More Science in Your Fiction--Being the uber-nerd on a STEM focused Comic Con panel

I am all about STEM and STEAM advocacy, so of course I jumped at the chance to be on the 2021 Comic-Con @ Home panel "Science in Your Fiction". The panel was asked about our work in STEM fields and then how comics and science fiction inspired us to get into our career paths. The 40 minute panel features: Ben Frable (marine biologist, Scripps Institution of Oceanography), Dr. Sunny Fugate (technical director for cyber warfare, Naval Information Warfare Center), Dr. Alyssa Griffin (postdoctoral fellow, Bodega Marine Laboratory, U.C. Davis), Dr. Lisa Zeigler (viral ecologist, J. Craig Venter Institute), Angela Zoumplis (extremophile explorer, Scripps Institute of Oceanography), and Chris Neuhahn (Emmy Award-winning animator, director, and writer).

Par for the course - I was the only one in costume/cosplay. Dr. Pamela Isley spent an evening embodying a Water Engineer.... I have no regrets about being the most obvious nerd in the virtual room. 

Science in Your Fiction: The League of Extraordinary Scientists & Engineers 

Comic-Con@Home 2021

Another Day Another Byline - UC Davis Arboretum Trail Tour with Dean Dillard

When my relative, Jerry Hagstrom, visited me in my new home town of Sacramento, he was encouraged to set up an interview with Helene R. Dillard, the Dean of the College of Agricultural and Environmental Science at the University of California, Davis. Due to COVID protocols, Dean Dillard could not invite Jerry into her office for a traditional sit-down interview. Instead of simply arranging a Zoom chat, she offered to give him a tour of campus. 

Once upon a time, I had considered the hydrology Bachelors of Science program at UC Davis, so I was personally excited to hear about this opportunity. When the Dean confirmed that Jerry could bring a photojournalist-chauffer-glorified bag-holder, I immediately asked for the day off work.

Dean Dillard met us in front of Mrak Hall in a crisp gray pant suit, bright blue School of Ag mask, and sneakers. She started the tour at Lake Spafford--a biological resource, recreational/ aesthetic amenity, and the widest portion of the Putah Creek. We found the trail to be relatively empty until we reached the Shovel Gateway, a 2013 art installation by Christopher Fennel that symbolizes the partnership between the City of Davis and the UC Davis Arboretum and Public Gardens. At the point, the number of joggers, bikers, and walkers noticeably increased, so we doubled back onto main campus. As we looked at the various buildings and facilities of the agriculture school, we heard about Dean Dillard's inspiring career journey. I made sure Jerry could get some exclusive interview time AND earned my various Bylines by chasing down and photographing plants and bugs and cows (for more, see the March 15, 2021 edition of The Hagstrom Report).

We wandered the water-front trail all the way to the arboretum before making the loop around to the other side of the trail/water. I really liked the Nature's Gallery art installation (pictured left). The tiles were raised and multi-dimensional, so in addition to the bright colors, one could get a feel-by-touch experience examples of the insects and drought-tolerant plants that a visitor could find n the Ruth Risdon Storer Garden. I was pleased to get a photo taken with Jerry there. =)

It was a delightful two hours and overall wonderful volunteer experience. 

Fun LID-GI Project at Vista County Courthouse

I love farmers markets. I love that these local farm-to-fork celebrations regularly and sustainably connect the people and their local land. I am so appreciative that during COVID, farmers markets continue to serve their communities. These outdoor gatherings represent a true Essential Service.

The Vista Farmer's Market, which is held each Saturday in the County Courthouse, is one of my personal favorites. Not only does it have the distinction of being the longest running market in the San Diego County region (open weekly, rain or shine, since 1981), it's co-located with great examples of sustainable design. In 2019, the Courthouse embarked upon a several million dollar parking lot resurfacing project. The project incorporates solar panels that not only provide clean energy to the site, but much needed shelter and shade for market-goers. The overhead coverage mitigates heat-island effect during the hot summer months and rain protection during the infrequent drizzles in the fall and winter. The parking lot also features several stormwater capture basins with pollution-treatment intent. I know that some of the market go-ers grumble but I delight in the xeriscape. The plants are finally starting to come into their own so asked mama to snap this pic of me near the inlet of one of the biggest central basins, right next to the picnic table where we ate market-fresh lunch. =)

Stormwater Outreach in downtown DC!

I was in DC in October 2020. When I was getting my post-airplane flight COVID test I was stupidly excited to see that the tent was set up in an area featuring multiple types of pavement, including permeable pavers.

When I was looking for the project placard, I saw that the local hydrologists had turned the USGS Potomac River monitoring station into an outreach opportunity. It was a nostalgic monitoring moment for me. This was probably one of the prettiest public-facing stations I've seen. I'll admit to gushing to the person doing the testing. You could see the confused bemusement crinkling her eyes above the mask.

 

Rental DIY Project--Front Step Flood Management & Battles with Snails

Managing runoff & Fighting pests

VIDEO DESCRIPTION: Caliwatergal applies her engineer brain to low-tech, sustainable, DIY #gardening. (Sara also showcases her very black thumb).

Flushable Wipes? No Thank You!

Never did I ever think I would write the words toilet paper crisis. COVID-19 seems to be bringing out truly surreal turns of phrase. I too ran out of this much coveted limited resource. I did not enjoy my short sojourn into the sustainable alternatives and am deeply grateful for my paper-based stock. 

My research and experiments made me aware of wipes.... a relatively new-to-me product that inspired a research rabbit hole. After an hour or so of reading, I decided to do another done-in-a-day weekend video project. The final product is technically-nerdy, videographically-rough and done in good quarantine fun. It made a friend in the wastewater industry giggle and clap.... so from my perspective, the effort was a COMPLETE success. The long-ish ~6 minute video found on YouTube here:

Wipes versus Plumbing - The No-Nos of Toilet Paper Substitution - YouTube

VIDEO DESCRIPTION: What’s the big deal about toilet paper? Flood risk management for one thing. Learn more about why your wipe choices matter.

Controlling Microplastics in Your Laundry--Review on the Cora Ball

On October 2, 2019, I was one of the lucky few to attend an in-person seminar that changed me for the better. This fateful seminar was jointly facilitated by the San Francisco Estuary Institute and the 5 Gyres Institute. Monitoring data from the San Francisco Bay estuary was presented... and the numbers reported made international front page news:

"7 Trillion Microplastic Particles Pollute the San Francisco Bay Each Year" (links here)

The message was terrifying.

I was introduced to scientists, policy makers, and change leaders that have built careers around the potential environmental risk associated with the breakdown of plastic. 

The people were inspiring.

