Most movies about clean energy sources such as wind power are documentaries that put the technology front and center. That is one reason why NYC-based Last Ditch Pictures' 2011 feature film "Turbine" is so intriguing. Brother and sister Isaak and Eva James have directed a film that, despite its title, uses the booming wind industry of rural Missouri as mostly a cinematic backdrop and subplot for the larger erotic and dark drama unfolding between a couple who has relocated from New York City to Missouri so Nick (played by James) can pursue a career in wind energy.
It is interesting the filmmakers chose Missouri as opposed to states with larger wind generating capacity such as Texas and Colorado. But a 2009 story on the New York Times' Green blog reveals that in the second quarter of that year Missouri's wind power capacity increased 90%. The American Wind Energy Association provides an online fact sheet on Missouri that shows that all the wind projects are clustered in three counties in the northwestern part of the state but that there are wind energy manufacturing facilities spread out across the Show Me State.
"Turbine" recently nabbed the Spirits Independents Award at the Ft. Lauderdale International Film Festival and screened at the St. Louis International Film Festival.
On the Virgin America plane ride from San Francisco to Washington Dulles yesterday I had the pleasure of watching Pixar's computer-animated action film sequel "Cars 2." I knew there was some "controversy" stirred up by some conservative blog about director John Lasseter taking on Big Oil by making the fossil fuel industry the bad guy and clean alternative fuels and electric vehicles as the heroes. Apparently to the conservative blogger, "Cars 2" is another example of left-wing Hollywood propaganda meant to indoctrinate oil-loving American children into becoming Prius-loving hippies, or something like that.
So a movie that advocates conserving the planet for future generations by ending our addiction to fossil fuels and embracing alternative energy is attacked by a conservative? Isn't a conservative supposed to conserve? As in conserving the environment and conserving fuel. Aren't the real radicals Big Oil and their political allies who are radically altering the climate with unknown consequences by keeping us chained to carbon-based modes of transportation?
"Cars 2" is a movie with an inspiring environmental and clean energy message and I recommend it to liberals, conservatives and everyone in between. Kudos to Pixar and Lasseter for taking a stand against Big Oil.
August 17, 2011 -- After two and a half weeks working at Kibbutz Lahav I finished washing my last dish and dodging my last grad rocket and decided to head south via bus from Beersheba to Israel's Grand Canyon -- the small town of Mitzpe Ramon overlooking the massive Ramon Crater/Makhtesh.
The bus traveled through the heart of the Negev desert of southern Israel, stopping at Kibbutz Sde Boker and Midreshet Ben-Gurion along the way. This area is where the graves of founding Prime Minister of Israel David Ben-Gurion and his wife Paula are located. It was Ben-Gurion's dream for Jews to settle the arid Negev, writing:
The desert provides us with the best opportunity to begin again. This is a vital element of our renaissance in Israel. For it is in mastering nature that man learns to control himself. It is in this sense, more practical than mystic, that I define our Redemption on this land. Israel must continue to cultivate its nationality and to represent the Jewish people without renouncing its glorious past. It must earn this – which is no small task – a right that can only be acquired in the desert.
When I looked out my window today and saw a tree standing before me, the sight awoke in me a greater sense of beauty and personal satisfaction than all the forests that I have crossed in Switzerland and Scandinavia. For we planted each tree in this place and watered them with the water we provided at the cost of numerous efforts. Why does a mother love her children so? Because they are her creation. Why does the Jew feel an affinity with Israel? Because everything here must still be accomplished. It depends only on him to participate in this privileged act of creation. The trees at Sde Boker speak to me differently than do the trees planted elsewhere. Not only because I participated in their planting and in their maintenance, but also because they are a gift of man to nature and a gift of the Jews to the compost of their culture.
Riding the bus through the isolated desert, I really started to understand how much Israelis of all backgrounds rely on the buses to get to their destinations. Along the way we picked up college students, kibbutzniks, IDF soldiers, Bedouin villagers and military prison guards. Sadly only a couple of days later the very same bus route I took from Beersheba to Mitzpe Ramon was ambushed by terrorists near Eilat. Eight innocent people were murdered and over 30 were wounded in the attacks.
