Earth Overshoot Day 2010: a full month earlier than EOD 2009

Earth Overshoot Day is when we are living beyond our means from an ecological and resource standpoint - and we still have over a quarter of the year to go...

http://www.royte.com/blog/?p=749

Take Back the Power!

Or, How We Can Really Make the Power Companies Even More Dependent on We the Ratepayers

This posting is ostensibly about power generation, so why am I, Oregon Water Thorn, tackling this topic?  Because the issue of distribution and big utilities can, naturally, be translated to water or sewage distribution/collection.  Think about the parallels:

I have a friend that lives over in Bend that was griping the other day about the local electric utility raising rates. A normal response, in fact, a great response, because the rate hike prompted a declaration that the family would lower their electricity use to avoid paying more. Assuming that the electric utility's goal was to cover the increasing costs of electricity generation, then this family's response is perfect. After all, conservation is the cheapest, fastest, and easiest way to increase system capacity regardless of whether a given distribution system delivers electricity or water services. In short, these kinds of homeowners end up working towards the utility's goal of maximizing the resource in the cheapest way possible.

But I know that most homeowners don't understand the real power that comes with distributed power generation. And I use the dualistic word "power" in this context in the "We the People" sense because without we the ratepayers, utilities would not exist.

Given this fundamental linkage between paying rates and the big utility (to draw the obvious comparison for you, paying taxes and the big guv'mint), I don't understand why Tea Party types don't all have grid- or non-grid-tied photovoltaic, or wind, systems on their land. This is the common person's arena where they can jump in to free themselves of the big utility. Free themselves of rate increases. Become independent in that true American homesteading fashion. And, with grid-tied systems, an individual property becomes part of the electric production network which makes the utility just that little bit beholden to you for their stock in trade.

Power to the people, by the people, for the people.

The photovoltaic, or PV, system on the roof of our state capitol building is a most elegant representation of this concept and, in my opinion, one of the best investments Oregon has ever made. And it makes me wonder, why aren't more of us free of monthly power bills?

I suspect it is because of the upfront investment that's needed to take back the power. In a sense, it is the very corporate concept that it takes money to make money that prevents a lot of cash-strapped folks I know from making the investment. But I also know a lot of non-cash-strapped folks that could easily make the investment and that are the classic Tea Party type complainers.

So I have to ask, what is freedom worth? What is it worth to a nation of so-called rugged individualists to be truly independent in such a fundamental part of their lives? Apparently it is not worth much if the ever increasing complaints about rates are any measure.

So to return to my by-line, do I need to draw the parallel with water and wastewater? What is it worth to the folks that want small government to reduce the capacity of our water and wastewater systems? What is it worth to get off the grid of our municipal water and wastewater plants by using less, by harvesting rainwater, by reusing wastewater or greywater on our land? What is it worth to be free of that tie? Again, apparently not much, given the number of people I know that want to tie themselves to the big wastewater treatment system.

The Genesis of Idiocy

Here is a great posting from Elizabeth Royte illustrating how truly people believe there is a sucker born every minute, and how, as directed by the Almighty,  you must take advantage of those suckers:

New charity water on the scene: this time from Israel

DEQ summer 2010 Newsletter

No major news but some might find it interesting...

http://www.deq.state.or.us/pubs/newsletter/oregonenvironmentsummer2010.htm

Reverse auctions for stormwater mitigation

Here's a study out of Cincinnati, Ohio where they did a reverse auction to ask people how much they had to be paid to take a rain barrel or rain garden on their property to reduce stormwater runoff in a small watershed. It is a good description of how to do this kind of thing to get people to adopt a new technology/approach, but the report stops short of providing monitoring results (in other words, do these things actually have a measurable effect on runoff in the watershed).

http://www.epa.gov/nrmrl/pubs/600r08129/600r08129.htm

Greenwalls

Thanks to Rainbow Todd for this info:

I am intrigued by the concept but admit that I found the blog site referenced annoying in that it only talked briefly about the potential environmental benefits of such an installation, the sum total that I found was:

"... located at the Vancouver International (YVR) Airport’s SkyTrain station.  The first Canadian airport to install a greenwall, international visitors to this beautiful city are greeted by the living tapestry, just one of the sustainable initiatives and ecological solutions for the airport.  Since YVR is situated within the estuary of the Fraser River on Sea Island, a large conservation project was created here to offset the environmental impact the airport causes, including a wildlife preserve and public beaches."

The blogger tended to go about the architectural aesthetic so interested persons will have to look elsewhere for substantive information.  I wonder if this gets rainwater, greywater...?

WSWC Report: Exempt Well Issues in the West

This is an issue near and dear to my heart - how many stirring straws can you stick in a slurpie before you start to run out of sugar water?  Thanks to Michael Campana and Todd Jarvis, from whom I stole this posting...

 WSWC Report: Exempt Well Issues in the West

Here is a timely report if there ever was one. It's by Nathan Bracken of the Western States Water Council. Hot off the press - thanks toTodd Jarvis.