I was intrigued by the tools, products and innovations designed to help prevent plastic from mobilizing from our homes into the environment. During the seminar, one research team had focused on at-home solutions to microfiber pollution--the plastics that wash off you clothes when you run a load laundry. The study contrasted the number of fibers captured inside the drum of the washing machine by The Cora Ball with the number of fibers captured by a custom-built filtration system installed on the discharge pipe of a washing machine. Unsurprisingly, the end of pipe filtration unit was more effective than the ball. 

Because I'm a nerd, and an engineer, and a water quality monitoring specialist, I wanted to experiment a little myself. The resulting done-in-a-day video was a great COVID-quarantine project for a rainy, trapped-inside Saturday. This 4-minute video show cases (poorly) a DIY, observational experiment using my own laundry and the facilities provided by my rental unit. Feel free to check it out on my YouTube channel here:

Controlling micro fibers in your laundry - Cora Ball v the Dryer Lint Trap - YouTube

VIDEO DESCRIPTION: Microfibers are showing up in the environment. One of the sources identified to date is wastewater... specifically your laundry. I bought the Cora Ball and threw it into a typical Saturday load of laundry. This is what happened. 

I loved the product in concept--but I'm not a fan. After the video, I gave it a few more chances. I destroyed more of my clothing than I care to remember. I didn't share that tidbit with my mother before asking her to try it out. I wanted her honest and unbiased opinion. She destroyed some clothing too. I groveled and gifted her some lovely wine.

I may never be a technical expert on plastics--macro-, micro-, nano-, or any other scale yet to be defined--BUT I can be a plastics enthusiast. "Microplastic" is now part of my personal lexicon and part of my greater trash management/recycling personal practice. I can read. I can experiment. I can share what I learn.

Options in Home Food Waste Management

Until I started juicing I had absolutely no idea how much waste was generated per ounce of juice from pound of fruit and veg. And I do mean pounds of fruit and veg... as in +500 grams, or three cups of cored sliced applies (195 calories).... or however you choose to do the math. As I juiced each weekend, I came to see that one 16 ounce serving of juice generated a lot of wet, mushy, organic byproduct. The pulp does not taste fantastic a la carte. It takes up a lot of room in the freezer. It quite frankly is a pain to think about and more difficult to deal with if you want to avoid the trash can.

Option 1: Green Waste Bin FAIL! Most recycling programs don't like it when you mix food waste and green waste. The rotting effect is not pleasant and has a tendency to be detremental to the mulching process.... California public agencies are working on it, I promise (see Assembly Bill 1826), but I strongly advise against trying this disposal method until otherwise directed by your local waste management authority.

Option 2: Compost it! I built a composting area in the yard using scrap pallets... builder beware of spiders and rusty nails. Using half remembered rules from my grandparents' compost pile, I made sure the material was covered to keep it moist. I used a combination of shade, leaves and cardboard... the cardboard melted after a while and looked really trashy. The leaves were an unnecessary mess to flop around... I recommend a different approach. In retrospect, my grandparents built a little shed in the back part of the farm space for their compost pile. That may work better, if you have the land.  The compost pile was watered weekly because the starter soil was sandy and dry - the water mostly ran off or turned the mix into clayey rocky hard pan. So my next bit of advice - start with okay soil... it will make the process more inspiring (you see good soil faster) and less messy. 

There is also an art to keeping the right mix of moisture and muck in the compost heap. Per YouTube, it is important to ensure that all food was cut up into smallish chunks (it helps dry the material out, rather than rot), and helps prevent or minimize the draw for rats/cats/vermin... and makes it easier for you to spread the material across the compost (again to increase pile-food contact to minimize mucky-mold growth and maximize worm allure). It was heavy work to turn the pile daily to keep the works interested and the much activated... my back was not happy many days... but if you have the time, space energy and use... composting takes care of a lot of material and generates a lot of good soil.

Option 3: In Garden Worm Bins. If you're lucky enough to be planting into soil, where the worms grow, you can create vermicompost directly in your garden. Tree Hugger has a good how to description here. The troubles in the garden were inadequate capacity for all the green waste I juice generated... and spiders. Fear generating encounters with Recluse spiders was not something I enjoyed. But the manual waste management was negligible and the worms helped the garden quite a bit!

Option 4: Worm Bins in Plastic. Composting in a barrel will a worm colony is not much easier than option 2... but it has the benefit of a smaller, possibly cleaner footprint. Some may claim you can create the much coveted worm tea from worm bins... but reader beware of possible bacterial risks associated with improperly digested leachate. More on that and proper worm tea creation here.. 

I kicked the bucket on the whole juicing-composting process last year. It was a fun experiment for a year or two, but now I happily dish out $10-$12 for 16 ounces of organic, sustainability harvested and properly waste managed juice (cold pressed from 3 whole pounds of fruit and veg locally grown but not by me or mine!). Now I know what all those dollars are for. The chiropractor!

My misadventures with Neem Oil Concentrate

For the last two years my boyfriend and I have been very interested in the local and organic food movement. We have obtained most of our fruit and veg from local farmers markets, and failing that at least from the organic section of the grocer. Last November we put our toe in the water, seeing what it means to grow our own food. I bought one spinach plant and one rainbow chard plant and then had the privilege of watching them die by means of fat green caterpillars and my own southern Californian, urban-raised black-thumbs. In January I tried again, only adding two chamomile plants to my potted garden collection. Again the leafy greens died. I thought that the chamomile was toast, and yet I still have two very happy flowering plants. I guess that was the turning point – because the stick plant is now a small bush and the former bush is slowly becoming a tree!

We started collecting the tools we would need to grow our food garden – soil, pots, seeds, spray cans, etc. Our goal was organic, so no sprays. We had an emergency planting session in late March when we discovered that a bunch of our seeds had not been properly protected from moisture and sprouted in their plastic bags. From that day forward we became farmers. Now I have a dozen melons and watermelon plants, too many cucumber plants, beats, kale, a few leafy spring mixes, arugula, basil, chard, parsley, strawberries, and dozens of herbs that I cannot identify let alone name (thank you Google!).  

When the plants stayed indoors, they were very happy… but we quickly ran out of space for the two of us, so to the backyard they went! Then we all had the fun of understanding over- and under-watering, root rot and of course, reacquainting ourselves with our lovely friends green caterpillars and sucky-bugs. I still screech and shudder every time I need to squish a big juicy caterpillar… but I am getting better! Promise! Still, we were losing ground and something needed to happen before we had no garden left. We tried the dove-cayenne pepper-water spray and other organic mixes from YouTube. No luck. Plus I was not keen on sacrificing our blender to soap duty full time…. we kept looking and discovered Neem Oil. Many many many research videos later, we decided to keep an eye out for this incredible non-toxic organic-gardening product.

