We are blessed to be a blessing

Buffalo Grove, IL : "Tesla car owners, dealerships and charging stations have been targeted nationwide by protesters and vandals because of CEO Elon Musk's involvement with the Trump administration's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which aims to slash wasteful spending and fraud within the federal government."

Shocking. This story was about a suburban woman. The Left used to admire electric cars and tackling government waste and fraud. Obama and Clinton lauded it. Now we know that was all scripted by Soros and others who were drinking from the Government corruption hose. Our own citizens are having their brains warped and wounded by Trump Derangement Syndrome. They now hate what Democrats used to stand for.

 
I still want care for the environment. We forgot that in the "Green New Deal." Reduce waste and clean up after yourself. If we had a cabinet member for that we could all breath fresh air and not look at trash along every intersection. I want fair tariffs and honest government workers, and grants that go for worthwhile research instead of building academic empires. How did we end up with so much graft? The lower and mid-income in our country are the biggest, most generous (in percentage) and the two biggest corporate giants, Buffett and Musk , are the most generous in amounts. Rich or ordinary--we have been blessed to be a blessing. Let's get back to that value system.

Cook County woman allegedly vandalized Tesla service center in suburb | FOX 32 Chicago

Warren Buffett Tops List of Biggest Donations - Business Insider

Elon Musk: The Donations of the World’s Richest Individual Focus on Education and Innovation - CEOWORLD magazine

The problem with ethanol

I only saw a few snippets of President Trump's speech in Iowa, and he was criticizing DeSantis' lack of support for ethanol, a big deal in corn-growing Iowa. He needs to do more research and change lanes. In my blog in 2007 I wrote about how ethanol degrades the environment based on information published in 2003. I had become interested in that topic when I worked in the Ag Library in the 1980s. I assume the technology and efficiency have changed in 20 years, but the basics are the same.

"But let's look at the ethics of ethanol.

 . . . about 29% more energy is used to produce a gallon of ethanol than the energy in a gallon of ethanol. Fossil energy powers corn production and the fermentation/distillation processes. Increasing subsidized ethanol production will take more feed from livestock production, and is estimated to currently cost consumers an additional $1 billion per year. Ethanol production increases environmental degradation. Corn production causes more total soil erosion than any other crop. Also, corn production uses more insecticides, herbicides, and nitrogen fertilizers than any other crop. All these factors degrade the agricultural and natural environment and contribute to water pollution and air pollution. Increasing the cost of food and diverting human food resources to the costly inefficient production of ethanol fuel raise major ethical questions. These occur at a time when more than half of the world’s population is malnourished. The ethical priority for corn and other food crops should be for food and feed. Subsidized ethanol produced from U.S. corn is not a renewable energy source." Abstract, "Ethanol Fuels: Energy Balance, Economics, and Environmental Impacts Are Negative," Natural Resources Research, Volume 12, issue 2 (June 2003), p. 127-134.

And he doesn't even mention the bioterrorism of a well-placed fungus that could wipe out the Americans' dependence on corn for fuel the way the potato blight sent the Irish running for a new country in the 19th century. Also, when so much of the world suffers from hunger is it even moral to use land to grow crops to run your cars? There's more:  Collecting My Thoughts

https://www.ewg.org/news-insights/news/corn-ethanol-bad-farmers-consumers-and-environment?

https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424127887323826704578354260914712792?

Clean up your own neighborhood first

 

  

My mother's famous words: I can't save the world, but I can clean up these 4 acres (her garden and orchard).

BLM nominee wants to limit your family size

"Tracy Stone-Manning, President Joe Biden’s nominee to head the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), once wrote that Americans “breed” too much, called American children “environmental hazards,” and stated that U.S. citizens should stop “at one or two kids” for the sake of the environment." (Catholic vote, via The Loop)

Our birth rate is below replacement, so we've got a nominee who wants even more reasons to import low income immigrants to do the bidding of rich, government and hi-tech plutocrats?

A comment on this story by Bill M.: "I have 6 kids. Had my wife and I stopped at 2, the world would have missed out on an environmental biologist, a food quality manager, a nurse practitioner and a biomedical engineer. All have impacted the world positively! I guess the first 2, an epidemiologist and a chemical engineer would have be OK." 

Usually these "save the planet" folks are all for aborting black and brown babies.

