The Canadian navy has traditionally had a good relationship with the garbage on board its ships: the cold Arctic temperatures have kept the mess frozen, allowing refuse and olfactory senses to live harmoniously.

Then came global warming. The increased temperatures have caused quite the stink on Canadian naval ships, so much so that the navy is relaxing regulations and allowing ships to dump the garbage and even raw sewage at sea. A portion of an internal navy memo was reprinted by The Canadian Press:

The changes ‘help alleviate our COs (commanding officers’) concerns (with regard to) accumulated food remnants stored in garbage bags on decks during ever-increasing global warming summers…These food remnants may decay or putrefy and generate an occupational health and safety issue on board ships (that) our COs can ill afford while striving to enforce Canadian sovereignty in our internal Arctic waters."

The orders – part of the more relaxed provisions in the Arctic Water Pollution Prevention Act – allow for dumping if there are "operational" or safety reasons, or if capacity is exceeded.

These provisions, and the increased number of ships being sent north on sovereignty patrols, have many people arguing that taking the smelly garbage to a port for unloading is the worth the inconvenience, especially when the alternative is dumping it at sea.

However, navy officials say dumping would be worst-case-scenario, and that navy ships are still much more restrictive in their environmental stewardship than the law requires them to be.

The Canadian Press

When Amy wrote about green magazines, she mentioned GOOD as being one of her favorites. I, too, a self-described magazine junkie, am a big fan of GOOD since it’s inception last year. With all the depressing news out there on any given day, GOOD always reaffirms my faith in humanity. Its focus is, like its name implies, good stuff: those things that are making our world a little bit better, and when I’m feeling down about what’s going on around me, GOOD usually perks me up. It’s a rare magazine that doesn’t need an annual "green" issue: sustainability has been a priority since the magazine was founded.

The latest issue (Sept/Oct 07) is no exception. The issue, which commemorates their one-year anniversary, focuses on design solutions. A topic I covered a while back, green schools, gets a feature nod from Eva Steele-Saccio. Steele-Saccio highlights different schools’ efforts to reduce their footprint and become more energy efficient, and acknowledges that there are benefits beyond energy savings: "Green schools create a healthy atmosphere for learning that has measurable results. The combination of natural light, fresh air, open plans, and multi-use facilities that encourage community involvement has helped student test scores rise by 20% and reduced asthma rates by 39%."

There’s also a feature about a village in England that launched a community effort to reduce their carbon footprint, with the ultimate goal of becoming the first carbon-neutral village in the U.K. GOOD’s product reviews almost always include items produced with sustainability in mind, and in this issue, they create a proposal for better CFL packaging: create a package that can be used to ship burned-out bulbs back to the producer for proper disposal. There’s also a profile of Rogan Gregory, founder of clothing company Loomstate, who was virtually responsible for bringing organic cotton to the fashion industry though his work with Loomstate, and his other two companies, Rogan and Edun

Even subscribing to GOOD can make you feel good: 100% of your $20 subscription costs goes to your choice of twelve charities, including the World Wildlife Fund and Oceana. Good is printed on 30% recycled post-consumer paper that is EcoLogic certified, and 100% offset by projects Good is actually involved in.

The September/October issue of GOOD is on newsstands now.

Yep, that’s right - a 1,000 ft. mushroom cloud, and no, that doesn’t mean above-ground nuclear testing has resumed in the Nevada desert. It just means that the artist who built Crude Awakenings - a 100 ft. tall oil derrick - wanted to blow it up at the end of the festival (to "dramatize the worshipful relationship and dependence modern man has toward oil"), and to do so he used 900 gallons of jet fuel (apparently off-spec fuel given to him by NASA) and 2,000 gallons of liquid propane, not to mention the timber and steel used in the structure. You can see it on YouTube here.