May passed into June with no Neem Oil luck. And then I thought I’d struck gold – there was Neem Oil at Home Depot! (Natria Neem OilConcentration-706240B by Bayer Advanced) It worked great – in fact, too I think the stuff worked a little too well. There were several of my green squishy nemeses lying convulsed and very dead at the base of the kale the next morning. We’ve used our home-mixed Neem Oil spray twice since I bought in last month - it works very well when we use it and the squishy green guys come inching back when we take a break…. What I find interesting is the change in our plants within that one month time. Now, to be fair, I be spraying, I may have made the stuff too concentrated, or I am simply did not washing my kale enough, but my boyfriend has been complaining about an increased bitter taste. Last night my mouth went numb from the stuff from my back yard. This is a problem that I am not keen to perpetuate. I think my organic garden may not be as organic as I would like to think.

I looked at the product label today. The ingredient list was a little vague – 70% neem oil concentrate and 30% “other ingredients.” When I read food labels “other ingredients” is a red flag that includes anything from chemical preservatives to food coloring. Honestly, it could be water, but I am not about to hold my breath. The Bayer website is not very helpful because I cannot even find the product listed. I need to dive deeper into the issue and try to find out more!

Asking Questions

There are some days when I ask a million questions and chatter all day. Other days I spend in complete silence. Lately, I have become more aware of this dichotomy, and even feel a little self-conscious of it. Rather than try to radically change my behavior, I have been meditating on the motivations and meanings of one of my core mantras – Ask Questions. I was surprised by what came up.

Ask Questions is a lot more than a simple self-reminder to ask questions when they come up… To me Ask Questions has a myriad of meanings that encourage me to:

– Be an Active Listener.

– Be Bold. Speak up when the room is silent.
– Be Clear.
– Be Damn Certain! Do you really have all the answers?
– Be Ernest & Engaged. The response reflects the attitude with which the question is asked.
– Be Focused. Get to the point! Rambling = Trouble.
– Be Genuine. If you don’t want to know, don’t ask.
– Be Humble. What can you learn today?
– Be Inquisitive. Think inside, outside, and around the box.
– Be Jazzed!
– Be Kind. How is your loved-one/co-worker/friend/neighbor doing?
– Be Led by the conversation, but also be willing to re-focus on the topic at hand.
– Be Meditative. Take the time to digest what has been said.
– Be Neutral.
– Be Open to open-ended questioning.
– Be Precise. Communication is a complicated business – What are you really asking?
– Be Quiet. Let the answer be answered before you ask another question.
– Be Rational & Irrational. Can you break the logic?
– Be Still – it helps focus on the speaker.
– Be Tenacious. You might not get an answer on the first or second or even tenth try.
– Be Up to Date with your facts, figures, and background knowledge.
– Be Voracious!
– Be Willing to explore. The journey of discovery often teaches more than the answer ever will.
– Be X-acting.
– Be Yourself.
– Be Zeus. Some days you don’t need to ask. You just know.

What does Asking Questions mean to you?

The Game of Questions&Answers

At work I an engineer in a sea of scientists. For all that my colleagues and I took the same math and science classes in school, we still think differently. My brain packages up the big and small picture to create "solutions." Their brains ask "Who?" "What?" "Why?" long after I've gone to the beach for an evening swim. Some days we don't speak the same language; but then on other days we harmonize and create Art! Those days of Artistry happen when I remember to play the game of Questions&Answers.

The game of Questions&Answers is based in the Scientific Method. The premise of the Scientific Method is that reality will speak for itself, if the seeker takes the time to objectively Listen. Notice, I did not start with a carefully crafted study question and hypothesis. Life rarely follows the rules of your typical high school chemistry notebook and therefore scientific inquiry cannot start full-throttle! First, there is a period of Listening and Introspection, or as William Whewell put it, "invention, sagacity, [and] genius."

There are a lot of facts and opinions that make up the universe.
Some are relevant.
Some you think are relevant.
Some are relevant, but in a different way.
And some are just distracting.
The key is Listening; Asking the Question - What else?; and then Listening again.

It takes time and patience - more than I think I have some days. To decide dinner plans? It only takes 1-2 iterations, a few meditative breaths. To design a multi-million dollar monitoring program? Let's just say, things become more involved.

Either way, I am dedicated to playing the game of Questions&Answers - At work, at home, in my relationships. It's a game that should be played everyday! It helps keep me from jumping in too soon, with a head full of assumptions, emotions, distractions, worries... I use the game to identify the most relevant questions, clarify my foundational assumptions, develop test-able hypotheses and then (and only then) appropriate testing parameters. That's when I start navigating the chemistry notebook.

LID v. GI?

Recent chat on LinkedIn brought a new combined acronym to my attention - LID/GI.

The North American stormwater industry knows the acronym LID.  Low Impact Development, or LID for short, is a land planning/engineering approach which uses small-scale, “natural” hydrologic controls (i.e., infiltration, filtration, evaporation, detention close to the source, storage/reuse,) to mimic pre-development hydrologic conditions.  LID is an important tool for meeting the goals of the Clean Water Act and plays a role in Greening Cities, Smart Growth, and Green Infrastructure (GI).

In reference to the USEPA website, GI appears to be the integrated consideration for habitat/energy/community/water/air.  Keeping things at the highest (graphical) level – I could assume LID would support water-specific GI… wherein GI would be used to achieve the equivalent paradigm shift that the Australians did with water-sensitive urban design (WSUD) in 2009…. to encourage management of stormwater runoff as a resource rather than a nuisance or liability. At least, this is where my heart hoped the conversation will/would lead.

Alas, the story forms a bit differently.

“Unlike single-purpose gray stormwater infrastructure, which uses pipes to dispose of rainwater, green infrastructure uses vegetation and soil to manage rainwater where it falls.”  If interpreted strictly, this would exclude container-ized aspects of LID (tanks, barrels, cisterns), making GI a sub-set of LID.  This language appears to be in closest parallel to the April 2007 Green Infrastructure Statement of Intent, wherein this natural approach to proposed for managing sanitary sewage overflows and/or combined stormwater/sanitary sewer overflows.  Similarly, California’s January 2012 Green Design funding guidance, Guidelines for Green Infrastructure Components, references green roofs and porous pavement for infiltration and evapotranspiration.

However, the GI discussion on the USEPA website lead and supporting case studies for cisterns, bioinfiltration, porous concrete, stormwater vaults, drought tolerant landscaping, etc… making the case for GI and LID to be interchangeable – a single acronym – when considered in the stormwater world.  Examples of this merging of terms is increasingly prevalent in USEPA documents, state permits, agency discussions, and even professional commentary.

