Quick Reality Check Articles

August 17, 2009

Quick Reality Check – Your Water Footprint Matters

Filed under: Environment, Quick Reality Check — Tags: , , , , , , , — Administrator @ 23:46

Over the past few years, many people have learned about our “carbon footprint” and how using energy wastefully negatively impacts the environment and indirectly our health and the health of our children.

However, the concept of our “water footprint” is still a mystery to many people. Many people think that their water footprint consists of taking showers, flushing toilets, doing laundry, or watering their gardens. As such, many people do their part to “conserve water” by the use of low flow shower heads, water efficient washing machines, water conserving toilets etc. These conservations measures are extremely important but they are only a small part of our “water footprint”.

The key for us all to understand is that producing goods and services generally requires water.
According to a study by Williams et al. (2002), the production of a 32-megabyte computer chip of 2 grams requires 32 kg of water.

The water used in the production process of an agricultural or industrial product is often called the ‘virtual water’ contained in the product because it does not remain in the end product but it was used to make the product.

As an example, producing 1 kg of grain by conventional modern farming techniques requires 1,000-2,000 kg of water, which is 1,000 to 2,000 liters of water, about 265 to 530 US gallons of water. This means that a a single slice of bread weighing 35g required 35-70 liters of water to produce it. These numbers seem staggering and meat products represent an even bigger use of water.

For producing 1 kg of cheese we need for instance requires 5,000-5,500 kg of water, which is 5,000-5,500 liters of water, about 1,323 to 1,455 US gallons of water!

Producing beef is one of the most inefficient uses of water resources as producing just 1 kg of beef requires an average of 16,000 kg of water (Chapagain and Hoekstra, 2003), which is 16,000 liters, over 4,233 US gallons! The next time you are at the grocery store or your favorite restaurant, consider the 6 ounce cut rather than the 10oz portion, and you will improve your health and conserve 1,058 US gallons of water. If you opted for the 6 ounce steak instead of the 16 ounce steak, 2,646 US gallons of water would be saved. Simple dietary choices to eat healthy portions of food can improve your health, control your weight, and help to conserve water which is a precious resource.

The transportation of water is generally difficult due to the large distances and associated costs, but the trade in water-intensive products, a “virtual water trade” is a reality in the global economy and is stripping many developing countries of a precious natural resource at alarming rates.

The concept of ‘virtual water’ has been introduced by Tony Allan in the early nineties (Allan, 1993; 1994) yet it has taken almost two decades to get global recognition of the importance of the concept for achieving regional and global water security.

One of the key issues to a “sustainable future” will be to carefully choose how we deploy our precious water resources to the production of food, the manufacture of goods, and person use in homes each day.
Our “water footprint” must become a culturally rooted concept which recognizes that human impacts on freshwater systems are ultimately be linked to human consumption, and that issues like water shortages and pollution can thereby be understood.

Your daily living choices can reduce your footprint and improve your health and quality of life.

September 14, 2008

Quick Reality Check – Water Shortage around the Great Lakes

Filed under: Environment, Quick Reality Check — Tags: , , , , — Administrator @ 23:04

1. The Great Lakes are the largest system of fresh surface water on earth.

2. The Great lakes contain 18 percent of the world’s fresh water.

3. This makes many of the 35 million people living in areas around the Great Lakes think that they will NEVER experience a shortage of water. THIS IS NOT TRUE!

4. The water inflow to the great lakes is small. It takes many years to replace the water volume within the Great Lakes as follows:
Superior 173 years
Michigan 62 years
Huron 21 years
Erie 2.7 years
Ontario 6 years

5. Water refills the Great lakes from precipitation directly onto the lake, direct surface water runoff, ground water discharge into streams leading into the lakes, direct ground water discharge into the lakes, and the returns of water from user (people and their industries).

6. Residents in area around the Great Lakes use water as follows:
Supply to homes 25%
Irrigation 25%
Livestock 25%
Mining and Manufacturing 15%
Power Generation* 10%

* Power generation requires huge withdrawals from the great lakes but 10% is the amount
lost by evaporation through power generation.

7. We are already withdrawing water equal to or slightly greater than the rate of replenishment into the lakes.

8. In our homes we typically use water as follows**:
Toilets 28%
Clothes Washing 21%
Showers 17%
Faucets 15%
Leaks 14%
Baths 2%
Dishwashers 2%
Other 1%

9. Conserve water even if you live near the Great Lakes. See our blog on conserving water for some useful tips and ideas.

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** Sources include American Water Works Association publications

Quick Reality Check – Why compost yard and kitchen wastes?

Filed under: Environment, Quick Reality Check — Tags: , , , , — Administrator @ 00:23

1. Composting is the natural breakdown of organic material by insects, earthworms, bacteria and fungi into a soil-like material called compost.

2. Composting is a natural form of recycling.

3. Yard and food wastes make up approximately 30% of the waste stream in Canada and the United States

4. Studies have shown that home composting can divert an average of 700 lbs. of material per household per year from the waste stream which saves energy to transport the materials, saves space in land fills, and creates useful fertilizer…

5. Composting has been part of many cultures since ancient times.

6. Compost added to gardens improves soil structure, texture, aeration, and water retention. When mixed with compost, clay soils are lightened, and sandy soils retain water better. Mixing compost with soil also contributes to erosion control, soil fertility, proper pH balance, and healthy root development in plants.