So how does such a staggering display of firepower — the largest explosion in the events history — contribute to an event thematically-focused on reneewable energy and green tech? Well, lets just say it’s "green in theme"…

"If you were really green, you would have walked."
- Posted sign at the entrance to Burning Man

Burning Man was founded on a novel concept: take a population the size of a small town, institute a gift economy (no vending or sales allowed) but maintain basic legal structure (state and federal laws still apply, mostly), and then demolish all regularly-maintained social conventions. Want to dress up like a samurai? Great. Don’t feel like wearing any clothes at all? No problem. Don’t want to sleep ever again? That’s a given. It’s like the Matrix meets Never-Never-Land.

So just how Green was this Man, anyway?

Now don’t get me wrong — I dig the theme. In fact, it’s part of the reason I went this year, and I drove to the festival without burning a drop of petroleum. But a remotely-located, 46,000-person party based on the primal need for really loud electronic music and torching large wooden effigies doesn’t strike me as particularly low-impact.

Consider the amount of road and air travel required by those attending the event (the kids next to me spent $300 in fuel to get there, and only stayed 2 nights). People attend from every corner of the globe, which involves considerable international travel, and thousands of road trips that otherwise may not have happened. Add to this the absolutely massive scale of pyrotechnic displays, and the total CO2 bill for the 8-days of Burning Man comes out to about 27,000 tons of CO2 each year (2006 data).

Seems like a lot, except when compared to the 23,013,698 metric tons of CO2 the US emits anyway in those same 8 days. (2005 data - EIA). In case you were wondering, Burning Man represents an increase of 1/10th of a percent over business as usual. And since many travelers are taking regularly scheduled work vacations to attend the event, it would be hard to claim this is a unique increase.

Even so, the festival has made some effort to reduce its impact. In 2005, the "Cooling Man" project was founded to offer carbon offsets for festival-goers. The project’s web site estimates that if 70% of burners (32,200 people) offset 1 ton of carbon dioxide emissions, Black Rock City would become the first carbon negative city in the world. Of course, that depends on how you feel about carbon offsets, and who actually participates. Since offsetting 1 ton only costs $10, it’s unclear why they don’t just tack this onto the ticket price (tickets cost around $250 anyway). So far this year, the Cooling Man project has offset 627 tons of CO2.

As you may have heard, the big deal this year was the Green Pavilion underneath the man, with 30,000 square feet of decidedly science-fair-like green-tech exhibits, including solar and wind power, alternative fuels (a Greasecar SVO conversion), and one electric car plastered white with playa dust. At least 50% of the power for the displays came from a 30 kW solar array that was given to Gerlach, NV, after the event (which will generate $3 million of electricity over the next 20 years, at no cost to Gerlach/Lovelock residents). Two other solar projects were also designed and sponsored by Burning Man, including a 120 kW solar array in Gerlach, Nevada and a 60 kW solar array in Lovelock, Nevada. Burning Man also swapped out all of Gerlach’s (population 500) old light-bulb’s and replaced them with compact fluorescents.

These would be considerable investments for a group of partiers that didn’t really care about their impact, but I think it’s fair to say they do, and next week I’ll talk about more of the smaller-scale environmentally-minded steps "Burners" were taking, including powering their dance music with biodiesel. I’ll also hit on a few of the other cool exhibits, like the CO2-to-algae display, and have some general conclusions about this year’s fest.

To be continued…

"The Green Man" from WorldChanging

"Crude Awakening Arises at Burning Man" from Wired

The first set of experiments transforms messy power cords into functional household items: "Shelf" (image above) and "ToothHold." Depending on where the outlets are in your home (usually at a functional reaching level), you now can use this cord to have reachable necessities throughout the home. Whether you are reaching for a toothbrush or a book, your outlets are put to greater use. Thinking beyond common functionality, maybe you can even use this shelf as a seat…

The second set of experiments are nothing but aesthetic wall dressings. Their titles insinuate the additional meaning: "Grow Plug" and "Single Vase AC." These houseplant retrofits cover up tacky wall outlets while adding an element of fresh-cut or freshly-growing nature to the room.

The third, and my personal favorite, is simply titled "Off." This is a light switch hook designed so that the it only functions as a hanger when switched to the "off" position. The switch is still fully functional, but the added bonus encourages you to think about your actual lighting needs.

