10 Little things I do to try to respect the environment (Page 2 of 5)

Now, that is a great example of government/corporate care for the environment. Chico, I agree that pointing fingers don't help, but let's face it... there's a lot to learn from some countries in the northern Europe.

Ben,
very good list of suggestions. Thanks a lot, your post is exactly what I was hoping for when I started this topic. Hopefully we'll get more. And I better fix that little leak in the shower...

GND, the item that I changed in the original post on my blog was #8 and I made a note for the change right away in the comments (check it out, it's still there): "BTW, I just changed point 8 (going to sleep and waking up early fall into point 10) with an easier to achieve use of rechargable batteries... "
The change was not related at all to your list. I hope you will reconsider what you wrote and make more constructive contributions in the future.

Madrussian,
I don't know if you should feel ashamed, but there's no doubt we could all do better.
Today, under the shower I thought that I could shave my head completely so that I wouldn't need to use all the conditioner that my long hair requires. Will I be ashamed if I won't do that? It's all up to each own priorities and values...
PS. You eat meat every day?! Better check your cholesterol, brah... I'm serious!

Chico,
thanks a lot, I didn't know about the computer swap.
I'm a decent forecaster and if there's hope for waves, I'm often on the south shore, so feel free to call me for a report.

And now, here's what I bought today at the grocery store:
- 3 papayas
- 1 zucchini
- 8 apple bananas
- 5 plums
- 4 tomatoes
- 1 honeydew melon
Number of new plastic bags introduced in the environment: 0 (I reused for the 20th time the ones I have in my car).
Discomfort level of having all those fruits and vegetable floating around in the basket: very mild.
Satisfaction level for knowing not to have polluted: extremely high. So high that made the fruit taste better... I'm not kidding, you guys should try!

PS. The total was $12.34... got to love Cash&Carry... The same stuff would have been impossible to buy at Costco (I imagine they only sell zucchini in packs of 40 in a nice plastic box...) and it would have been about $30 at Safeway.

Last edited by cammar (2007-07-24 21:22:03)

I was just about to get ready to do that... Hookipa has some waves and I have three new wave fins to try. I may need to do a post about them...

PS. Chris, make you sure you take an inflatable raft with you on your trip to UK...

Ciao Cammar,

the movie to me is no more shocking, those scenes were seen too often on TV, but they are still making me aware of the importance of respecting the environment and their resources. Thanks for this!
Just arriving back form my England trip, I can’t enjoy your, for sure, fish movie production on your blog, buhuhu!!!

Couldn’t find a inflatable raft that I could transport with my bike…loads of CO2 due to taking the ferry. I should have windsurfed there!
Even as a bike camper I used a lot of plastic, aluminium and stuff packages, and since you made me more aware of the doubts about recycling and use of plastic, it really annoys that supers don’t give possibilities to clean my plastic bottle and refill it with mineral water, which I use to mix with thick juice. And get a macrobiotic snack there instead of ages of search… and the ain’t got almond butter.
Never saw to many smashed animals the last four days, bloody like the weather and camping opportunities, 20 – 25 knots chilling down wind was to much to get a place on the campsite.
There are lots of caravan sites, where only caravans can be accommodated , cycle touring in England can be a bitch! Just like ferry companies, not taking foot passengers, the local bike shop shortening my bike chain to much and the missing of a smart bike route system for a distance of 360 km’s between 3 European countries.

And I did miss a swelly weekend…

Ciaociaociao,

So much environmental activity seems to offer little in the way of feel-good tangible results.  You know it's helping, but you really cannot see it.  Well, along comes modern wind power.  Maui erected a small grouping of turbines http://www.heco.com/vcmcontent/Corporat … 7_meco.pdf on the West side of the Isthmus and it was producing almost 10% of our energy in it's first month.  This upcoming year, a second farm will go up in Ulupalukua that when complete will bring us up to 20%.  4 other wind projects are proposed, that could bring Maui to over 50% !!!