So it appears that the potential for GI to push the envelope, to shift a paradigm, has slipped back into the same old story of stormwater management. LID/GI rules supreme, where liability tracking continues, water flows and capture/reuse remains the benefit++ target of the rare, brave, and few.

Water and Fashion

I love shopping and I love clothes. I am a huge fan of second hand/thrift store/garage sale finds and well-matched clothing exchanges. Upcycling someone else's bleh items into my bohemian posh closet brings me a lot of happiness, eco-heart and monetary savings... a Win-Win-WIN!

But sometimes a girl has a need to walk into the mall and get herself something NEW! I am trying to buy more sustainably (eco-cotton, bamboo or hemp cloth, up-cycled materials) but it can be hard. I have my favorites (namely Prana and Xylem) but these labels tend to have limited variety, consisting mostly of casual and active wear, with a limited selection of sweaters and trousers I regularly  professionalize for the office.

Variety is why I am so excited about the new 80-piece spring collection by H&M - The Garden Collection is being marketed as green fashion at affordable prices. Clothing will be made in organic cotton and linen, recycled polyester, and tencel (a renewable material - bleached wood pulp). The launch of this new collection will be in partnership with a revatalization of the H&M supply chain and water usage.  The new program, based upon the recommendations of the WWF, will involve re-hashing the supply chain (fabrics and other direct suppliers); watershed-level stakeholder engagement in the Yangtze and Brahmaputra watersheds; a new internal employee training program on water issues; water conservation projects in China (a very timely effort, since there has been recent front-page new questioning if China will run out of water by 2030!); and public outreach. At present H&M self-reports to be the #1 user of organic cotton and 300 million Liters in water savings for demin production, with more to come in the future.

Things will be kicking off in late March/early April... just in time for my Birthday. Now I know where to direct inquiries for gifts. =)

Watch Out for Elevated FIB!

Fecal Indicator Bacteria (or FIB for short) are used to measure the quality of water for recreational and a variety of other "beneficial uses." As a California-based environmental engineer specialized in watershed and water resources management, it is not at all surprising that I have been spending the last several years getting up close and personal with FIB. California is a big water recreation state and FIB are an important component of ensuring that the public health is preserved.

Lately I have been working in the Los Angeles area (Inner Cabrillo Beach), where there has been a long-term history of elevated FIB counts. I have spent over 1/10th of my life there over the last two years. I have become achingly familiar with the sand, wind, sun and water, the eel grass, and the bird exclusion structure and the people. I have learned to keep an eye out for sources of FIB. I have a masterful eye.

When I came across the Yahoo story about 30K-40K dead fish piled up on along the Georgetown County shoreline, and the government's plan to let rotting fish lie, my first thought was how high will the FIB counts be?

Vision Boarding - An Eco-Honored Tradition?

Vision Boarding - the process of decimating tens to hundreds of forms of print media to identify, cut and paste "resonate" words and images to create a colorful collage of who/what/where/when/how/water to depict (and lead me to) my desired future - is an artistic process I started two to three years ago. I honestly cannot remember how (or why) I started the practice… but I recognize that the scope, scale and style of my Boards have changed astronomically.

My first attempts were very typical - unsophisticated fashion magazine re-creations glued to a piece of bleached white poster board.When the Vision faded a few months later, these disposable collages traveled from my wall to my trash can. Quickly, the waste associated with that type of Board started to bother me. My eco-angst didn’t stop the Vision Boarding, but it did inspire me to start innovating!

Spring 2011 - see the boots?

There were experiments with sticky media – glue(s), gum (ewwww!), wax, rubber cement, tape(s), Quakehold putty, and push pins. There were experiments with hanging media – the aforementioned white poster boards quickly disappeared, and were followed by card board (boxes), Styrofoam, and a standard cork pin board. By taping or pinning my Vision to my ancient cork board (I’ve owned it since elementary school), I have been able to re-use images and words over and over and over again… if I feel so called.  (I have this amazing image of muddy steel toe work boots next to a pristine leather briefcase – the perfect balance of field and professional work – that will never leave my Boards since I have everything to say about it!) I source my magazines second hand from friends, family, co-workers, even other Vision Boarders… and about three months ago I discovered my best source yet - the library re-sale shop.  There one can find a diverse selection of media for $0.25 a piece (cheap!), my donations benefited a fantastic community resource (awesome!), and for magazines where I only used one or two and I was careful with page removal, I could close the loop and re-donate back to the store (recycling!). It has truly turned out to be a triple win. Given that Boarding involves cutting up a lot of paper, my methods seem about as eco-friendly as feasible... Right?

Perhaps/Perhaps not. The Environmental Defense Fund and the Paper Task Force have collaboratively developed a neat comparative calculator that looks at the environmental impacts of different types of paper. I tested the calculator to guesstimate the eco-footprint of one year of Vision Boarding (assumptions: 4x/year using 1 package of 0.5 lb of "Solid Bleached Sulfate paperboard" and 10 "Coated groundwood" magazines per Board). Of course the proposed Vision Boarding activity is of such a small scale that it didn't register for most of the enviromental impacts (tree cutting, waste byproducts, pollutant loads associated with erosion), but the calculator did project an equivalent of 45 pounds of Carbon production and 160 gallons of water use.  In constrast, an equivalent volume of 100% recycled "Paperboard: Coated Recycled Board (CRB)" would use about 20 gallons of water and produce 22 pounds of Carbon.

There is definitely a benefit to recycling, but source seems to be the main problem. In 2007, Web Leads, Print Pubs Improve Environmental Impact identified 100 of the 18,000 magazines in print that used some recycled paper content or used responsibly sourced virgin fiber. At the equivalent source website, I identified 119 magazine options. Only a few of these magazines are within my regional readership (key exceptions include: Cottage Life; MAKE; Ms.; SURFER; Whole Foods Market Magazine; and Yoga Journal). While I am sure there are many other eco-friendly magazine options available, the fact remains that the industry tends to lag behind newpaper and book publishers in the recyled-material revolution because of cost and appear/quality. Like so many other things, knowing who to support for being green and who to criticize for occasionally "green-washing" parts of publications, will fall to the already overwhelmed consumer.

There is also the possibility of going paperless and wireless all together (i.e., VisionBoardSite.com, www.mapourlives.com,  digitaldreamboard.com, http://www.visionboardinstitute.com, etc). But as someone who is computer-bound 8+ hours/day at work, I am not looking for more computer time.  Access to a plethora of Google images does not offset my eye strain and headaches. Besides, an on-line solution may not be the best solution.  In Web Leads, Print Pubs Improve Environmental Impact, Mark Glaser frames the eco- and econo- arguments to going wireless and highlights possible hidden costs - what about the impact of electronic themselves as they are “recycled”or otherwise discarded? What about the carbon footprint of electricity and power used for server farms?