Designer and experimenter Scott Amron has performed and exhibited a large portfolio of functionality experiments incorporating basic principles of engineering and physics while challenging their common conceptions. One outstanding project among these is called "Brush and Rinse," which won a Best of Category award in this year’s I.D. Annual Design Review, a highly acclaimed annual design competition. Scott has a B.E. in Electrical Engineering, and is a declared freelance electrical engineer, designer, conceptual artist, inventor, and founding principal of Amron Exptl.

Check it out. His products don’t cost you your shiniest penny, and they will provide your houseguests with a challenging surprise.

At the Waveney Greenpeace festival this weekend, Brother Sutch will be on hand to hear people’s tales of over consumption and waste.

Thought to be the first confessional of its kind, the eco-fessional is made from recycled materials, such as doors and other found objects. Further, Sutch will be decked out in a specially designed robe made from recycled curtains.

While the good father has given up his weekend to promote environmental sustainability, his commitment to the environment extends much further than just a two-day jaunt at a festival. In fact, Sutch has taken his commitment to the environment so far, that some of his parishioners have started to complain. In an interview with The Times he explains, "I try not to turn on my heating but people come and stay with me and demand it. I get attacked for having a cold church. I have cut my electricity bill by 30 per cent." It is at this point that one must ask, "which is worse, a cold church or a wasteful congregation?" Obviously, Dom Anthony Sutch prefers the former.

While the first religiously motivated confessional of its kind, the eco-fessional is said to be loosely modeled after Earthly Sins, a popular sustainability campaign. As the people at Earthly Sins put it, their booth is a "non-judgmental environmental advice installation”aimed at getting people to sign a pledge promising to reduce energy consumption and engage in socially sustainable practices, like ethical banking. Although Earthly Sins made its first debut at the Glastonbury festival, it has since established quite an impressive presence on the net.

The Earthly Sins website is a fun and interactive way to become environmentally pious. The site includes a Temple of Sustainability, where you can learn about ways to live a more eco-friendly life, confess your eco-sins and meet other disciples.

So, whether you are a devout Catholic, a staunch atheist, or something in between, it looks as though there is a way for everyone to find environmental salvation. Thanks to people like Dom Anthony Sutch and groups like Earthly Sins, we have new creative and interactive ways to view our commitment to environmental sustainability and that is truly a blessing.

Image Source: Earthly Sins

The Great Aletsch is the largest and longest glacier in Europe, and forms part of a region in southwestern Switzerland that was named a United Nations Natural World Heritage Site in 2001. The site, which was enlarged this year, is situated in the Bernese Alps and consists of mountainous terrains that harbor a variety of ecosystems and a precious diversity of plant and animal species. The area as a whole, and the Aletsch Glacier in particular, is highly threatened by climate change.

According to Pro Natura, the conservation non-profit organization that runs the Aletsch Ecological Center, since the last ice age some 11,000 years ago, the glacier has been slowly retreating. But, there have also been times when it advanced. For example, in 1860 the glacier was 1.8 miles longer than it is now and about 650 feet higher. Today, due to the clearly visible effects of climate change, the Aletsch glacier is retreating at an alarming rate, losing 50 meters or around 165 feet a year. At that rate, not only the Aletsch but also most of the world’s glaciers are predicted to disappear by 2080.

By photographing the large assembly of naked people on the Alestch, Tunick said he aimed to draw a link between the human body and the glacier, and to highlight the vulnerability of both in the face of climate change. Members of Greenpeace organized the event: they recruited the six hundred participants as volunteers through their website, negotiated with local authorities, and managed the logistics of the photo shoot. The volunteers came mainly from across Switzerland, but some traveled from neighboring countries to take part in the mass installation art.

