same natural disaster in a rich country vs. a poor country will cause a greater harm in the rich country. The rich country has more infrastructure, is more integrated, contains on average more educated people, and people on average have more assets. Thus, the more you have the more you can lose. That’s what Hurricane Katrina taught us. How long is it going to take for us to learn its lesson and fix our problems?

Or, as Alan Greenspan says, are we just too dumb to learn it the first time around? Do more people have to die and does more destruction have to happen before we do something about it? How long until we adapt and how much is our adaptation going to cost in unproductive activities?

I told you last time to wash your veggies with water and a little bit of vinegar. Well, it turns out that the right ratio is 3 parts water, 1 part vinegar. But that solution should take care of 98% of the bacteria, according to an NPR report.

The beauty of this technique is that it’s environmentally friendly. Vinegar is something almost everyone has readily available at home, thus you don’t have to buy another cleaning agent. Vinegar is also a natural product, so it’s not full of chemicals that may be harsh on the environment and on you.

Being green is fashionable, like, it’s totally hot. I was not surprised to discover a new online publication aimed at the environmentally aware but also fashion conscious. So check out Sprig.

Now before you start complaining, it is true that for the people running this publication, being fashionable comes before being pro-environment. But at least it’s an online thing so it’s not like you have bought a magazine that used up a few trees and then ended up in the dumpster. Of course, even reading on the computer uses energy and thus depletes resources but maybe you’ll buy some green power off-sets from your energy provider. Or maybe you just bought a backpack with a solar panel that you can use to recharge your iPhone or mobile device, so you don’t feel as guilty (unfortunately, these backpacks do not work for laptops).

Another food recall, this time for bagged lettuce. People keep telling you to eat more veggies because it’s less stressful on the planet and then you turn around and, low and behold, the food supply of veggies keeps getting contaminated. Why is that, you wonder?

Well, start with the fact that most people don’t know the difference between lettuce and spinach. The genius at CBS put a baby spinach picture in a story about romaine lettuce hearts!

People also don’t know how to prepare their food properly.

People want to eat everything raw–come on, seriously, raw broccoli tastes bad, that’s why you have to drown it in ranch to eat it.

We have been living in these super-clean bubbles and our bodies are not exposed to enough bacteria to build our immune system. Seriously, we’re too lazy to wash our hands so we carry disinfecting wipes and gels. Even when we do wash our hands or the dishes, we use antibacterial soap.

We’re too inconvenienced with getting colds and small infections, so we run to the doctor to get antibiotics.

Thus, by wiping out the weak bacteria, we are creating an environment of super-bacteria for which our current antibiotics are getting less and less powerful.

The solution to this mess is easy and yet difficult. Learn how to prepare your food and learn how to clean your food and your body without trying to zap 99.99% of the bacteria. Because those 99.99% of bacteria are the weak ones. You know the ones that while not being as dangerous to us, put a strain on the environment of the stronger bacteria.

An environment that is good for us is not a pristine environment, it’s an environment that is balanced and that our bodies have adjusted to through evolution. Because let’s face it: bacteria can evolve a lot faster than we can!

Imagine that! It turns out that the MPGs that we see on the sticker when we shop around for cars is not exactly accurate. In fact it is rather biased toward the high end. I guess the EPA was sleeping at the wheel when they approved the numbers that go with the vehicles but no more. Starting in 2008, we can expect the MPGs to be less biased and to have less of a difference. So the estimates become more efficient but the cars become “inefficient”–get it?

Alfred and I went to the market early this morning, around 7:30 am. The air was brisk and very few people were walking around. Dave had not even gotten his arugula out when we first passed by his stand. But the pot dude was already there. I had to take a couple of glimpses to make sure that it was him because he was clean-shaven and his hair was short. Totally different from the long-bearded and disheveled hair man I had gotten used to seeing. His speech has also changed.

The pot dude usually talks to passer-bys to try to convince them that pot should be legalized because it does not cause addiction and because of other reasons that I have never cared to hear. But today he was defending using pot to make biofuel, specifically ethanol. So he went on about how carbon dioxide emissions would be kept under check if we all started using pot ethanol. I am not sure about the current technological feasibility of doing that, but I cannot help but wonder if a big chunk of the pot supply would not be diverted to other less fuel efficient uses…

When I was a kid, I used to go with my grandmother to the pine tree forests to collect pine needles to be used as bedding material for our chickens. Our nature walks were really magical for me. I remember the different scents, flowers, and how the light came across the trees. My grandmother knew mushrooms so sometimes when it rained she would pick out mushrooms to make a risotto. After our trips to the forest, I would be really hungry so she would boil homemade soup with corn bread and I would eat one or two bowls of it. She used to tell me how the fresh air from the forest “opens up your appetite.”

This week I visited Jonesboro and I saw many pine trees. I also smelled their scent after the rain. It still smell as great as it did over two decades ago…

It turns out that forests and mangroves aren’t just a source of beauty (or even mosquitoes according to some), but also a source of protection from storms. We already suspected of this after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita wrecked havoc. Now we see it once again when hurricanes Dean and Felix landed in Central America. It seems rather logical but how come we’ve only figured this out in the 21st century?

Forget the organic claim and expand on the buy local frame of mind. These days some Americans are checking labels to make sure that what they are buying is, well, American. That means, according to these folks, that the product had to travel less miles around the globe and thus less carbon dioxide emissions were created.

Call me the party pooper but one should also make sure that land or air transportation within the U.S. is environmentally friendlier that shipping things in a huge boat. Because, truthfully, if long distance transportation is able to create less emission per item than short distance transportation (because you are dividing the emissions over a lot more items), then it’s not better to buy American stuff. Think about it like this: if you go to the supermarket in a car once a month and buy all your supplies for that month, you’ll cause less emissions than if you go in a motorcycle three times per week for a month.

Everything is relative these days.

P.S. I do prefer to buy American or European than from other continents because labor practices are usually better in the U.S. and Europe, although sometimes there are exceptions.

I confess that I have a fascination for storms. Actually, it just crossed my mind that I dreamed of a tornado last night. I remember thinking in my dream “Wow, I’m actually seeing a tornado; most people never see one in their lives.” But it was all a dream, and I still have not seen one in my life.

Meanwhile in the real world, we continue to see with bewilderment, respect, and fear just how powerful a storm can be. Hurricane Felix has hit and we await Hurricane Henriette, the cause of the really beautiful image on this post. This year’s hurricane season is a lot more active than last year’s although quite not as dramatic as the year’s before last. It’s like a continuous reminder of how bad it can get when we least expect it.

I often think about how much is still unknown about our planet. It is amazing the beauty and the drama that unfold while we live our anonymous lives. Knowledge is our true immaterial legacy and yet it is also as fragile as the weakest of materials. Our understanding of things constantly evolves thanks to the many people who devote themselves to expand our knowledge. Those people who think that the mathematics, the chemistry, and the physics behind any natural phenomenon are as beautiful as the phenomenon itself, as Richard Feynman put it.

And soon we will learn much more about the ocean, which is the cradle of life in our planet, and that so many times we forget or take for granted.