Sierra Club’s Free Gift

Yesterday we got an appeal for funds from Sierra Club (went into the waste basket) which included a small note book with bookmarks, first aid checklist, and pocket calendar along with some to-do lists and marketing. Some of it was very preachy—“bring your own mug and dishware for food eaten at the office,” “carpool, bike or take transit to work” “use non-toxic cleaning products and brighten your work space with plants” “buy ENERGY STAR certified light bulbs and fixtures,” and “print on the back side of old documents for faxes, scrap paper of drafts.” The last one gave me a little chuckle since my grandmother was way ahead of her time and always saved letters and advertisements and used the back side for her carbon copies when writing business letters.  I used a lot of them in my research about farm families.

Being good to the environment is being good to ourselves, but when an article headline is “12 ways to halt climate change” that’s just ignorant and giving people “feel good” bad advice.  Climate change couldn’t be halted by any or all of these rules.

1.  Grow a garden. Organic.  Plant a tree. Think of the millions of people who might have space for a flower pot in a window in their city apartment building. There are many advantages to having fresh seasonal fruits and vegetables, but saving the planet won’t be the result.

2. Speak truth to power. Demand clean energy like wind and solar from your energy supplier.  Really?  Does the writer believe there is no cost to the environment to produce solar panels or wind mills and store the energy for no-wind and sunless days? According to PBS which I consider a liberal source, we currently have about 17% in renewables, a fraction of that 100% activists were demanding a year ago. Nuclear power plants are closing and they were up to about 19% of the total.

3.  Stop using incandescent bulbs and use more efficient ones.  You’ll have to buy American to make any difference.

4. Look for Energy Star label in buying new appliances. Wash clothes in cold water; or dry on clothesline (many areas are regulated against this).

5. Insulate walls, attic, windows. New windows are making our home more comfortable and efficient, but it won’t save the world.

6. Lower your thermostat.

7. Power at the poll. Vote. 

8. Reduce, reuse, recycle.  This is a feel good, virtue signaling act. Asia and China are no longer taking our trash and we’re not building any recycling plants that I’m aware of because there’s no market—our labor is too high. And since Covid carry-outs, I’ve never seen so much trash on pick up day.

9. Plan trips and commute.  People have been doing this for 40 years.

10. Ready for 100.  Sierra club marketing plans for 100% renewable energy which I think the protestors last year demanded by 2030—less than a decade.  Remember, we’re at 17%.

11. Pep talk—change the world—but it’s about climate solutions and protecting the planet, not about HALT Climate Change.

12. Join Sierra Club.

The antidote for Sierra Club: read Michael Shellenbarger’s apology for being an alarmist about climate change. “ On Behalf Of Environmentalists, I Apologize For The Climate Scare.”  He has a book, Apocalypse Never: Why Environmental Alarmism Hurts Us All and also articles, but the left really attacks him because he’s left the alarmist plantation.  https://wattsupwiththat.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Schellenberger-Apology.pdf

https://www.forbes.com/sites/michaelshellenberger/?sh=311df21db1b8

Another useless United Nations challenge

https://www.globalcitizen.org/en/content/harming-environment-war-crime/?

Very interesting piece which ends up blaming the U.S. for damage to environment during wars because the 3 writers don't know how to do research. Just search and click on the various civil wars in Africa, like Sudan. I care more about the people who are killed and maimed. I know that forests, cities and farms were destroyed in Sudan, and rivers polluted, but the 2nd civil war killed over 2 million people. And then when the Christians and Muslims separated into north and south, the Christians began another civil war (tribal) among themselves. And there are still German bombs buried in France from WWI and WWII waiting to explode. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/seventy-years-world-war-two-thousands-tons-unexploded-bombs-germany-180957680/  Not good for the environment or people who had nothing to do with the conflicts.

The intent of the article is not to make war damage a crime (already a crime depending on the victor), but to point fingers at your country, the United States. A lot of this article is word salad--"scientists," "armed conflict" "biodiversity" a 5th Geneva Convention called 2 decades ago, yada yada. And it's not even a real article, it's built on a letter.

Is there anything sillier than UN pronouncements? "International Day for Preventing the Exploitation of the Environment in War and Armed Conflict" so why do the writers advocate making it a war crime to damage the environment? Oh--to make war illegal. That should do it.

"Ultimately, if harming the environment was a war crime, then most acts of modern warfare would essentially be forbidden. After all, there’s no way to drop a bomb without harming the ground it falls on."