September 2011 - see the Wall of China?

The last possibility is to toss the Vision Board process all together, as suggested by Neil Farber, M.D., Ph.D. His critique focuses on the possibility for the Boarder to focus on Dreaming rather than Action.  Dr. Farber uses five interesting case studies conducted at universities across the United States to support his hypothesis. He has a point. In 2011, I spent a lot of time and energy constructing Vision Boards that did not take shape. The visions that were realized still blow my mind. Remember my favorite work boots/brief case image? After three years of trying to position myself for an emergency response effort, my company deployed me for the Joplin tornado effort... after Vision Boarding with that image for the first time. After I pasted the Great Wall of China on my Vision Board, I heard my supervisor and a project manager discussing staffing conflicts for a conference and a nameless river project. I stepped up to volunteer for the conference, and the project manager asked me if I wanted to go to Zhuzhou City, China for a river assessment effort. 

Coincidence or Visioning? I choose not to say. But I do believe that my goal setting brain has been opened to include possibilities I would've never imagine without the stimulation of this process. Sorry Dr. Farber, I will be Vision Boarding into the future no matter what your professional opinion... I just may be testing online tools and using recycled paper magazines more often than I do now.



Sustainable Wood

Two weeks ago I found a sturdy, scratched-up, old table behind the dance studio I regularly attend. I’ve been looking for a new art project. I liked the size/shape of the table… so I started to teach myself the art of carving inlays on its surfaces. I quickly discovered that the table consisted mostly of particle board. Particle board is a mind-boggling building material – effectively glued and compressed wood chips, shavings, and dust – it is cheaper, denser and more uniform than natural wood, which makes it the preferred material sold at IKEA. Particle board shreds, gouges and otherwise does not like to be disturbed by a chisel. Luckily, the table does have a thin real wood finish that works with my attempts to be artistic. I have had great fun learning how to make straight lines with consistent breadths and depths – as long as I get to work with the real wood. But real wood is expensive! I am not willing to throw away the money on my new “hobby” on the good stuff. Until my skills improve, I have found a few work arounds. I am starting to gather drift wood from the beach for small whittling projects and am contemplating contacting a man on craigslist about getting one of his hundreds of chopped down palm trees to have a go at making my own Tiki.

Why all this discussion about wood?

Well, on October 15, 2012, the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) held the Green Life of Wood – Life CycleAssessment Workshop which was tasked to review the environmental impacts of wood from “cradle to cradle.” I have seen a few Youtube videos on the benefits of transforming wood into biofuel – a claimed carbon-neutral system through a balance of carbon sequestration during tree growth/re-growth and carbon release during combustion.  The presentation by Nicolas Mainville, a Greenpeace Canada representative, points out the potential for carbon mis-accounting, especially for large material exports between North America and Europe.  This, along with the potential environmental trade-off with regard to high water demands and potential water quality impacts due to urban runoff and air quality impacts of combustion makes me less-than-enthusiastic about biofuels in general, let along wood biofuels (see earlier comments in the post Energy from your toilet...). 

Sylvain Labbe proposed a series of taxes to provide a financial protection against a wood-industry related Tragedy of the Commons.  I studied this is solution/theory extensively in school. Theoretically the market system will balance out negative environmental impacts provided sufficient economic drivers.  The problem in implementation is “taxes” – they are politically unpopular, difficult to establish and then, as shown by the insanely complex US tax legal system, can be relatively easy to circumvent to loop-hole around.  Also, there arises the question of how a market functions when the system has limited to no resources to draw upon… Here I pointedly make an example of attempts for water trading/banking and function of the Australian water markets during the 12 year drought that recently ended. I love the idea of the economic market-based solution, but I have difficulty relying on that model.

Still, I like the idea of non fossil fuel sources of energy and pushing for sustainable building materials. Every technology and emerging solution has a slow start-up and sustainable wood, may indeed be sustainable in the long term. I continued my research on specific trees that are proposed to be sustainable and found:

·       Cork oak, a slow-growing tree used to create cork, can be harvested/stripped up to 16 times during its 200 year lifetime. Cork is used for wine bottle stoppers and certain building materials.

·       Poplar, a fast-growing species of tree that produces soft, light weight wood used for biofuel and/or materials constructed for light-weight and cheapness rather than durability.

·       Pongamia pinnata / karum tree / poonga-oil tree, a fast-growing, drought hardy evergreen that thrives in hot-dry climates and supposedly does not require pest control and as a non-food crop can be grown on marginal lands.

·       Bamboo is an incredibly light, tough building material that can be harveted within 3-5 years (compared to 10-20 years for most soft woods). Bamboo is used for scaffolding, fences, bridges, furniture, flooring and bricks. Bamboo is a popular sustainable wood, with draw-backs. It is water thirsty. It is a key food for the endangered Giant Panda and improper harvesting can be harmful. It growth like a weed and can become an invasive plant if not maintained properly. 

·       Teak, an exotic hardwood from Asia, has a reputation of being sustainable.  Native trees have become engangered by overharvesting - there are a few sustainble farmed options, but in general, environmentally sound teak is hard to come by - Burma is the only country that still exports teak from natural forests, mostly illegal.

 

Articles  also looked at the sustainability of Ash (typically only farms because forests have been destroyed), Pine (same as Ash), Mahogany (mostly endangered), and a variety of other woods. The jury is out on wood as a sustainable building material and possible biomass, but this research definitely opened my eyes to the need to be very careful about all wood purchases made in the future!

2012 Nobel Prizes

Alfred Nobel (1833-1896) was born in Stockholm, Sweden, on October 21, 1833. He was an innovator, engineer, chemist, writer, and concerned citizen of the world. Nobel invented and patented 350 different creations, his most famous invention being dynamite.  When his brother Ludvig died in 1888, a French newspaper erroneously published Nobel's obituary, proclaiming Le marchand de la mort est mort ("The merchant ofdeath is dead.”). It is believed that this condemnation motivated him to change his legacy, resulting in much of Nobel’s wealth (i.e., 31,225,000 Kronor or approximately $4,700,000 US) to be willed to the establishment of five Nobel Prizes. The Nobel Prizes have been awarded annually since 1901 for achievements in physics, chemistry, physiology or medicine, literature and for peace.

As a Swede, I have a soft spot for Nobel. When I was in 3^rd grade, I even went to school wearing a full navy blue pin-stripe suit with red clip-on bow tie in order to more fully embody him as I presented his biography to my fellow classmates… Needless to say, I am aware of the awards and their history. On Friday, October 12, 2012, the Nobel Prize committees (Sweden and Norway) announced this year’s winners. I saw the original announcement on the Swedish consulate’s website, but have obtained the following from www.nobelprize.org.