In Israel a cowardly act of terrorism does not stop citizens from engaging in simple acts such as boarding a bus. I would recommend Israel's excellent intercity bus system to any visitor traveling within the country. Boarding the bus is just one of many quiet acts of defiance that define this great country.
Here is video of the bus ride from Beersheba to Mitzpe Ramon.
Here are photos of the bus ride from Beersheba to Mitzpe Ramon. Click here for the Flickr set.
Throughout human history, there have been some quite noble
efforts for sustaining the Earth. Many great innovations have resulted from
mankind’s attempts at preserving our environment. Then again, there have been
some real doozies too. Today we’re going to have a look at ten of the zaniest
ideas ever devised for improving the environment.
There
is a proposal before the United Nations for environmental
justice, in orderto save the planet. Said
justice calls for legal representation on behalf of the environment –
plants, animals, insects – against us pesky humans, with the power to seek
financial compensation for damages.
This
one is a bit of a touchy subject. Though the thought is in the right
place, the evidence seems to suggest that the concept wasn’t entirely
thought through. The push to replace incandescent light bulbs
with CFL’s (compact fluorescent lamps) would indeed conserve energy.
However, they contain significant
levels of mercury which, without any safe means of recycling
them, would introduce unsafe levels of mercury back into the environment.
In an
effort to safeguard the sanctuary of indigent marine wildlife, the city of
San Diego is set to enact laws that would ban birthday parties at
local parks within the vicinity of said wildlife.
As a
means to harness human energy and transform it into useable energy, the
concept of the human-powered
floating gym came into being. Imagine, if you will, dozens of
sweaty fitness-minded bodies, powering their way upstream in a bubble, and
you’ve got a vague idea of what this truly wacky project is all about.
Here’s
another idea that someone pulled out of their, um … notebook: The basic
premise is that the methane produced through cow flatulence is a major
contributor to greenhouse gases (14%) and needs to be stopped. The answer? Kangaroo
farts. Apparently their marsupial mates are methane-free down under,
and possess a bacterium that it is suggested to be injected into cattle.
Based
on the cooling effect that the eruption of Mt. Pinatubo had on the planet
20 years ago, scientists had the brainstorm idea of triggering
other volcanoes in the hopes of having similar results. We can
only hope that our tax dollars don’t literally go up in (volcanic) smoke,
and ash.
The Eco-Kettle is supposedly the
answer to a question we have no idea why anyone would even ask: namely,
sparing our precious globe from the bane of our existence known as (wait
for it) boiling too much water (gasp!).
Asus
came up with this gem a while back as a solution to excessive use of
plastics in consumer product manufacturing: the bamboo
laptop. We would love to have seen this sold as part of an office
starter package, with a tiki torch desk lamp and margarita mixer.
Pig
pee for plastics. The idea here is to reduce the use of petroleum in
the manufacture of plastic plates. The urea in pig urine would act as a
bulking agent in its place. Trouble is (among other things -ugh!) is that
when these pig-pee plates are discarded? You guessed it, they will emit
methane. Maybe we first need to cross-breed these pigs with kangaroos.
Yeah, that’s the ticket: pigarooplates.
And
finally, a supremely sage environmental observation by none other than the
Wizard of Wit himself, former Vice-President of the United States of
America, Dan Quayle:
“It isn’t pollution that’s harming the environment. It’s the
impurities in our air and water that are doing it.”
August 7 and 11, 2011 -- Water is a precious resource in the Middle East. Israelis are well aware of the water shortage in the region and are taking steps to reduce, reuse and recycle. Nowhere is the scarcity of water felt more than in the Negev desert of southern Israel. In Beersheba the nahal (river) is but a trickle most of the time and the riverfront district has been neglected for years.
But in Israel turning a barren desert into a green oasis has been a national mandate since its founding. So it should come as no surprise then that The Beer Sheva River Park is currently undergoing a major reconstruction project thanks to the Jewish National Fund's Blueprint Negev initiative. This project will create a 1,700 acre riverfront district that will be the catalyst for the revitalization of the "Capital of the Negev."
Here are some highlights of the restoration project taken directly from the JNF website:
"JNF has succeeded in cleaning up the river that had been used as a dumping ground for decades, and has completed half of the planned 8 kilometers of landscaped promenade on each shore. Engineers responsible for the success of the San Antonio River Walk are partnering with JNF to send water through the river bed year-round.