Vincent Donzé, a journalist for the Swiss newspaper Le Matin, described his experience as a volunteer. Tunick and his team of six assistants, the organizers from Greenpeace and the six hundred volunteers hiked up for several hours to reach the Aletsch. At an altitude of around 7545 feet, the volunteers stripped and, at Tunick’s command, took up different poses: standing by the edge of the glacier, standing spread out across the ice, or lying down and huddled together. They made use of slippers and pillows provided by Greenpeace to guard against the cold as they walked or lay on the glacier, and the air temperature hovered at around 10° Celsius or 50° Fahrenheit.

Another journalist for Le Matin reported that Greenpeace paid Tunick more than 20,000 Swiss francs, about $16,600, a sum that covers fees for the artist and his six assistants, and buys half of the rights for the photographs, which will be used for a Greenpeace publicity campaign in the near future. The artist will also sell his pictures to art dealers for thousands or possibly tens of thousands of dollars.

Reflecting on the costs of mounting such an eco-artistic project - the time, effort and money involved - raises the question: how effective was it? You might argue that the aim of raising awareness about climate change was reached, because the story of the six hundred naked people on a melting glacier made international news, featuring, for example, on the BBC and in major American and European newspapers. Or you might wonder what percentage of those who saw or read reports on the event had previously been unaware of climate change.

In other words, what kinds of response did the reports and the accompanying media photos incite? One reader, Jean-Pierre, wrote to a Swiss newspaper asking whether the impact of the project was significant enough to justify the energy consumed and the emissions produced, before, during and after the photo shoot. He doubted that Tunick and the volunteers had paused to consider the energy and the CO2 expended in the process.

These arguments and others lead us to ponder the more general issue of the role art plays in the green movement. I believe art can play a powerful role in furthering awareness and encouraging action on the various environmental challenges we are faced with. The story of 600 naked people on a Swiss glacier has caused a stir in the media, and it doesn’t end there. The resulting nude photos will drive the Greenpeace publicity campaign, and will be featured in galleries and museums, thereby reaching a wide audience.

We need not seek to quantify the contribution of a particular work of art, for we would be missing the point entirely. Eco-art and art for the environment should be vigorously but judiciously promoted. So, while we cultivate the development of green art, we must also be wary of vacuous gimmicks and inane publicity stunts that masquerade as creativity with conscience.

Image source: 24 Heures

Greenpeace

BBC

Le Matin

LS Power Group wants to build a 750-megawatt (MW) plant near Waterloo, and Alliant Energy wants a 630 MW coal plant near Marshalltown. A new MidAmerican Energy coal plant just began operation near Council Bluffs on June 1.

Local and regional supporters of clean and efficient energy will fight the plants. Besides the economic drain of having to import coal from Wyoming, supporters argue that powering the Iowa’s ethanol plants with coal power does not make environmental sense or economic sense. Cleaner methods of production – like using a biomass gasification system to produce ethanol – is a smarter choice, noted Carrie LaSeur of the Iowa law firm Plains Justice: “Biofuels are supposed to make us less dependent on fossil fuels and reduce CO2. Using coal to power a biofuels plant has the opposite effect…Coal is a thing of the past. Why keep falling back on this old technology, when clean alternatives are out there?”

The Iowa Utilities Board still has to approve construction of both plants, but this situation is duplicated across the U.S., where 150 new coal plants are proposed. Worries about imminent carbon regulation seem to have mixed results: while plans for about two dozen coal plants have been scrapped since 2006, other companies are rushing to build before new regulations take effect, with the assumption that their plants would be grandfathered in under any new emissions requirements.

While more than half of U.S. states have renewable energy standards that require a certain percentage of power to come from renewables, the construction of a coal plant or two can quickly unravel all the good intentions. The left hand has to pay attention to what the right hand is doing here, and we can’t have it both ways if we’re serious about creating a rich, clean energy economy while slowing global warming.

Associated Press, via Quad Cities Online
Iowa Environmental Council

Editor’s note: This week, Lighter Footstep’s Chris Baskind takes a look at an unusual development in alternative energy: burning expired drugs. This post was originally published on August 6, 2007.

Imagine this sticker above your light switch: Powered by Prozac.