Sometimes it’s what you DON’T do that saves the environment

Don’t release balloons at parties and weddings and community celebrations.

HOMEMADE MOSQUITO TRAP

Items needed:
1 cup of water (200 ml water)
1/4 cup of brown sugar (50 grams)
1 gram of yeast
2-liter plastic bottle

HOW:
1. Cut the plastic bottle in half.
2. Mix brown sugar with hot water. Let cool. When cold, pour in the bottom half of the bottle.
3. Add the yeast. No need to mix. It creates carbon dioxide, which attracts mosquitoes.
4. Place the funnel part, upside down, into the other half of the bottle, taping them together if desired.
5. Wrap the bottle with something black, leaving the top uncovered, and place it outside in an area away from your normal gathering area. (Mosquitoes are also drawn to the color black.)
Change the solution every 2 weeks for continuous control.

This summer at Lakeside has been very wet—there was one point where we’d had rain 19 days in a row.  However, I’ve only had one mosquito bite.  So I’ll tuck this away for next year.  Since I don’t drink pop, I wonder if you couldn’t just add the yeast to some soda pop. Or are mosquitoes picky?

Yes, we can blame Bush for this—the ethanol mess.

In 2007 the Bush Administration and Congress [Democratic] mandated how much ethanol the oil and gas industry must purchase each year to be blended into gasoline. . . but gasoline consumption went down, not up and if the blends get any higher, they destroy engines.  So now we’ve got a ridiculous, complicated system of buying renewable energy credits, plus we’re damaging the environment and burning corn when people are hungry while raising the cost of gasoline.  The smartest thing to do is repeal it—and now we can blame Obama, because we know he never does the smart thing.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323309404578611842837454104.html

“By dramatically raising the price of corn, the federal corn ethanol mandate has, in just the last four years, contributed to the conversion of 23 million acres from wetland and grassland – an area the size of Indiana – to cropland. In fact, thanks to the corn ethanol mandate, we have lost more than wetlands and grasslands in the last four years than in the previous 40.

By encouraging farmers to plow up wetlands and grasslands, the mandate is causing more carbon to be released into the atmosphere, consuming more water to irrigate crops, causing more fertilizer to wash off farm fields and destroying more habitat that supports wildlife – and millions of jobs.

What’s more, burning corn ethanol in gasoline releases more benzene, a known carcinogen, and other toxic air pollutants that have been linked to asthma, bronchitis and other respiratory ailments.”

http://www.ewg.org/agmag/2013/02/corn-ethanol-bad-farmers-consumers-and-environment

Balancing the Economic Benefits with the Environmental Impacts of Shale Energy Development

"A vast black shale formation known as the Marcellus Shale runs from Ohio and Pennsylvania into southern and eastern New York. Trapped inside that shale is a tremendous amount of natural gas, anywhere from 168 trillion to 516 trillion cubic feet. To put this number in perspective, the top estimates would make the Marcellus Shale the second largest gas source in the entire world, behind only the South Pars field in Qatar and Iran." Henrietta Post

Today there is a “webinar” at OSU "Balancing the Economic Benefits with the Environmental Impacts of Shale Energy Development" presented by Tim Considine, School of Energy Resources, University of Wyoming. The webinar is free. http://changingclimate.osu.edu/webinars/ Figuring this might be one more presentation on how energy policies are ruining the environment (China and Russia are eating us for lunch by selling their energy), I was pleasantly surprised to find out Considine had done a presentation for Manhattan Institute and organization whose publications I trust.

Fracturing (fracking) is a big issue in Ohio—not sure about other states--but obviously it is in New York and Pennsylvania. Read what Considine has to say to New Yorkers based on his Pennsylvania experience and research. Probably similar for Ohio except the tax information and value added jobs information will be different and specific to Ohio. Very well documented with references at the end, plus hot links on the right hand side for more accessible, understandable material for the layperson. The charts on industry sectors are particularly interesting.

http://www.manhattan-institute.org/html/eper_09.htm

“The extraction, processing, and transportation of natural gas all affect the environment. However, expansion of the supply of natural gas permits the displacement of more polluting forms of energy. Estimating the net environmental impacts, therefore, requires comparing the upstream negative environmental externalities associated with gas development with the downstream positive externalities created by switching to natural gas.”

