December, 2010

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31
Dec 10

A New Year’s Wish – Energy Reduction

Today is the last day of the first decade of the millennium. Tomorrow begins a new decade.

New Year’s resolutions are generally not my style, but I am SO going to try and use my computer less this year! I love my Mac, but began to love it less when I discovered how much power it uses, which is more than my really old tv. And with my audio work and good speakers, it jumps to yet another level. Ironically, I became more concerned with how much electricity I use after my roof began supplying it and it became a game. When I payed for it all, I hardly noticed. Now that it is free, I am conscious to a fault. It all became personal.

Anyway, besides the actual work time, I’m going to make an effort to be less connected to email and use the internet less to satisfy my curiosity or get me excited about buying something. That is one great thing about all of those handheld devices available now – iPhones, etc. – the little power they use! (Though it may be in inverse proportion to the power they have over us.)

Okay here’s the leap: I often wonder how we will change our addiction to energy. Why must we? The filthiness of coal, peak oil, climate change, security, economy, the health of the planet, and especially, its inhabitants. Americans consume twice the electricity of most Europeans, and about 4 times the amount of gasoline. Other than a few oil rich countries in the Middle East, our CO2 emissions are far, far higher than anywhere else. All of this cheap juice comes at a cost, on every level. If there is a solution, it will be a joint effort, not solely personal responsibility, not just the government’s, not just industry. We all will have to contribute. How will it happen?

Here’s to a satisfying journey in 2011 and beyond. Happy New Year!

Note: If you are interested in how much power your devices/appliances use, the Kill A Watt meter is cheap, fun and easy to use.
http://www.eia.doe.gov/oiaf/forecasting.html
http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2010/12/dirty-coal-clean-future/8307/
^ ~ ^ ~ ^ ~ ^ ~ ^ ~ ^ ~ ^ ~ ^ ~ ^ ~ ^ ~ ^ ~
Barbara Hirsch, recording engineer, eco-person

“Unless someone like you cares a whole lot,
nothing is going to get better. It’s not.”

– The Lorax, Children’s book by Dr. Seuss

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24
Dec 10

Oh, Christmas tree

In case you’ve been wondering about Christmas trees, here are a few facts from the industry:

8 or 9 million people will have bought plastic ones this year (made of pvc or poly-vinyl chloride, not recyclable, usually from China) but about 50 million plastic trees will adorn homes and workplaces. If they are used for many years, they could possibly make up for their eco unfriendliness.

30 million people will have bought real trees, close to a quarter of them from “cut your own” farms. The estimated 15,000 farms that grow trees are generally beneficial to the environment (such as being carbon sinks), and the industry employs about 100,000 people. Perhaps the happiness their liveness, their lovely scent and look generates could help to offset the emissions from hauling them.

Here’s hoping you enjoy those trees and your Christmas, sacred or secular, and that you remove ALL tinsel (also pvc) from the real trees before recycling them. It just doesn’t make good mulch.

^ ~ ^ ~ ^ ~ ^ ~ ^ ~ ^ ~ ^ ~ ^ ~ ^ ~ ^ ~ ^ ~
Barbara Hirsch, recording engineer, eco-person

“Unless someone like you cares a whole lot,
nothing is going to get better. It’s not.”

– The Lorax, Children’s book by Dr. Seuss

Ecofacts blogs presented by Green Products Global:

http://www.greenproductsglobal.com/

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17
Dec 10

Forms of Goodness

There are so many forms of goodness and giving to infuse into holiday time.

My gift to you today is brevity, a few more seconds for your other, more valuable tasks. TIME! It’s what so many of us need more of, certainly more than – STUFF! So what about giving your time (or someone else’s in the form of a card or certificate) as a gift in the form of a service. Think of the value to someone you love of a massage, babysitting, cooking, organizing a closet, building a cabinet, painting – just imagine…

Merry giving time to you and thanks so much for your weekly gift to me.

^ ~ ^ ~ ^ ~ ^ ~ ^ ~ ^ ~ ^ ~ ^ ~ ^ ~ ^ ~ ^ ~
Barbara Hirsch, recording engineer, eco-person

“Unless someone like you cares a whole lot,
nothing is going to get better. It’s not.”

– The Lorax, Children’s book by Dr. Seuss

Ecofacts blogs presented by Green Products Global:

http://www.greenproductsglobal.com/

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10
Dec 10

Things that Glitter

Holiday time, especially around Christmas, is such the time for glittering, and gifts that glitter.

All these things that we dig out of the ground – metals, sparkling rocks (gems) – have so much value to us, whether it’s functional or purely aesthetic. Their costs continue to rise, and though some of this may be market driven, it is also because the actual demand increases with population and new technologies. It takes a lot of energy and workers to get the stuff, virtually always causing damage to the surrounding ecosystems through surface, open pit and underground mining. Sometimes the damage is addressed. In the developing world, where much of our highly prized metals and gems come from, it is more often not. And then there are the human rights abuses and health of the workers. It seems that the more valuable the substance, e.g. diamonds and gold, the more abuse there is – greed seems to drive a lack of compassion.

So here is one miniscule solution for this holiday season: consider buying gold and jewels, or anything that glitters for that matter, that have already been used or worn – check out antique or pawn shops, or even having jewelry remade. There is so much value in what we already have, and it’s already been dug out, fashioned and polished!

Holiday cheer to all,
Barbara

^ ~ ^ ~ ^ ~ ^ ~ ^ ~ ^ ~ ^ ~ ^ ~ ^ ~ ^ ~ ^ ~
Barbara Hirsch, recording engineer, eco-person

“Unless someone like you cares a whole lot,
nothing is going to get better. It’s not.”

– The Lorax, Children’s book by Dr. Seuss

Ecofacts blogs presented by Green Products Global:

http://www.greenproductsglobal.com/

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3
Dec 10

Copper Shines

Copper. It carries our messages and data, our voices and music, our water, our electricity. It opens and closes our doors, cooks our food. It works for us in almost every imaginable way.

The average home has 439 pounds of copper in it, mostly in wiring and plumbing, and it is in most of our machines, vehicles, electronics.
It is malleable and easily worked, is a super conductor of electricity and heat, is not chemically reactive, and pretty much lasts forever.
We also need trace amounts of it nutritionally. It is already everywhere, and yet another new and fantastic need has just appeared.

It turns out that copper’s antimicrobial properties are quite incredible. Recent clinical trials commissioned by the Department of Defense proved that if used for frequently touched surfaces in hospitals and health care facilities, it would greatly decrease the number of healthcare associated infections, and subsequent deaths. Apparently it kills 99.9% of bacteria within two hours of contact!

Scrap copper has such a high value that each year almost as much recovered copper is used as that from newly mined ore. Good thing, as our need for it, and its value will clearly continue to rise.

http://www.copper.org/education/c-facts/c-home.html
http://www.azcu.org/publicationsStar1.php
http://public.shns.com/content/antimicrobial-copper-should-be-used-all-hospitals-save-lives

^ ~ ^ ~ ^ ~ ^ ~ ^ ~ ^ ~ ^ ~ ^ ~ ^ ~ ^ ~ ^ ~
Barbara Hirsch, recording engineer, eco-person

“Unless someone like you cares a whole lot,
nothing is going to get better. It’s not.”

– The Lorax, Children’s book by Dr. Seuss

Ecofacts blogs presented by Green Products Global:

http://www.greenproductsglobal.com/