Jeff McIntire-Strasburg is the Senior Editor and Content Director at Green Options. He's also the writer/publisher of sustainablog, and a former writer at Treehugger.
Jeff was born and raised in the South (Florida and Louisiana), but made his way out West in his early twenties to attend graduate school at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. He has a Ph.D. in English, and spent 11 years in the classroom in positions ranging from graduate teaching assistant to assistant professor. After reading one too many freshman essays, he decided it was time for something new, and made a career switch into corporate writing and editing.
Jeff is married to Jan, and has three step-children. He has a dog, Zelda (RIP Patches: 1994-2007), and four cats. He lives in St. Louis, Missouri, in a big old drafty historical home built in 1904. When not working (ha!), he enjoys riding his bike in Tower Grove Park, laying down on the couch with a good mystery novel (particularly James Lee Burke and Carl Hiaasen), working in his tiny little yard, and frittering away the hours in a local coffee shop.
Want to put solar panels on the house? Start saving… solar power is a great investment, but it is an investment… often a hefty one. If you’d like to get started with something a little less ambitious (but more affordable), you’ll find a number of good sources out there for a whole range of solar DIY projects. Voltaic, best known for its solar backpack, has joined more well-known sites such as Gary Reysa’s Build It Solar and Mother Earth News with its own collection of do-it-yourself projects.
So far, the collection is small… but there are already some really cool projects available:
The short answer, of course, is “a lot”: Gil’s spent nearly 40 years in the sustainable business field, so he’s able to address questions ranging from the general (”What’s the business case for green?”) to the very specific (”What elements should an Environmentally Preferable Purchasing program include?) with deep knowledge of green business ideas, as well as plenty of real-life examples.
What makes the The Truth about Green Business really stand out, though, isn’t necessarily the quality of information, but the format of the book itself. Most of the other books mentioned above delve deeply into their topics, and require a sustained reading effort (both of which are good things, of course). Friend’s created something quite different: in the Introduction, he describes the book as “designed to help you tackle these grand ideas in simple, practical, profitable, bite-sized chunks” (specifically, 52 “truths”).
Two weeks ago, we took a look at news from the Congo involving “conflict minerals”: armed groups have exploited the mining of materials such as tin, tungsten, gold, and tantalum, and the people who live near these resources, to fund their fighting. Since then, I’ve had a chance to communicate with David Sullivan, a research associate with the Enough Project, about the issues surrounding the situation in the Congo. David addresses the multiple atrocities — human and environmental — surrounding the trade of these materials, and the actions you can take to ensure electronics manufacturers are aware of these issues.
sustainablog: Oftentimes, situations like these arise from limited economic opportunities. What other means of making a living are available (or could become available) to people in the Eastern Congo? Are there options for these people that couldn’t be as readily exploited by armed groups in the area?
David Sullivan: Impoverished Congolese miners and their families are often entirely dependent on their meager income from mining, and they currently have few viable economic alternatives to lift them out of this indentured servitude. What could be the most promising alternative to mining is agriculture, but the threat of violence often forces Congolese farmers to abandon their fields to flee for safety.
Efforts to end the trade in conflict minerals absolutely must be accompanied by international support for livelihoods and economic opportunities in eastern Congo. Rebuilding roads is a key opportunity, so that other sectors can benefit from trade. Infrastructure projects with guaranteed labor at decent wages can help lure miners out of conflict mines and create opportunities for demobilized combatants. Larger firms can raise miners’ living standards if independently verifiable mechanisms are put in place to ensure that the corporations are not contributing to armed groups, and health, safety, and labor standards are observed at mining sites. International investment should be stepped up in agricultural development initiatives in eastern Congo, which mining has displaced in recent years. Good models for agricultural investments in mining areas exist in Sierra Leone. Other livelihood initiatives, such as small business development projects, should also be promoted. All projects should be designed in close partnership with miners themselves, and should also be followed up with education initiatives for miners.
Want to argue about the causes of global warming? OK… but as you do so, keep in mind this slideshow by a group of high school students in Kwigillingok, Alaska. The effects of climate change aren’t matters of theory for these kids and their families: they’re seeing them first-hand.