• PHYSICS - Serge Haroche and David J. Wineland "for ground-breaking experimental methods that enable measuring and manipulation of individual quantum systems"
• CHEMISTRY - Robert J. Lefkowitz and Brian K. Kobilka "for studies of G-protein-coupled receptors"
• PHYSIOLOGY/MEDICINE - Sir John B. Gurdon and Shinya Yamanaka "for the discovery that mature cells can be reprogrammed to become pluripotent"
• LITERATURE - Mo Yan "who with hallucinatory realism merges folk tales, history and the contemporary"
• PEACE - European Union (EU) "for over six decades contributed to the advancement of peace and reconciliation, democracy and human rights in Europe"
• ECONOMICS - Alvin E. Roth and Lloyd S. Shapley "for the theory of stable allocations and the practice of market design"

I cannot comment on the worthiness of the awardees, but I have found this year’s peace prize selection interesting.  At first I objected to the idea of the award going to an organization, not an individual. Then I recalled that the United Nations and Red Cross have won multiple times and I fully supported the award going to the International Panel on Climate Change in 2007. Upon further research, I was surprised that in the last 111 years, 24 awards went to organizations. The first went to the Institute of International Law in 1904. That Prize was awarded for the organization’s influence on international law and peace through actions such treaty arbitration (e.g., Suez Canal) and the formulation of customary international law (Hague Peace Conferences of 1899 and 1907 utilized its studies on the laws of war).

According to Nobel Prize Director Geir Lundestad, the EU was selected for its long-term influence on peace (which is so unlike President Obama’s award in 2009 after less than 1 year in office). In addition to being a pivotal organization for establishing French/German relations, he pointed to the recent peaceful developments in the Balkans, like how Croatia plans to join the EU in 2013, and the promotion of human rights in Turkey. Lundestad sidestepped a question about the Prize’s influence on the European economy, instead focusing on the unanimous (5 of 5) vote for the EU, in spite of the Norway’s strong non-EU political position. The EU selection will be controversial, but likely not enough to stir the pot like the Dali Lama did in 1989.

I was also a little sad to see another year with no female Laureates. As a female engineer, I look to these types of international awards as a societal sign post. In 2007 and 2008 there was at least one woman Laureate, and in 2009 five of the recipients were women. This group represented expertise in chemistry, medicine and economics (I really connected with Ostrom’s work on the tragedy of the commons while in school) in addition to the more traditional literature Prize. (Alternatively women tend to receive the Peace Prize, but as I mentioned before, it went to Obama). In 2011 Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Leymah Gbowee and Tawakkol Karman shared the Peace Prize for their “non-violent struggle for the safety of women and for women’s rights to full participation in peace-building work” in the Arab world. I would’ve loved to see the first female Olympians from Saudi Arabia, Wojdan Shaherkani and Sara Attar, recognized… but there are also many arguments against their selection – including the fact that they are brave athletes who were saluted at the London Games this summer.

I could continue this blog by going into a technical review of the Laureates (I am intrigued by the quantum physics articles), but I feel complete with this discussion for tonight. Congratulations to all of the 2012 Nobel Prize winners – I look forward to watching and cheering you on with my fellow Swedes at our Nobel annual dinner.

S

Oh, and don’t be like Sinclair Lewis, the 1930 Laureate in Literature, who was frightened by his early morning visit by Santa Lucia and her entourage. Enjoy the morning coffee and song... she's human, not an angel, I promise.

A Day Without Water

I live in a three bedroom house in San Diego and today my home has no water. I live in an affluent region of one of the most affluent countries in the world. “I don’t have water” is a very odd statement for me to make… and it’s an incredibly surreal way to live. When I turn on the faucets in the kitchen or bathroom, all I hear is the slurping suction of moist air and a rattling of the old copper pipes. I am afraid to flush the toilet because, well, I like my liquids! So I am developing a longer-term agreement with the color yellow and have placed a temporary “extra” rubbish bin next to the loo.

We do have two 1-gal glass jugs of drinking water, plus a container full of about the same of tap water for washing+other. It’s a short term fix.

A very short term fix.

I was conscious of just how short term that supply will be as I carefully measured out a glass of water for my morning toiletry/bathing activities. It was like being back at Burning Man, minus the dust. A month ago John and I consciously chose to spend eight days in the desert plus one in Yosemite with a 27 gallon water supply. Water consumption (i.e., drinking and cooking) was carefully orchestrated. Bathing was usually by means of baby wipes or the communal camp “shower” (i.e., being soaped up and sprayed down with help from a hand-pump pressurized power washer, a system to which we happily donated five gallons of water - showers for ~20 of our campmates).  I’ve gotten water-greedy since coming home and balk at the idea of being limited to 1.2 gallons of water today. Last night’s pipe accident has been a sustainability wake-up call!

Oh, did I mention that our lack of water is our own fault? John was out in the yard, prepping the front-side area for re-landscaping, when he hit a shallow copper water line. According to the 2010 California Plumbing Code, all underground piping shall have a minimum 12-in of cover, which is what made finding pipe at 6 inches (or less) so surprising.  We patched the leak with hose clamps and plastic. It was enough that we could fill up our emergency containers (Alas, I cannot say that we were so prepared as to having pre-filled containers!) and John could rinse off the mud before we turned off our connection to the water main.

 

The sun is up and as I drink my careful alotment of tea, I contemplate materials for our at home repair job - solder (lead free 95/5 tin/antimony), k strength copper pipe and couplings, flux, cutters, sand paper and a blow tourch, as well as good ways to drain an underground, shallow water system at the lowest point in the house.

 

Needless to say, it's going to be an interesting day.

Happy Sunday!

S

A Flight full of Sunshine! Solar Impulse Crosses the Straight of Gilbrater!

From a distance, the long and skinny shape of the Solar Impulse (HB-SIA) could almost be mistaken for a UFO, a dinosaur bird, or maybe a hopped up paper airplane. Closer observation would reveal a solar powered flying machine!

This spring the Solar Impulse team kicked off a mission to fly "more than 1,500 mi (2,500 km) without using one drop of fuel." Pilot Andre Borschberg flew the first leg of the journey, and marked history for the first transcontinential flight from Payerne, Switzerland to Madrid, Spain. The plane made excellent time and rather than circle the airport for two hours in high turbulence, was able to land at 01:28AM, on May 26, 2012. On June 5, 2012, Bertrand Piccard and the HB-SIA completed the world's first intercontinental flight, a 19-hour voyage from Madrid to Rabat, Morocco, directly over the Straight of Gilbrater. The plane was met by the ground crew of the Solar Impulse, journalists and representatives of the Morrocan Agency for Solar Energy (MASEN), who were celebrating the construction kick-off of the world's largest solar-thermal power plant.

