Category Archives: Environmental News

Green Propositions in California Are Frustrating!

California is great for going green in a lot of ways. Lots of sunshine for those who want solar power. Often good incentives for it too. Curbside recycling in many areas.

Unfortunately, the statewide propositions we have to consider aren’t so great.

I have a love/hate thing for the system of state propositions. On the one hand, it means the votes can decide on things the legislature isn’t going to bother with. There’s a more direct say.

On the other hand, some propositions end up really being on things the legislature should have taken care of, because they require so much research to make an intelligent decision on.

The two big ones are Prop 7 and Prop 10.

It pains me to be against Prop 7. It really does. But I see its goals as unrealistic. I’d love to be able to meet those goals, but generating 20% of the energy created by government owned utilities from renewable sources by 2010 strikes me as highly unrealistic. It’s nearly the end of 2008, after all! Add in that opponents include the Sierra Club, the California Democratic Party and the California Republican Party, as well as many other groups.

But does it ever hurt to oppose it. I love the idea! Especially since the goals keep increasing. But I worry about the potential impact on smaller companies, and how we develop our use of renewable energy sources. This looks too likely to be a solution that will slow progress down, not speed it up.

When my family got together to discuss the propositions, we at first thought Prop 10 sounded good. But my mother works for the state and while she doesn’t deal with the budget in her job (she’s in worker’s comp), she certainly feels the pinch when the state can’t settle on a budget and stops paying for a time. For those of you out of state, that’s happened a lot of years lately. They get the back pay eventually, but it’s a pain.

She always gets mad when they say a bond issue won’t increase taxes. It won’t that year, but how exactly do people expect the bonds to be paid back?

Opponents also say this is mostly to fund natural gas vehicles. Not nearly so much hybrids, electric cars and so forth. These vehicles don’t even necessarily pollute less than regular ones!

As you can imagine, being against these two nominally environmental propositions is really hard for me. It would be so much nicer to have something that could be supported as a step in the right direction, even if it weren’t perfect. These two are so far beyond perfect I can’t support them.

Are You Registered to Vote? Why Not?

This year’s Presidential election is hugely important. I have my own opinions on who to vote for, but I’m not going to try to get you to vote my way just now. What I want to see is more participation.

Besides, I’m trying to be green. You can probably guess which side I lean towards anyhow.

If you haven’t already, take this video. Share it with others. Post it on your blog. And make sure you register to vote! Google is offering a great tool to help you figure out how to get started.

Will Desalinization Come Soon to Southern California?

Desalinization can be a tough topic. On the one hand I love the thought of a drought-proof source of water for the region I live in. On the other… well, it’s a bit rough around the edges so far, environmentally speaking.

A desalinization plant is pretty much approved for construction in Carlsbad, CA. They just have to get around the lawsuits now.

I agree with the points brought up in the lawsuit. They’re things I’ve often wondered about, such as what happens to the extra-salty water left over by the process? Plus the very good point that we could be doing more to conserve water.

But I also do understand that our water situation here is only likely to get worse. That’s something that needs to be planned for.

For those who are wondering, I’d cheerfully move someplace where water is less of an issue. My husband doesn’t want to move away from his family, so here we sit. I can’t complain too much, as I do overall love this area. But as it appears very likely that the water situation will keep getting worse, I have my doubts about the wisdom of that.

I have no doubt that desalinization plants will be built in California, and I expect some to start within the next few years. The demand for water isn’t going to decrease, after all, or at least not enough. Conservation isn’t a welcome habit to many people. But we do have to recognize that we are in a very water-poor climate that may be getting drier yet, as are many of the sources of our imported water. Some solution will have to be found.

So the question comes: Is now the time to start building desalinization plants? Or should more research on limiting the harms be done first?

Wind Turbines Kill Bats?

I just came across this story on Discovery. It seems that the air pressure drop caused by wind turbines is sufficient to cause the lungs of bats to pretty much blow up.

That just amazes me. You just never know what impacts you will cause when you’re trying to do right.

I would imagine this is going to be a tough one to beat. How do you keep bats and birds from flying into hazardous areas like this, especially when the bats are avoiding the actual blades of the turbines?

This is the kind of thing that will no doubt continue to challenge scientists as we try to use greener sources of energy. Some of the impacts we have just cannot be forecast.

Does It Matter Where Your Food Comes From?

Eating local is a big buzzword right now. The idea is to cut back on carbon emissions. But this report on Discovery shows that it’s not so much where your food comes from, it’s what you’re eating.

From the article:

transporting food from the farm or production site to the store contributed only 4 percent of the total greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S. food supply, while producing the food accounted for 83 percent.

That’s taking into consideration more than just carbon production. Carbon dioxide isn’t the only problem we’re dealing with here, after all.

So what should you do?

Well, just what you’d expect. The article says that red meat produces about 2.5 times the amount of greenhouse gases than any chicken or pork. So the more you cut back on beef, the more impact you’re having.

Fine by me. I’m not ready to become a vegetarian, but I already prefer chicken to beef anyhow.

If you’re wondering about the groupings, here’s more from the article:

Dairy products come in second in greenhouse impact in most of the team’s analyses, since they also come from cows. Cereals and carbohydrates; chicken, fish and eggs; and fruits and vegetables were similar to each other in their contributions.

Of course, all this doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t go local; there’s nothing wrong with decreasing those aspects you can control. But it brings up the very good point that there are bigger things you should be thinking about too.