This study analyzes the economic and environmental impacts of shale gas drilling in New York and finds the net economic benefits to be significantly positive. Specifically:

1. An end to the moratorium would spur over $11.4 billion in economic output.
   
2. Some 15,000 to 18,000 jobs could be created in the Southern Tier and Western New York, regions which lost a combined 48,000 payroll jobs between 2000 and 2010.*
   
3. Another 75,000 to 90,000 jobs could be created if the area of exploration and drilling were expanded to include the Utica shale and southeastern New York, including the New York City watershed. (This assumes a regulatory regime that protects the water supply but permits drilling to continue.)
   
4. Localities and the state stand to reap $1.4 billion in tax revenues if the moratorium is allowed to expire.

Our findings suggest that the current shale gas drilling moratorium imposes a significant and needless burden on the New York State economy. In short, the economic benefits of developing shale gas resources in New York State are enormous and could be growing, while the environmental costs of doing so are small and could be diminishing if the moratorium is lifted and if proper policies are put into place.

What becomes of electronic waste?

Today I control more electronic gadgets in a day in my own house than what I would do in a year in 1977 when I returned to work in a high tech computerized library at a university of 50,000. Three digital cameras (there's a 4th in a drawer), a video camera, 3 scanners, 2 printers, 2 computers (a 3rd not connected), 2 email accounts, a phone/fax, a cable network, a wireless network, a copier (2 if you count the one in the scanner), 12 blogs with the information stored off-site, Facebook account, 3 cd players, DVD player and VCR, 6 or more remotes, microwave, various digital clocks that blink and flip if the power goes off, an i-pod, 2 cell phones one with a camera, and 3 cordless phones one with an answering machine. We have 6 TVs (4 cable connected, 2 with antennas). We also have 6 radios in the house, but the one with batteries which would be useful in a storm I can't find. In 1977 we had one TV and one telephone and maybe 2 radios. If we had batteries, they were in the car or flashlight.

In 1957, the year I graduated from high school, my parents had electric clocks with moving hands, maybe 3 radios, but no TV, or AC or even an electric fan in the house. Only children rode bicycles. The U.S. mail was delivered twice a day by mailmen who walked, we received 2 newspapers at the door, and one local weekly, plus numerous magazine subscriptions. Thirty five or 55 years ago, the American family had a much smaller footprint, even with a car that only got 11 miles/gallon, but I don't know very many greenies who would give up their computers, cell phones, or cameras. Do you?

Our kitchen clock when I was growing up.



.

Litter--whose problem?

This morning I was reading an Indianapolis Star blog and the writer said she'd been through 5 midwestern states, and Indiana got the prize for litter. That doesn't make me feel better about Columbus, nor its suburb, Upper Arlington. We recently returned from California, staying in Tustin, but visiting many towns in Orange County and along the coast and in the "valley." Maybe we joke about Californians being tree huggers, but I think they do take more pride in not just environment with a capital E, but in the immediate environment of their neighborhoods, business districts and freeways. Our side walk was installed in 2009 and I think the residents of the two houses at Millcreek and Kenny have not peeked over their hedges and bushes to the easement, because it's a mess. And it's not just winter trash. It's also dead leaves and weeds from 2009.

And Mayor Coleman of Columbus should be ashamed of the interchanges of major arteries in and out of Columbus' neighborhoods (I see mainly 315). How does he expect to attract new business or confidence in a well-run and safe city if it looks like a trash truck overturned every 2 or 3 blocks? The areas with safety fences and barricades are the worst--by the times the bushes bloom, the plastic bags, bottles and newspapers are almost impossible to reach. Someone needs to tackle them in March.

Yes, we walkers, joggers and strollers can take a trash bag with us, and drivers can stop throwing things out of car windows, but some of this just accumulates from blowing off construction sites and from trucks, or is debris left from storms and snow plows. It will take some commitment from our city administrations to keep things looking tidy and prosperous. Even if you are poor, you don't have to look it. Let's send a few over paid administrators out to the road side with a stick and bag to pick up the trash.

This is a volunteer in the Cleveland area in 2009. I wonder if he outsources?

The front fell off

NIMFY--Not in my front yard

It seems I’m destined to be the lone voice shouting into the wind that highly visible trash cans and recycling containers intended to improve the environment cause ugly visual pollution. I got absolutely nowhere complaining that our large suburban church put its Abitibi Consolidated Paper Bins (bright green and yellow) virtually in the front yard of the Mill Run Church, and is almost as obvious at the Lytham Road campus.