The plane requires 12,000 solar cells to power the four electric motors that allow it to stay aloft. The cruising speed of 44 MPH may be a little slow compared to fossil-fuel powered commercial craft, but the plane represents a huge step into the future. The HB-SIA flies on direct solar power during daylight hours, and when there is energy in excess, it is stored in one of four batteries on board, allowing the plane to reliably travel under both daylight and nighttime conditions. This fantastic design allows the Team to prepare for their 2014 mission... fly around the world on solar power alone.

I welcome the Solar Impulse and watch for more news!

--

The YouTube video Solar plane's first international flight is worth watching. I personally, like making the comparison with its 2001 unmanned predicessor, the Helios. (Check out the flapping effect of the Helios in turbulance - it starts at minute 1:43 on the YouTube video).

Energy from your toilet...

Scientists from Singapore have designed a new low-flow toilet which separates human solids and liquids and requires a reduced water volume per use. According to the article the new design reduces water use 90% compared to standard Singaporian systems. (((Note - The water reduction appears a little inflated. Singapore mandates use of high efficiency toilets: ~1.6 gal/solids flush and/or ~0.8 gal/ liquid only flush. The new toilet uses 0.2 gal/liquid only flush, a 75% reduction; and 1 gal/solids flush, a 60% reduction. The 90% is a comparison of the old solid/new liquid water use. Still, these reductions are significant, provided a proven design... pilot test results pending.))) The remains would be separated on site for materials reuse - liquids for fertilizers; and solids for biomass fuels.

I have heard a lot about biomass, and was intrigued by the  idea, so more research ensued. There are many organizations and public agencies working with various types of biomass materials, ranging from corn-based ethanol, to (clean) coal, fecal matter, and even trash!!! combustion. Each of these areas have a common intent to upcycle perceived waste materials into an alternative fuel, but all are subject to different governing criteria. Typically a biomass' energy is harnessed through burning. My father was the air quality expert, not me, but having grown up around the industry, I feel hesitant to sign-off on burning as a clean, green, renewable means to harness energy. But as a conservationist, I also do not condemn the entire biomass fuel supply in favor of a wind/solar-only energy grid.

Generally, I agree with the Energy Justice position that Anything that creates pollution in the course of producing electricity shouldn't be considered clean... or renewable. I do believe that...

• Wastewater sludge is the best and greenest biomass option. It has an renewable, endless human supply (yes, I am a future fan of the No-Mix Vacuum Toilet design). Sludge/solids biomass is an improvement upon raw fossil fuel combustion, but it is associated with four odors and green house gases. These side effects may be controllable on a smaller scale. I can think of a few start up technologies useful for inline treatment. We shall see.
• Agricultural waste is a not-so-great biomass option. Anaerobic digestion of this type of waste  helps factory farms manage their chemical-laden non-organic biproducts. In reality, agricultural waste should be incorporated back into the land, or composted before it is burnt. Landfills don't need more slop.
• While wood is a biomass, it is also a valuable, dwindling resource. I prefer straight upcycling to its destruction. Also, wood biomass has a potentially toxic risk - accidental burning of wood treated with copper chromium arsenate (CCA) is toxic and shown to be carcinogenic. According to Energy Justice, 30% of biomass wood burned contains CCA (eeep!).
• Burning trash is a horrible option, only slightly less bad than raw fossil fuels and a wonderful waste of potential resources. 

I have a lot more to learn on this topic. Input and counter views are welcomed.

Cheers ~
S

Tûranor PlanetSolar

I love reading in the mornings - it takes one places! Today, over a lovely cup of Yerba Matte, I traveled around-the-world journey with the Tûranor PlanetSolar and her crew. The Tûranor, literally named power of the sun based on J.R.R. Tolkien's elven language, is the largest solar powered catamaran in the world. The vessel is 102ft (31m) long, 49ft (15m) wide, 20ft (6.1m) tall, and covered in 0.13 acres (537 m^2) of solar pannels. The Tûranor weighs a mere 95 tons, due to a light carbon material used in its construction. Her maiden voyage was in March 2010 in Kiel, Germany. The world circuit started on September 27, 2010 at Monoco, and the vessel and her four person crew traveled westward, along the equator. The 584 day journey included a planned series of outreach events at major international cities (i.e., Miami, Cancun, Brisbane, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Singapore, Abu Dhabi, etc.), and a unplanned encounter with pirates!



Tûranor PlanetSolar

A blog describing the journey and the captain's log is available online <http://www.planetsolar.org/>. I am slowly exploring both - Having grown-up on boats, I feel a little warm and fuzzy thinking about the constant push for sustainability both on land and at sea!

A Question of Personal Sustainability

I love looking at the roots of words. The word sustainability is derived from the Latin sustinere (tenere, to hold; sus, up). While it has a unique legal application (to sustain or approve/uphold in terms of laws and/or previous legal decisions), the noun, defined in terms of enduring, maintaining, supporting, continuing... has been used synonymously with the environmental movement since the 1980s. According to the 1987 United Nations Report of the World Commission on Environmental Development: Our Common Future <http://www.un-documents.net/ocf-02.htm> “sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs." I personally consider the UN definition to be a great mission statement but hard to pin down as a definition... what does "needs" mean and who in each generation gets to decide what is needed? In 2005, the World Summit refined the concept by proposing three mutually reinforcing focus areas - environment, social equity, and economic demands - the three pillars of sustainability. I see the logic of the triple bottom line, working within society's predominant  structure to create partnerships and tempting carrots to further drive the environmental transition forwards... At the same time, I struggle. How will supply and demand "fix" the fact that “the biosphere is finite, nongrowing, closed (except for the constant input of solar energy), and constrained by the laws of thermodynamics” [Herman Daly, former World Bank economist]. We use the resources of three worlds but only live on Earth. I briefly considered pursing a masters degree in economics to better understand... but then decided to stick on my environmental engineering/planning/policy route. I'll leave the theory for others.

Homo erectus currently thrives with the help of science and technology! What we seek to point out through the sustainability/environmental movement is that our amazing modern society is based on a 5,000 year loan from the Earth... and we have an exponentially growing interest rate. I personally believe that humanity's loan will be called in the next generation or two. Environmental bankruptcies will take place and the crash will be more painful than any downturn experienced to date. I only hope that our forward momentum in understanding of the nature of our loan (carbon tracking, trash gyre mapping, renewable energy studies, rain forest renewal, etc) will allow us to start rapidly making payments to mitigate the long term pay-off curve. We can innovate out of disaster, provided a basic understanding of what we have to work with, and an opportunity to practice and gain the wisdom needed for that coming difficult time.