JNF plans to use its expertise in water rehabilitation to recycle the city’s water and transport it to a 15-acre lake for boating.
Plans include gardens showcasing desert flora and fauna, bicycle paths, recreation areas, an 12,000 seat amphitheater and 750 acres of new parks with 40,000 new trees."
When I walked across the street from Abraham's Well I saw a new promenade called the J. Lew Schepps Recognition Center, a newly paved walkway and a bridge under construction that leads to a park and bicycle paths on the other side of the river. So the restoration project is well underway.
If the Beer Sheva River Park restoration project is successful it could become a model for other cities attempting to find creative solutions to water conservation and economic development.
Click here for more observations of Beersheba on my travel blog.
Here are more photos from The Beer Sheva River Park.
Across the country Occupiers are entering the next phase of the movement by abandoning encampments and taking over foreclosed homes to bring attention to the housing crisis. But in our Nation's Capital the tent cities at McPherson Square and Freedom Plaza are still standing strong. During a recent visit to Occupy DC at Freedom Plaza there was even a Jimi Hendrix cover band electrifying a small audience gathered near Pennsylvania Avenue.
It appears the populist movement is beginning to resonate with leaders as evidenced by President Obama channeling Theodore Roosevelt's New Nationalism in Kansas yesterday with a fiery speech about the growing inequality in America. Also yesterday a group calling itself "Take Back the Capitol" occupied the hallways and offices of Congress demanding that lawmakers extend unemployment benefits, end tax cuts for the wealthy and pass the American Jobs Act. The timing couldn't have been better as news came out that the "Do Nothing Congress" is aptly titled because this session of Congress has passed the fewest number of bills in at least 10 non-election years. And today there were plans to protest against corporate influence in politics by shutting down K Street -- a major boulevard in downtown Washington that is home to some of the biggest lobbying firms in the country and has become a symbol of special interest money corrupting the political system. Demonstrators were also planning to march on the White House and Supreme Court today as well.
A few green observations from a recent visit to New York City:
Occupy
Wall Streetat Zuccotti Park was green. How green? When
I visited the encampment they were generating electricity and heat from a stationary
bicycle. The pedal power on display was part of a sustainability showcase that also
featured the importance of plants to the ecosystem and a grey water recycling
system.
New York has an aggressive public recycling
program as evidenced by the blue and green recycling bins strategically located
across the city. The green bins are for newspapers and magazines and the blue bins
are for bottles and cans.
While riding the NYC subway I saw ads
encouraging New York homeowners to "join the evolution" by switching to clean,
renewable and homegrown bioheat. The Bioheat website states that right now they are
capable of blending biodiesel with traditional heating oil at only 2-5% but that they
are working on increasing the biodiesel blend. Here is a great video presentation on
what bioheat is all about.
The NYC Department of Parks and Recreation
is greening their fleet and since
2006 has been operating trucks on a 20% biodiesel blend (B20) made from soybeans and
80% ultra low sulfur diesel. And the department has been conducting trials using a
B50 blend. So B20 is only a stepping stone to using more clean, renewable biofuels in
city vehicles.
One
noticeable change I've seen over the years in NYC is the increase in hybrid taxis and
hybrid police cars. The NYPD features a fleet of Toyota Prius patrol cars, Nissan
Altima Hybrids, Ford Fusion Hybrid sedans and Ford Escape Hybrid crossovers. And as
of July 2011 there were 4,980 hybrid taxis in service representing 38% of the total
fleet -- the largest hybrid fleet in North America.
NYC aims to plant a million trees
throughout the five boroughs over the next decade as part of a public-private
partnership. So far the city has planted 527,315 trees.
And if New Yorkers need to be reminded why there is such a sense of urgency among city leaders to make the Big Apple the greenest city in the world, all they have to do is take a trip to Midtown Manhattan near Penn Station and Madison Square Garden. At this busy intersection they will see a large billboard sponsored by Deutsche Bank with a rapidly rising number signifying the metric tons of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. I went on the website and the carbon counter is currently at around 3.92 trillion GHGs.