This year Lakeside has started a recyclable program with each cottage owner being charged $60 a year to have an extremely large, bright blue rolling container --where? Our properties in some areas are small--about 30’ wide, with driveways, set backs, landscaping, and garden sheds or garages which hold boats, bicycles, and junk. So guess where the trash and recyclable containers are? Either at the street for several days between pick-ups, or sitting in the front or side yard. At one place I stopped today I counted at least 10 trash cans from where I stood and Thursday isn‘t a pick up day. Sometimes it’s a renter problem. The renter checks out on Saturday, puts the trash at the street (we don’t have curbs), and it is not picked up until Tuesday morning. If the cottage isn’t occupied the next week, the trash cans may sit there for days, or until a neighbor drags it to the side of the house, where it’s only slightly less obvious. If I were to replace every trash can I see on my morning walks, I'd be gone 4 hours instead of 30 minutes. Some containers have a permanent home in the front yard. Since writing about garages, I’ve seen plenty of garages and sheds that could be used to hold the containers, but no one thinks of it. It would also keep the raccoons and skunks under control. Our shed is tiny, and so is our lot, but I've seen cottages with 3 sheds, a garage, and the trash cans in front. Our "big blue" is just as obvious as everyone elses, but it's not at the street.

One of the oldest streets, lots of room in the rear

One of the newest streets, beautiful paving and landscaping; no plan for trash

President Hayes once stayed here; the trash can never moves

Not a good first impression for a potential buyer

This is a park, so even the Association is careless

The rush to dim our lights

Howard M. Brandston, a lighting designer and artist, has a sensible, easy proposal for a test to use before we rush head long into dimming our lights with The Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 which will effectively phase out incandescent light bulbs by 2012-2014 in favor of compact fluorescent lamps, or CFLs.

"Here's my modest proposal to determine whether the legislation actually serves people. Satisfy the proposed power limits in all public buildings, from museums, houses of worship and hospitals to the White House and the homes of all elected officials. Of course, this will include replacing all incandescents with CFLs. At the end of 18 months, we would check to be certain that the former lighting had not been reinstalled, and survey all users to determine satisfaction with the resulting lighting.

Based on the data collected, the Energy Independence and Security Act and energy legislation still in Congress would be amended to conform to the results of the test. Or better yet, scrapped in favor of a thoughtful process that could yield a set of recommendations that better serve our nation's needs by maximizing both human satisfaction and energy efficiency." Full article

Ah yes, the old, "let's see if elected officials can comply with their hair-brained ideas" plan. They won't buy this very sensible plan of course, because they are usually exempt from the cost and pain of their own hasty and ill conceived plans--some of which like HR 3200 and the equally bulky cap and trade or TARP, never are even read before voting on them. HR 6 is worth reading in its entirety--your Senator probably didn't.

Here's an acronym you'll definitely need to watch: ESPC, energy savings performance contracts: "CBO estimates that H.R. 6 will increase direct spending by $582 million over the 2008-2012 period and reduce it by $85 million over the 2008-2017 period. Those effects result primarily from provisions that increase mandates related to the use of renewable motor fuels, require federal agencies to meet new goals related to the efficiency of energy and water use, extend and expand federal agencies’ authority to enter into energy savings performance contracts (ESPCs)." That phrase is definitely like giving a credit card to your ex-girlfriend for a shopping spree.

As I was looking through the CBO cost estimates in the agriculture sector, I wondered if these biomass requirements are what caused the starvation and food riots in developing countries in 2008 (see Green Body Count). Even liberal, pro-green editorials noted the problem. Oh well, what's a few million starving brown or black children in less developed countries? It's always "all about us" isn't it? We have no idea what the CFLs will do to the quality of life here or in China where they use dirty coal to produce them or to the environment, but we rush head first into the dark tunnel anyway, thanks to Congress. (Except for his very limited time in the Senate, this one can't be laid at Obama's feet.)

Biofuels consume a lot of water and hurt the environment

Now what will the Green-goes do?