No, it’s not likely that your local power plant will be swapping coal for old Celebrex tablets anytime soon. But a little free energy is the happy byproduct of drug disposal by Milwaukee-based Capital Returns, a company that specializes in the management of old pharmaceutical stocks.

Drugs have shelf life, beyond which they cannot be sold. But old medications are more difficult to get rid of than you might think. Drugs which get sent to landfills will eventually leech their way into the groundwater. Flushing old stock — the method generally recommended to consumers — puts chemicals into our watershed even faster.

Drug-Filled Rivers

And that’s a problem. Ignored for years, pharmaceutical water pollution is finally getting the attention of U.S. and European scientists as unexpectedly high levels of antibiotics, heart medication, anticonvulsive drugs, and a host of other powerful medications are turning up in rivers and groundwater. Perhaps the most disturbing pollutants are endocrine disruptors: human estrogen from birth-control pills and the vast effluence of animal hormones produced by commercial livestock production.

The effects of these substances on wildlife — and the human food chain — are just now being studied. But they’re likely to reveal bewildering mutations similar to the dual-sexed smallmouth bass turning up in the Potomac River north of Washington, DC.

Most pharmaceutical pollution makes its way to our watershed through the release of treated sewage. But controlled industrial incineration prevents old drug stocks from adding to the problem, and is being harnessed by Capital Returns to produce surplus power.

A Prescription for Free Power

Every day, the company receives millions of expired pharmaceuticals from drug manufacturers, cataloging their receipt and routing them for hazardous disposal or to Covanta Energy, a company which specializes in converting waste into energy. Covanta currently operates thirty facilities in the United States, offering communities an alternative to landfill dumping in the disposal of such things as municipal solid waste and household trash. Their incinerators exceed EPA regulations for air purity.

And now, expired drugs. Capital Returns disposed of over 6.5 million pounds of pills in 2006 — producing enough energy to power about 220 homes for a year. That’s tons of coal or natural gas saved and fewer pollutants making their way into the water table.

Next Stop: Your Corner Drug Store

Capital Returns says it handles about a quarter of the industry’s disposal needs. But they don’t address expired drugs already in the hands of consumers. Washington State is among the first to set up pilot programs to test the viability of public drop-off centers. Emma Johnson, who works for the state’s Department of Ecology, says a five county area has been experimenting with pharmacy-based drug collection centers since last October. If successful, the effort will be expanded statewide.

Converting drugs to power is, admittedly, a footnote to emerging story of 21st century alternative power solutions. But it illustrates the larger strategy of closing the loop on consumer goods, keeping dangerous wastes out of the environment while converting them into something useful.

The owner has decided that the best way of dealing with this problem is to burn the books. So he loaded up a cauldron in front of his store and burned a pile of books in what he saw as a protest against what he sees as, "society's diminishing support for the printed word." But this isn't necessary at all, there are a number of online services that facilitate the exchange of books (as well as a range of other things). One of these, Paperback Swap, has begun an online petition to save the books and is offering to collect all the books from the store's warehouse, and then distribute them to people for free on a road trip from Kansas City to the company's hometown of Atlanta. This seems to be a much greener way of dealing with the glut.

There are a number of services on the web that connect people who want to exchange books. In addition to Paperback Swap, there are also sites like BookMooch and BookCrossing. There are also services like LaLa and SwapaCD (a sister site to Paperback Swap) that allow for the exchange of CDs.

And, of course, there are local level exchanges for all manner of things, such as Freecycle (and other local variants) and Craigslist which help find new homes for furniture, computers, childrens' toys, and all kinds of other things. Rebecca wrote an earlier Tip-o'the-Day about local swap events.

Personally, I've been using LaLa and Bookmooch for several months, and I'm generally happy with both. I've also recently joined Paperback Swap and SwapaCD. I've been glad to find other people who have wanted to get things that I've had cluttering the house and even happier to get some things that I've wanted. I still have a copy of Hunt for Red October that may stay sitting on my shelf for some time. But I've been able to exchange over 100 books (sent and received) so far. And that's far better than burning them.