You may have gotten your fill of the phrase “energy independence” with last year’s election: both parties and presidential candidates touted the idea repeatedly. It’s a compelling concept… it’s also contentious. For some, energy independence means harvesting solar, wind, and geothermal power; for others, it’s the motivation behind “Drill, baby, drill!” Either way, it’s a challenging goal at the national level.
At the local level, though, energy independence may be realistic… and numerous communities around the United States are exploring available renewable resources, and the technology necessary to harness them. Here’s just a handful of towns creating models for clean energy production… and good old fashioned self-reliance.
If you’ve followed the debate over climate change even a little, you likely know the main causes of global warming: concentrations of greenhouse gases build up in the Earth’s atmosphere, and create a “greenhouse,” or warming effect. You’re likely also aware that evidence of past warming periods has fueled the argument that natural causes are largely responsible for current global warming, and thus, our choices of ways to reduce global warming are limited. If Nature’s calling the shots, is there any reason to change human activities that increase levels of carbon dioxide, methane, and other greenhouse gases?
While arguments persist, there’s little doubt that human-produced greenhouse gas emissions play a major role in the current warming trend. Nature has a role, but it pales in the face of increasing emissions from human activity.
What are some of the natural causes of global warming?
Think back to science classes from school. You undoubtedly learned at some point that carbon dioxide is a naturally-occurring compound, that it provides food for plant life, and that animals breathe it out. You may have also learned that decaying organic material releases CO2. There’s no need to question these facts. Greenhouse gases can be emitted into the atmosphere from a variety of natural sources.
Do you recycle your cell phones? It’s a great practice for insuring that toxic materials in those old phones don’t make their way into the environment. But what about the other side of the cell phone lifecycle? Do you know where the materials come from?
It turns out that many of the minerals in that phone have an ugly story behind them, similar to that of blood diamonds. TakePart.com, a project of Participant Media, produced the PSA above as part of a larger campaign to educate the public about the role “conflict minerals” such as tin, tungsten, gold, and tantalum play in funding armed groups fighting in the Eastern Congo. According to Raise Hope for Congo, a campaign of the Enough Project,
The conflict in eastern Congo, the deadliest in the world since World War II, is being fueled by a multi-million dollar trade in minerals that go into our electronic products from cell phones to digital cameras. Over five million people have died as a result of the war, and hundreds of thousands of women have been raped in eastern Congo over the past decade. The armed groups that are perpetuating the violence generate an estimated $144 million each year by trading in [the above-mentioned] four main minerals…
Apparently, the pine wood snake has a very distinctive schlong: no one who entered our “Name that Schlong” contest confused it with the penis of, say, a blesbok or a dragonfly, or any of the other “members” of the Grand Gallery of Penises. Well done, schlong-namers!
Thinking about installing a wind energy system, but not sure if the payback period on your investment meets your financial needs? I began thinking about this question last week when our old friend (and my real old friend) bobbyb sent me an article about a couple who’d installed a wind turbine at their home in Great Britain. He noted that the numbers provided in the article (a £20,000 initial outlay for £500/year energy savings) didn’t make financial sense: “That’s a forty-year payback period!”
He’s right… that kind of cost-benefit analysis doesn’t really work. If you’re going to put up tens of thousands of dollars for a wind system (or a solar energy system), you probably want to see a return on that investment in years, rather than in decades. I got so interested in the topic that I wrote a post about things you should consider before putting your money down on a renewable energy system at SUNfiltered. Wind energy systems have their own requirements, so here are a few of the things you’ll want to take into consideration.
Will wind energy work on my property?
As with any renewable resource, some areas are better than others for home wind energy. Some of the questions you’ll need answers for include
Still have bottled water as a regular item on the grocery list? Or just pick up the occasional bottle when you’re out? It’s so convenient…
As you probably know, that convenience comes at an environmental and social price: documentaries such as FLOW and Thirst, organizations such as the Sierra Club and Environmental Defense Fund, and even a few of us lowly bloggers, have reported on the costs created by water’s transformation from a freely-available resource to a multi-billion dollar commodity. That bottle of water you buy now contributes to the world’s third-largest industry.