"Production of bioethanol as an alternative to fossil fuels could have a much greater detrimental impact on the environment than previously thought, according to a new study from Sangwon Suh and colleagues in the Department of Bioproducts and Biosystems Engineering, at the University of Minnesota. Writing in Environmental Science & Technology, the team explain how bioethanol production may consume up to three times more water than earlier estimates suggested. Previous studies estimated that a gallon of corn-based bioethanol used between 263 and 784 gallons of water from farm to fuel pump. Suh's team determined that these estimates do not take into account the significant variation in regional irrigation practices. . . The results also show that as the ethanol industry expands to areas that apply more irrigated water than others, consumptive water appropriation by bioethanol in the U.S. has increased 246% from 1.9 to 6.1 trillion liters between 2005 and 2008, whereas U.S. bioethanol production has increased only 133% from 15 to 34 billion liters during the same period." Environ. Sci. Technol., 2009, 43 (8), pp 2688–2692.

Let's use the decayed plant and animal resources we already have--petroleum, coal, and natural gas. If nothing else, putting corn in gas tanks when there are hungry people should give greenies pause. We can probably live without oil; but not without water.

The not-so-green Mayor of Columbus

Usually I complain about tree-huggers, global alarmists, and the pantheistic Mother Earth folks who think she needs assisted care in a very expensive nursing home, but I truly do care about what happens to our land, and that includes the soil, water and air we all share. The Mayor of Columbus has big dreams--like a trolley line to no where and light rail to Cincinnati and Cleveland. On the other hand, he is penny wise and pound foolish. Do you know what he is cutting to save money? Yard waste pick-up. 26,000 tons of blowing, rotting green matter and trash that will have to be dumped somewhere by private parties who have no access to legal dump sites. Smart move! Now it will go into the rivers and streams, the nooks and crannies between jurisdictions, or into the regular trash, where the workers can't inspect every bag.

This is indicative of government at every level--local, state and particularly federal. Let's cut essential city services, like police, fire, and trash. The poor, low income and elderly will be hurt the most so the bureaucrats can keep their jobs and play around with new programs. I'm sure there will be enough money to install more cameras at trash sites and scenic ravines to catch the dumpers.

A lot goes a little way

I just read the ingredients on my Trader Joe's "Next to Godliness Liquid Dish Soap" formulated to perform effectively while being safe for the environment. Usually, I love Trader Joe's products, and I thought I'd used this one before and found it satisfactory, but. . .

coconut derived surfactants, earth salt, lavender oil, tea tree oil, grapefruit seed extract and water

just doesn't do it. The label says it hasn't been tested on animals so we don't even know if it's safe for humans, do we?

My tea bags of black leaves come from bushes, so I asked Google, "what is tea tree oil," and was told that it comes from steam distillation of the leaves of Melaleuca alternifolia, a plant native to Australia. It's not even tea! "Tea tree oil contains consituents [sic] called terpenoids, which have been found to have antiseptic and antifungal activity. The compound terpinen-4-ol is the most abundant and is thought to be responsible for most of tea tree oil's antimicrobial activity." You can use it for vaginitis, dandruff, acne and athletes' foot. Gee, I didn't know those ailments were even related!

Anyway, use twice as much of the TJ Soap as the bad old stuff and don't expect suds.

Will the New Green just be a shade of Cabrini Green?

When city planners, social workers, developers and architects start eyeing the neighborhood and deciding that they know best how Americans should live, hang on to your wallet. You might get the Cabrini Greens of the mid-20th century, or the paradigm-shift-responsible-growth green designs of the 21st century. What we've got going up on Tremont Road here in Upper Arlington isn't exactly a Cabrini Green, but it's ugly as hell and is euphemistically called "mixed-use development." That means the developer was allowed to tear down four family units inhabited by modest income elderly and young couples, and put up four story, half million dollar condo units sitting on top of a Walgreen's or Starbucks.

Cabrini Green for those of you who didn't grow up near Chicago is the infamous public housing complex that was going to fix slum housing and crime through regulation and relocation of the poor. When I was a teen and we would drive past those shiny new developments, I probably believed that new bricks made new people. I was so open minded you could have driven a loaded dump truck through my brain. Even though I could hear my dad grumbling in the background about what a waste it was and how it'd be a slum within a decade. He was right (he was a Republican and my mother a Democrat and they regularly cancelled each others' votes on election day). Didn't work. Stacking 15-20,000 poor people and welfare families into high rises creates a high rise slum. Imagine! In fact, it probably contributed to more gang violence and white flight than anything else social scientists have pushed Americans in to over the years from their protected ivory towers and government buildings made of pork. Then when they decided to tear it all down 40 years later because it was so unsafe and unsightly (not to mention sitting on increasingly valuable land), the poor had to be uprooted again, just a different generation and a different ethnic mix.