Imagine my surprise when I learned that mercury exposure is a common misconception when it comes to CFLs. Fortunately, these myths are easily debunked.

Myth: There is a large amount of mercury in CFL bulbs.

Fact: Yes, there is mercury in CFLs. Generally, this amount is about 4 milligrams of mercury per bulb. To put this in perspective, a mercury thermometer has 500 milligrams of mercury in it, and older thermostats can contain as much as 3000 milligrams.

Interestingly enough, the use of CFLs can actually prevent mercury from entering our air. Burning fossil fuels produces more mercury in the air we breathe than any other source. Since CFLs use less energy, hence, fossil fuels, less mercury is put in the air. The EPA calculates that a power plant will emit 10 milligrams of mercury to produce the electricity needed to power an incandescent bulb over the course of its lifetime, but only 2.4 milligrams of mercury to power a CFL for the same amount of time.

Myth: There are no proper disposal guidelines for CFLs that have burned out.

Fact: CFLs are not technically considered hazardous waste by the government, but it is recommended that you use proper precautions when disposing of burnouts or breaks. Earth911.org can give you specific directions for disposal in your area. In general, you should dispose of CFLs like you would batteries, paint, or oil.

Myth: If a CFL breaks in your home, it will cost thousands of dollars to properly clean up the mercury released.

Fact: This is a myth that actually has an interesting story behind it. It apparently started when Steve Milloy published a story on Fox News claiming that a woman named Brandy Bridges broke a CFL in her child's bedroom and was concerned about spilled mercury contaminating the carpet. When she called Home Depot, her local Poison Control, and finally the Department of Environmental Protection for the state of Maine, she claims they recommended a $2,000 carpet cleaning. Milloy used one line out of the original story about Bridges, published in Maine's Ellsworth American, and neglects to mention that the story goes on to say that there is a simple, inexpensive, and safe method for cleaning up a spill such as this, and the DEP has now said that it "isn't necessary to hire professionals at all" for a CFL break. Read a more thorough debunking here (via Treehugger).

In short, don't believe the hype. You can breathe easy when it comes to using CFLs in your home.

The rules of the event are simple: each team bought an old vehicle on a "shoestring budget" and is only allowed to use alternative fuels for the duration of the race (except emergencies). Donations to the event support renewable energy and sustainability projects in Central America, like the Combustibles Ecologicos, S.A., Guatemala, a group dedicated to promoting biofuels in Guatemala. Along the route, teams are rallying at various environmental projects and garnering support for renewable energy (some of them had a chance to meet Willie Nelson of BioWillie Biodiesel). At the race's completion, the battle-tested vehicles will be donated to some of the destination country's local environmental groups.

Four teams set out on April 1, 2007: The Frying Burrito Brothers, Quest for the Golden Grease, Team ZERO, Greased Lightning, and Quantum Heap. These aren't a bunch of highschool kids with extra time on their hands, either - Suzanne Hunt of Greased Lightning is the director for the WorldWatch Institute's bioenergy program. Her partner, Jean-Phillipe Denruyter of Belgium is the Global Bioenergy Coordinator for the World Wildlife Fund (WWF). Don't you wish you had either one of those jobs? See their blog here.

Practically speaking, using only alternative fuels means either buying biodiesel from commercial distributors, farms, or coops, or converting the vehicle itself to run on straight vegetable oil (SVO). Most of the teams seem to have opted for the SVO route, a clearly superior choice, considering that every restaurant becomes potential re-fueling depot (and using biodiesel is still an option). All racers have to do is get permission to scoop up some of the restaurants used oil and, of course, be willing to get a little greasy.

I checked in with the teams around the halfway mark, via the Greaseball blog. According to the race schedule, it looks like everyone is still in Mexico - behind by about 5 days. But honestly, does anyone care? Driving down the Pacific coast of Mexico in a vegetable-oil powered Mercedes doesn’t sound like a bad way to spend April.

What do you think David - maybe next year?

