Michael's blog

Even Liechtenstein

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In case you missed it, Australia ratified the Kyoto accords, leaving only one industrialized country — US — refusing to join. Slightly amusingly, Andrew Revkin of the Times initially said that only two countries remained — the behemoth US and tiny Liechtenstein. But in this post, he apologizes to the postage-stamp European nation. It is, indeed, only US.


Gift idea

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Finally, a doll house I would like to receive, or, at least, to give in good conscience... Link. Depending on your outlook, it's a toy or a teaching tool, with 70 experiments and 20 building projects, according to the promotional patter. Comes with toy turbines, toy solar cells, etc. Via EcoGeek.


Magnets and wind power

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Here is what appears to be a very promising variant in efforts to harness the wind for electricity. Its attributes: * One turbine can generate up to a gigawatt of energy, enough to power 750,000 homes. "Traditional" turbines generate 5 megawatts.


Simple green

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I've been visioning/musing/networking on what work I might do, post-baby, and the confluence of sustainability and technology keeps coming up for me. That's a longer post than I have time for today, but it helps explain why I'm drawn to this.


Recycling light bulbs

My good friend Margaret Ann, as bright a thinker as I've ever met, bemoaned a while back that while CFLs (compact fluorescent lightbulbs, the bulbs that use far less energy than incandescents and last 10 years) are an advance, what do we do about all those incandescents that have been decommissioned in the process of switching over? Just throwing them in the trash seems to dull some of the planet-saving luster of switching over to CFLs.

My short answer for that is, "I still don't know." However...


I still don’t support Ron Paul

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I've mentioned the Texas Libertarian several times, because he says a couple of things that interest me, and I love that he's not a cookie-cutter candidate. He says what he thinks, period.

This is, of course, what I've been militating for, and my chief justification against Clinton, that she wouldn't speak her mind even if she were being water-boarded.


Biofoolishness

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The advisability of growing crops to produce fuel requires at least some scientific expertise that I do not possess, and that limits the value of my thoughts on the matter. Nevertheless, I feel safe opining that ...


“The greenest building on the planet”

From Treehugger comes news of the Aldo Leopold Legacy Center. I regret to say that I'm ignorant of who Aldo is, but I'm excited by this building, built in the Wisconsin countryside. Here are some of the features...

- Underground earth tubes supply fresh, tempered air to the facility in all seasons.

- Wood was harvested onsite from trees originally planted by Leopold.

- The zero net energy building generates over 50,000 kWh of electricity annually.


More market news

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Treehugger, a must-stop destination for readers of the green, reports that Tesco, Britain's largest retailer and rated by Fortune in the top 10 of "green giants," is planning to open more than 100 Fresh and Easy stores in the Southwest. The stores will use 30 percent electricity than typical grocers, get 60 percent of its produce from local sources (reducing the amount of fossil fuel to get the goods to market), and pay more than $10 an hour. Link.


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