The Green Alphabet Soup

Here's the green alphabet soup of code words for the New Green, minus the Cabrini. Keep in mind that asbestos in insulation and lead in paint were the best ideas of the smartest people of an earlier generation. A generation from now your grandchildren might be ripping out extruded-polystyrene foam and collector panels with glycol. And if you thought your local zoning board was tough, just wait till you encounter the green czars of building regulatory agencies.

LEED - Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design

USGBC - United States Green Building Council

CNU - Congress for the New Urbanism

NRDC - Natural Resources Defense Council

ND - Neighborhood Development

You may think you have the right to vote, that we have a representative form of government, and that there are courts to whom you can take your case as an American citizen, but regulatory agencies and groups can snatch that away from you faster than you can say "endangered species."

Here are the non-acronym code words and phrases that I see in all my husband's magazines and newsletters. Some can be mixed and matched, not that I'd suggest that just to take it to your community's zoning board.

sustainable

alternative

renewable

payback

energy efficiency, energy costs, energy investment, energy footprint, energy security

ecosystem, eco-friendly

wetlands

recycled

effects of global warming

green choice

safe environment

high performance replacement [fill in the blank]

drought resistant or drought tolerant landscaping

smart growth, responsible growth

access to transportation (public), walk to the grocer (this is code term for keep out big-box stores), bicycle paths, footpaths

best practices

benchmarks

neighborhood design, mixed-use design

geothermal, solar, photovoltaic, window film

How to have an award winning home

Here's how to have an award winning design that will get past your regulatory and zoning commissions and get your home into the latest building magazines.

1. Buy a lot that is near public transportation, a bike path, and within 1/2 mile of the nearest store--even if you'd never shop there. But look out for places like Ohio State where the bike path ends for 100 ft. under a bridge and the city and university can't agree on whose responsibility it is.

2. Use photovoltaic panels on the roof. Have a battery back-up if you live in a low sun area like Columbus (37% sunshine) or Seattle.

3. Collect rain water and heat it with solar panels. Keep an eye on the mold problem.

4. Use paint that has one of the approved, seal of perfection from one of the above groups. No one knows how long this stuff will last or what the long term affects are to your health, so be forewarned.

5. Make-up for the cramped square footage by having high ceilings (steep roof helps those panels). Spiders love it.

6. Don't attach your garage to the house so you can avoid all those environmental codes about fumes. Live in North Dakota? Tough.

7. Use less wood by not using headers of traditional framing and pray for no tornados in your life time. Or, don't build in tornado alley.

8. Site the house on the lot to take advantage of the sun, even if you're facing the free-way or the landfill and missing the forest, the view for which you bought the lot.

9. Don't build on a compacted landfill like just off Trabue Road in Columbus, Ohio. Something might ooze up later. (I watched them create that.)

10. Choose a climate for your lot where you won't need air conditioning. Like Huntington Beach, California or Bainbridge Island, Washington.

If you had to do all this, when would you do the rest of your job?

4829

Visual pollution

Most people recognize this kind of pollution

as seen from the north side of our Mill Run UALC campus
but they'll walk right by this disaster sitting in our front yard on the south side of the church.
Let's not put in place environmental solutions that cause more problems at the local, national or global level.

From Petrarch: "It occurred to me to look into my copy of St. Augustine's Confessions. . . where I first fixed my eyes it was written: “And men go abroad to admire the heights of mountains, the mighty waves of the sea, the broad tides of rivers, the compass of the ocean, and the circuits of the stars, yet pass over the mystery of themselves without a thought.” "

From the Brazil [Portuguese] journal Cad Saude Publica Nov-Dec 2002: "Interviewees defined garbage as anything useless and considered it a problem whenever it accumulated in the surroundings producing a bad smell or visual pollution, attracted animals, caused disease in children or adults, or was shifted from the individual to the collective/institutional sphere of action to solve the problem."

Update: One commenter asked if I had picked up the trash I photographed (in the park that adjoins our church property), and the answer is YES! I took a plastic bag with me, and one of those long grab hooks and cleaned up quite a bit that I could reach--I also do that along Kenny Road because people throw things out of cars, and along Turkey Run. I hope someone else will remove the UALC VBS signs at the street intersections on public land. They are a safety hazard.