Check out the links for more information:
The Greaseball Challenge 2007
Greaseball Challenge Blog
Greaseball Challenge Fickr Photos
Greased Lightning Team Blog
Originally Posted by WorldChanging (March 30, 2007)

WASHINGTON - At 08:04 AM this morning, the International Whaling Commission (IWC) announced the end of a 21-year moratorium on commercial whaling:

The IWC has joined forces with the international community to support the development alternative fuel," said spokesman Phillip Alloway. "Due to increasing domestic oil prices and the serious implications of global warming, we understand the necessity of finding viable substitutes for petroleum. Whales represent a vast untapped, convenient, and usable source of oil that can be made into a renewable fuel, namely biodiesel.

Biodiesel, a diesel-like fuel usable in all diesel engines, can be made from any plant or animal oil, including animal fat. The raw oil is combined with methanol and lye to make biodiesel, a 'methylalkyl ester', or in this case, 'whale-oil ethyl ester' (WOME ). A whale's body mass typically contains up to 50% blubber - the portion of the animal processed into whale oil - making it the highest-producing biodiesel feedstock currently available (compared to soybeans at 14% oil, and palm kernels at 36% oil). Although thedevelopment of Whale-Oil Biodiesel (WOBD ) is novel, the use of whale oil as a 'biofuel' is nothing new. In fact, until the discovery of petroleum, whale oil was the predominant lubricant and fuel source,combusting in street lamps worldwide. It's the oil that temporarily made Nantucket the richest city in America.

ExxonMobile (EM), one of the newest leaders in renewable energy, declared plans for extensive whaling operations and a marketing campaign for the WOBD.

"We already have the ships and the infrastructure. All we needed was the go-ahead" said senior VP George Phullmaker.

In anticipation of the announcement, EM said it has reconfigured the Exxon-Bengal (one if it's largest supertankers) to accommodate whaling equipment. The ship now features 3 rocket-propelled harpoons with built-in GPS tracking devices, although one crewmember said the pride and joy is an antique wooden whaling skiff salvaged from the Essex, now mounted on the deck for "aesthetic purposes". The most important feature of the Bengal, however, may be its ability to manufacture biodiesel while at sea:

"In addition to standard boilers for converting blubber to oil, we also have a refinery that can process about 10 million gallons of oil into ASTM quality biodiesel per year. "

Since the average sperm whale weighs 80,000 lbs, that means an average of about 5,228 gallons of oil can be derived from each catch.

"In the old days, ships could only process about one whale every three days. Now we can do about 6 whales a day, which means we can collect about 219,607 gallons of oil each week. The nice thing is, was can process and even blend all this oil without ever landing in port."

From a distribution perspective, it’s a recipe for success. EM can now deliver millions of gallons of biodiesel anywhere in the world, allowing the corporation to seek out ports offering premium prices.

"We are not concerned by international regulations of any kind," the EM spokesman said.

With the price of biodiesel in the U.S. hovering around $3.00/gallon, WOBD could be a financial windfall.

ExxonMobile is very proud of supporting this new renewable fuel. The benefits of biodiesel are clearly established. Furthermore, there is no need to worry about oil spills anymore: whale oil is biodegradable and non-toxic.

But not everyone was happy about the IWC's decision, and international protest commenced immediately. Environmental groups expressed a mixture of shock and horror.

"We are speechless… I can't believe this is happening," was all one advocate could muster.

"It was only a matter of time until this feedstock was considered as viable," Jim Whaler of Whale Rights Watch said. "We thought it would take at least $5.00/gallon gas before it happened, but well, whatever…"

Others were quick to question the logic behind the proposal:

"How many whales can there possibly be? It's ridiculous! Even if they could harvest every last whale in the ocean, it would only meet about 1-2% of theUS's fuel needs."

The IWC and EM were quick to counter these comments:

Despite reports of plummeting populations, there are numerous species that have rebounded in the last 21 years. But take a worst-case scenario like the Humpback whale: most estimates put the number of Humpbacks at about 10,000 whales today. It would take at least 47 years to harvest the whole population, yielding 65,613,756 gallons of usable oil.