Download Exempt_Wells_in_the_West_N_Bracken

Here is the Executive Summary:

There are over a million exempt domestic and livestock wells
located throughout the West. Although these wells are an important
source of water for a large number of water users, they also pose
significant regulatory and administrative challenges that have the
potential to impact the sustainability of water supplies, surface flows,
and water quality. In June 2008, the Western Governors’ Association
and the Western States Water Council issued a report entitled Water
Needs and Strategies for a Sustainable Future: Next Steps, which
contained recommendations on how the states and federal government
should address the ever-increasing challenges associated with water
management in the West. Item 3(D) of the Next Steps report’s
Executive Summary recommends that states “should examine their
related laws and institutions and evaluate the merits of . . . [permitting
and monitoring] exempt domestic and livestock wells as part of water
rights regulatory schemes.” The WSWC’s Legal Committee
subsequently commissioned this Report, which addresses 1) the
statutory and regulatory authority among WSWC member states
regarding exempt domestic and livestock wells, 2) the ways in which
these wells can complicate or compromise water resources allocation,
administration, and quality, 3) the specific challenges WSWC member
states are facing with respect to exempt wells, 4) the relative costs and
benefits associated with mintoring wells that are currently exempt,
and 5) the potential approaches to mitigate the adverse impacts of
exempt wells.
Perhaps I should have saved this post for April Fools' Day.
"We never know the worth of water till the well is dry."  ~Thomas Fuller, Gnomologia, 1732

WaterSense "Fix a Leak Week" in March

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is promoting its second annual WaterSense "Fix a Leak Week," March 15 to 21, 2010, as a time to remind Americans to roll up their sleeves and save water.
Minor leaks from household plumbing fixtures and irrigation systems account for more than 1 trillion gallons of water wasted each year in U.S. homes—enough to supply Los Angeles, Chicago, and Miami with their water needs for a year. EPA created this week-long annual event to give its WaterSense utility, community, manufacturer, retail, and professional partners a call to action to encourage saving water.

For example, the City of Dallas and dozens of local plumbers will launch Fix a Leak Week by taking to the streets to repair leaks in low-income residences and replace fixtures with WaterSense labeled models. The Great Dallas Fix a Leak Week Roundup—a seven-day blitz to completely wipe out the waiting list for the city's leak repair program—is just one of many events WaterSense partners will be hosting in their communities across the country.
WaterSense is encouraging homeowners, do-it-yourselfers, and plumbing professionals to help find and fix leaks by promoting the following tips:

• Reduce faucet leaks by checking faucet washers and gaskets for wear and, if necessary, replace the faucet with a WaterSense labeled model.
• Replace worn rubber flappers, which can cause silent leaks in toilets.
• For a leaky garden hose, replace the nylon or rubber hose washer and ensure a tight connection to the spigot using pipe tape and a wrench.
• Check landscape irrigation systems each spring before use to make sure they are not damaged by frost or freezing.
• Remember to look for the WaterSense label if you have to replace a bathroom fixture.
• To learn more about Fix a Leak Week or to become a WaterSense partner, please visit www.epa.gov/watersense. Check back March 15 to 21 for updates and photos from events taking place across the nation.

WaterSense© is a partnership program sponsored by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Its mission is to protect the future of our nation's water supply by promoting and enhancing the market for water-efficient products and services.

One word ... plastics

Ah, if only what's his name from the graduate were here today to illuminate us with the next big deal...Well maybe not.  My humble opinion is that plastics are definitely something to which the precautionary principle should be applied.  There are definite advantages - I admit I enjoy my GoreTex ski jacket as much as the next person, but I can live without the GoreTex dental floss.  I think that if the European Union can live without BPA, we can too.   And, my other half trained me long ago to carry my own bags to the grocery store to live without both the lightweight single use grocery bags (that made the news recently vis a vis Oregon legislation to ban them) or those nice brown paper bags (which have seen many second lives in my house).

Plastic is everywhere, true.  It makes things cheap in the cost sense of manufacturing and hence, purchase.  But does it also make things cheap in the value sense?  Do I value an item more because I paid less for it?  I don't think I do - in fact, I think often times I value it less if it didn't cost me much.  It becomes a throwaway.

Now, I realize that I'm not talking anything new here, and I feel somewhat as though I am railing against a huge machine that is implacable in its desire to move ahead with profits and more profits at our expense.  And I realize that I am quite hypocritical because I sit here on my enlarging behind typing this on an Apple computer made largely of plastic and drinking coffee out of a travel mug encased in plastic...

How did our society get to this point where we are so completely dependent on oil?  Not just to run our cars and our industry, but for our entertainment (TVs, CDs, DVDs, cameras, naugahyde couches...), our food (plastic lined cans, bottles, keg taps (!)...), our housing (PVC pipes, vinyl siding and windows, Tyvek...), our life (IV drips, catheters (no comment), the baggies that carry blood when you donate (have you donated?).  How amazingly insidious it seems to have these lines of plastic encircling all our lives and we are, mostly, totally unaware of how dependent we have become on what is, mostly, an import to our economy.

When I look at the little list I spat out above, I have to think ask which are the truly necessary?  Obviously beer taps, but for only for reasons of social good.  But really, folks.  Between hybrid vehicle technology*, renewable energy technology**, and conservation techniques***, we have the technological wherewithal to be completely unconcerned about what happens in the middle east, apart from wanting to be the good fairy of democracy.

* leaving aside the latest news of consumer protection falling prey to corporate greed
**has anybody flown over LA or San Francisco lately?  All those huge big box warehouses/industrial buildings with huge flat roofs in the sunshine with huge air conditioning units because the building gains so much heat?
*** do we really  need to use so freaking much plastic, energy and  gas to begin with?