Home-grown sustainable communities are cropping up across the world, as are home gardens, use of organic foods, upcycled materials, local business initiatives... and so much more. Social media is slowly pulling sustainability out of the academic heights and impassioned extremes of society to every man, woman, and child. As we celebrate each success, we need to re-dedicate ourselves to the process - Our personal convenant with the Earth for personal sustainability and environmental endurance for one and all.

Here's to the heart and the spirit needed to sustain, endure and thrive!

Down the agricultural rabbit hole!

What an amazing weekend! My father's cousin flew in from DC to celebrate Christmas with my mother and me; we have had a relaxing four days of food, wine, chocolate and conversation. This is the last Hurrah!!! of my very decadent foodie lifestyle before I embark on my elimination diet in January. I have suffered from chronic sinusitis each winter since I contracted whooping cough in 2008. After consulting with a multitude of doctors, I now know, without a doubt, that my symptoms are not physical/structural, bacterial, or viral. My skin tests as barely detectable for an allergic reaction to dust and willow tree pollen and associated management actions have done nothing to improve my condition. After a long series of prescription experiments, wherein the doctors seemed to know less than I did, I have taken a firm stand against suppression drugs. This past year I enjoyed massage therapy and chiropractics and while my body feels amazing, my sinuses remain the same. These fix-it approaches are not working enough, so now tumble down the rabbit hole in pursuit of that ultimate lifestyle question.... diet.

I feel overwhelmed in a sea of choices. There are so many food issues - local v. mass production, carnivore v. vegetarian v. other, organic and pesticide free farming, how free is free range?, types of healthful and bad fat, optimal caloric count... it makes my head spin! Armed with a precursory bit of research, I have formulated vague lifestyle and diet preferences, which scatter like dust in the wind when faced with a passionate opinion.

This no long serves me.

My relative is an agriculture journalist with a specialty in national policy and international trade relations, three distinct areas I am interested in learning more about. The last few days have provided a perfect opportunity for me to sit back and soak up 30 something years of research experience and to ask the cross cutting questions about how much of our food industry has been shaped. Armed with a few core study questions I feel empowered to jump feet first in partnership with my nutritionist, combining my own study with her knowledge, to develop my "right fit" value-added, healthful, eco-friendly dietary lifestyle! We won't see eye to eye on all the issues, but it's going to be an adventure. My exploration essays soon to follow.

Hope you too had an inspiring holiday weekend.

Cheers!

Sara, the CaliWaterGal

A Morning When Radio Teaches Me What I Don't Know

This morning on my drive to work, I did the unthinkable... I turned on NPR. Rarely do I listen to anything on what has been for the last year, a daily grind to work. I am consciously changing that mindset one day at a time. Today, my action was actively listening and engaging with the world around me through music, radio and conversation. Those 10 minutes of NPR taught me about a new aspect of water - a cultural one. Go Figure.

Diego Rivera is a world recognized Mexican muralist. His style does not match my tastes, but I remember appreciating his work, and that of his wife Frida, in my many iterations of Spanish class. Apparently Rivera considered water to be a vital social issue. I completely agree, but I never applied it to him... my mistake. Between 1950 and 1952, Rivera created an artistic fountain depicting the Aztec rain god Tlaloc which was designed to act as a gateway for water from the Lerma River to enter Mexico City's municipal water system. According to Lilia Haua of Probosque Chapultepec, "It's a very special fountain. It's one of the most important sculptures that Diego Rivera did in his life .... everything [in the fountain and murals are] related with the importance of the water." The fountain was in disrepair and was recently restored to emulate Rivera's style, while accomodating the engineering change to the existing water infrasture (i.e., the water no longer flow from the river through the fountain to the reservior, but rather thought a parallel pipe system). More about the original NPR report is found at:
http://www.npr.org/2011/12/21/144028225/unusual-diego-rivera-work-restored-in-mexico-city

I consider myself to be a water expert, but I also recognize I have not been challenging myself. To explore. To Ask. To Learn. By not rising to the challenge, I began to stagnate. Which led to a bit of an emotional tail spin... Now, I am swimming towards fresh water, away from the stale pond I'd unwittingly fallen asleep in.

You don't know what you don't know. Unconscious Incompetence.
But you know what? I'm excited to know more.

Getting a handle on ewaste

Today I was reading "What’s the Truth Behind the Global eWaste Trade?" on the NerdGirls blog page and had to close my eyes in memory.... I've read the articles and seen the pictures. It makes me never want to buy new electronics (and trash ewaste) again.

In November I returned to the US after 10 days in southeast China where I was helping an industrialized city improve local water quality of a metals contaminated river. The city itself was like any modern western city. If you removed the people, the street signs and the cars/trucks/motorcycles/bikes... you could be anywhere in the world.... but if you crossed the big river into the industrial zone, you'd know you were not in a developed nation. The river I was working to help clean up was like a kid's paint set, a pallet of black, brown, white, and gold. The river banks were green with algae, small home farms and rapidly growing grasses. Yes, it was alive - I can attest to at killing at least four mosquitos as they targeted the exposed skin of my neck. Fireworks shot into the air, from a plant on the south band, on the hour, every hour... daily. It was an alien place - a river like nothing I've ever seen.

Those 10 days in China made me so grateful I was born in California in the late twentith century.

The government provided a daily news paper translated into English, which highlighted ongoing government reformed, especially related to environmental and economic policy. Since it was a government supported paper, I was surprised by some of the articles... but I came to recognize the story being told. We care about our people. We are making things better. Bigger and Better. We are advancing far and doing great!

But the starting point is ... low. There were undercover photos of the home electronic cookshops in Guiyu. Spaces smaller than most freshman college dorms would house a family of 4 - 6 and in the back room, in a poorly ventelated space, you could see women sitting over open stoves, cooking down circut boards or acid washing harddrives. The health effects described cancer, tumors, coughing up blood, permanently open wounds... A story of families moving to Guiyu to make a better living... earning money but then falling sick and becoming stuck. Jim Puckett, the executive director of the Basel Action Network, about 80% of the recycled ewater is sent overseas for processing. Sometimes the facilities are safe and workers are well paid. Many times, home cookshops are the reality.

China has an economic model where it makes sense to push green development, sustainable products, green jobs. It is a huge market industry. There are definite societal benefits. And it will take a big shift. Let's push a little harder, with our pocket books and actions.

* Minimize unnecessary purchases.
* Donate ewaste to refurbishers not recyclers.
* If refurbishment is not an option, choose a reputable recycler that uses mechanical shredding and a high-tech separation device to take out the usable metals, which can then be sent to a smelter. Check out example smelters at: http://www.ilsr.org/pubs/plug-into-electronics-reuse.pdf