Critics maintain that this is only 0.23% of the alternative fuel that will be required by the 2005 Renewable Fuel Standard.

GreenOptions managed to ask EM spokesman Phillip Alloway for direct comment (via personal communication):

Look, whales are doomed anyway. We all know that global warming is raising sea temperatures, right? Well pretty soon it's going to be too hot for all those phytoplankton that the whales eat, and guess what - no more whales. I know, it's a Catch-22. Nobody actually likes whaling, but at least were trying to do something for the environment… Hey, you aren't recording this are you?

David Cornell, a scientist, confirmed Alloway's prediction. "Oceanic warming will eventually inhibit formation of calcium-carbonate skeletons in animals at the bottom of the food chain," he said. "This has grave implications for all sea life, not just whales."

An international whaling frenzy is anticipated as fleets compete to be the 'first in the water'. The announcement has even inspired the decedents of Nantucketwhaleman to resurrect century-old traditions. "There's a sea of oil out there," one enthusiastic fisherman said. "You just have to go out there and get it."

No one is quite sure how the WOBD will compare to biodiesel currently available, although it's expected to be similar to fuel made other types of animal fat. One major concern is how the burning fuel will smell, and some municipalities are already murmuring about banning the fuel: "We don't want downtown to smell like Nantucket harbor in 1835."

But the bottom line is this: increasing fuel demand combined with pressure for alternative fuels could prompt a whaling boom that makes Nantucket whalemen look like a bunch of amateurs.

Quick Facts:
What it is: Whale Oil Biodiesel (or WOBD)
Who can use it: WOBD will burn in any diesel engine without modification
Where you can buy it: Look for WOBD at your local biofuel station by fall of this year
Benefits: Increased lubricity, decreased reliance on foreign oil, creates domestic jobs.

Bumper Sticker

UPDATE: April Fools! 

Senator Coffin wants to count tire burning towards Nevada’s standards for renewable energy production. The state has a Renewable Energy Standard requiring all Nevada investor-owned utilities to get 15 percent of their energy from renewables by the year 2013.

Here enters commonsense: the Republican Senator from Henderson, Joseph Heck, points out that the bill doesn’t prevent the most destructive forms of tire burning from happening. For example, open burning of tires releases known carcinogens, among other nasty pollution problems, and could count as renewable energy with the change in the law.

The Senate Commerce and Labor Committee will vote on the bill at a later hearing.

In addition to renewable tire burning, the Committee heard other bills last week that included exempting co-ops, nonprofits, and renewable energy systems from state environmental review laws. The Committee approved that bill, despite opposition from state regulators and the Nevada Conservation league who argued it creates loopholes that would allow for a utility plant built on private land to sidestep the permitting process.

Sounds like Nevada senators have their hands full, hopefully closing up all the loopholes others are trying to tear open. This is a lesson for all of us: Good laws that encourage a clean, renewable energy system still have to be protected and safeguarded from those wed to the dirty way of doing things. Make sure your elected officials know you’re keeping an eye on them.

Associated Press
Energy Bulletin
Western Resource Advocates

According to Italian researchers, such acts of pollution have been a problem since the early days of Rome. Two inscriptions were discovered late last month warning against garbage dumping in the ancient Roman town of Herculaneum.

Using infrared reflectography, the researchers discovered decrees by two joint magistrates, Rufellius Romanus and Tetteius Severus, promising swift punishment with fines or lashes. From the article,

"The town's social makeup was rather different from Pompeii's. But the fact that 'no dumping' decrees were repeated over and over on the board, means that this was a serious problem in the town," Herculaneum scholar Mario Pagano told Discovery News."

Hmmm…perhaps it's time we honored the same traditions and put lashes back into the system? I jest, but I'm sure your average college student would be quick to recycle that bottle of beer, rather than throw it on my front lawn. "When in Rome…."

Article Link: Ancient Italian Decree: No Dumping