That is without Solar, without wave energy, etc.

On the topic of wave energy capture check out these guys http://www.oceanpowertechnologies.com/tech.htm#  which have been succesfully used here in HI. 

Even so, the state goal is only a 20% reduction in conventional energy inependence by 2020.  C'mon...C'mon

Randy

www.standupzone.com

When I first saw the towers going up, I have to admit that I too thought that they were going to be a bit of an eyesore, but man, they make me proud now (and I had nothing to do with them).  Now I love to look at them. 

In this photo http://randallstrome.com/Stacks.htm you can (barely) see the toewrs before the blades were installed on the ridge in the background.   Certainly better looking than our current energy source.

It just makes you think, "if 15 of them gets us 10%, how soon can we get 150 up?"

I would not have thought Ulupalukua had enough wind, but if it does, what about the Kaahoolawe wind farm?

Last edited by Rand (2007-08-05 08:55:13)

GP,

a side note on this shot http://randallstrome.com/Undercut.htm , also here http://randallstrome.com/Overhang.htm that at least I find interesting.  A famous photo http://www.anseladams.com/index.asp?Pag … rodID=1004 was taken by Ansel Adams in this Paia cemetary just over 50 years ago.  It stood about 20 feet in front of the pictured marker.  Erosion took it long ago.  Click for the detail top center in the first shot.  It shows the more recent additions, and the normal views show the open graves.  Not my usual perky landscapes, but it gives you a sense of mortality, time and impermanance for sure.  Erosion has been at work longer than the islands have been here, but what effect global warming has, is certainly in mind.  Best,

Randy

www.standupzone.com

Last edited by Rand (2007-08-06 01:07:44)

Check this from Maui on 2002.  http://www.heco.com/vcmcontent/FileScan … rFacts.pdf We are largely Meco supplied.  There may be the perception that a good deal of our energy is coming from renwable biomass (cane, etc), but not so.  What we aren't doing in wind and solar is almost all Oil and Coal.

The windmill over near Kealia Pond was privately owned but never successful. The owner donated it to Maui Electric who also never got it to work. It rusted away until they had to dismantle it at great expense.
Looks like this current generation stuff might do the trick. With all the wind and sun here, Maui should have it going.
Where I'm employed (a car & bike dealership) they just added a new section to be totally covered in solar panels. They plan to power everything including our ice/fan type air conditioner and garage ventilation.
Rand: most excellent photos in that stack series.
GP The Maui News and several people at the coffee shop were talking about a proposal to ban all plastic bags on Maui. From your lips to God's ears I guess. Now how soon?
Today I took a smaller cup of ice from Safeway. It was a little less ice but the paper cup has to break down much faster than those thick plastic ones. Then I asked for my meat in a small baggy instead of the usual thick, heavy plastic tray. It felt like a beginning.

Love it Rand, very funny.....

'Hey kid, stop ruining the rich peoples views!' GOLD!

So I finally asked the guy at the recycling station in front of Kanaha Kai.
Here's what he told me:

- glass bottles gets recycled into the material to build the asfalt of the roads
- alluminum cans get shipped to the mainland and are melted again to do more alluminum cans
- plastic bottles are shipped to the mainland and they're used to build carpets/sleeping bags, stuff like that (that's what he said).
He had no clue about plastic bags, since his shop doesn't deal with that.

Shipped to the mainland? I don't believe it...
Melted again? Imagine the CO2 emission just to do that...
Converted into carpets? Oh, come on!

The more I know about it, the more I think that recycling does more damage than benefit.

We got to learn to reuse!

Right.
Now, if we as human species would be just a little smarter and more sensitive to the environment, we would EXCLUSIVELY produce containers that can be reused and would put penalties (worldwide) for those who don't reuse them and instead throw them away.
There you go, the problem of the waste of small containers would be resolved at once and forever.

Too bad that instead we are a bunch of idiots and we don't really care if animals die eating our waste...