7. The standard means of municipal disposal for most yard and food waste include landfilling and incineration. These practices are not environmentally or economically reasonable. Yard waste which is landfilled breaks down very slowly due to the lack of oxygen and produces methane gas and acidic leachate which are both environmental problems. Incinerating moist organic waste is inefficient and results in poor combustion, which disrupts the energy generation of the facility and increases the pollutants that need to be removed by the pollution-control devices. Composting these wastes is a more effective and usually less expensive means of managing organic wastes. It can be done successfully on either a large or small scale, but the technique and equipment used differ.

8. OUTDOOR COMPOSTING: An outdoor compost pile should be created by chopping, shredding or mowing 30 parts of leaves with one part of fresh cut grass, manure, or bone meal. The bacteria and fungi in compost digest or “oxidize” carbon as an energy source and ingest nitrogen for protein synthesis. Carbon is the “food” and nitrogen the “digestive enzymes”. The decomposition occurring in the compost pile takes up all the available oxygen and efficient decomposition can only occur if sufficient oxygen is present, which is called aerobic decomposition. Composting systems or structures should incorporate adequate ventilation. Turning the compost pile with a shovel or pitch is a good way of adding oxygen, bringing newly added material into contact with microbe, and eliminates odors which are symptomatic of anaerobic decomposition. Microorganisms need 40 to 60 percent moisture content in the compost pile, which is the moisture level of a well well wrung out sponge. A compost pile with temperatures between 90 to 140 degrees Fahrenheit is composting efficiently.

9. INDOOR COMPOSTING: Composting kitchen organic waste using worms is the easiest way to recycle food wastes and is ideal for people who do not have an outdoor compost pile. Composting with worms avoids the needless disposal of vegetative food wastes and enjoy the benefits of a high quality compost. Redworms, (Eisenia foetida), thrive indoors at a temperature of 50 to 70 degrees Fahrenheit and can be kept at home, at school, or in the office. As with outdoor composting, it is best to avoid putting bones, meats, fish, or oily fats in the worm box as they emit odors and may attract mice and rats. When cared for properly, worms process food quickly and transform food wastes into nutrient-rich “castings. Which are an excellent fertilizer for gardens or potted plants.
Red worms are placed in a box or bin filled with shredded cardboard and/or paper moistened to about 75% water content. The container should be large enough to allow food scraps to be buried in a different places each time. A sudden addition of a large amount of food waste may attract fruit flies, so increases should be made gradually. In a healthy box, worms can build large populations and consume four to six pounds of food scraps per week. About four to six months after the box has been started, the worms will have converted all of the bedding and most of the food waste into “castings” which will need to be harvested so the process can begin again.

September 13, 2008

Quick Reality Check – Simple Water Conservation in your Home

Filed under: Environment, Quick Reality Check — Tags: , , — Administrator @ 23:57

1. Make sure that you have installed a water-efficient shower head in all of your bathrooms.
2. Take shorter showers.
3. Turn off the water while soaping up or shampooing.
4. Only fill the bathtub to a maximum of 6 inches (bathing small children & pets requires much less water).
5. Make sure that your bathtub drain plug doesn’t leak.
6. Flush less frequently.
7. Check your toilet for leaks by adding a few drops of food coloring to the tank and seeing if the bowl-water changes color.
8 Replace the flapper if necessary; make sure it is the correct flapper for your toilet model.
9. Run the dishwasher only when it is full of dishes (in most cases running your dishwasher with a full load will use less water than washing the same number of dishes by hand).
10. Many newer dishwashers require little or no advance rinsing of dishes.
11. Install water-efficient faucet aerators on all your household faucets.
12. Do not run the faucet continuously while washing dishes, brushing your teeth, shaving, etc.
12. Keep a bucket or basin in your sink and collect faucet water (from rinsing berries and other small jobs) for use on your landscape.
13. Avoid using the garbage disposal; instead dispose of food scraps in the garbage ideally COMPOST THEM. For more info on composting, read: Quick Reality Check – Why Compost Yard and Kitchen Wastes

August 20, 2008

Quick Reality Check – Natural Deodorizers and Toilet Bowl Cleaners

Filed under: Environment, Quick Reality Check — Tags: , , , , , — Administrator @ 12:44

1. Just because a chemical or compound occurs in nature does not make it safe or healthy. Many plants, berries and mushrooms are poisonous or toxic. Lead occurs in nature but it is harmful to living organisms.

2. You should minimize your expose and your family’s exposure to chemicals wherever possible. You should reduce how many different chemicals you use because of their possible harmful interactions. You should also minimize the amount of the chemicals that you choose to use. These actions can improve the health and well being of your family.

3. Sodium bicarbonate (baking soda), also called sodium hydrogen carbonate is a naturally occurring chemical compound, NaHCO3. Sodium bicarbonate is a slightly alkaline white crystalline solid often sold in a powder form.

4. Sodium bicarbonate IS SAFE for people, pets and the environment BUT it should be kept away from children as too much of almost anything can be bad. It has been used as a “soap” and as a cleaner for thousands of years. It is consumed as an antacid, and it is used in baking foods. It has a long history of safe use.

5. Baking soda can be used for many tasks around the house.

6. Use an open container with baking soda in your refrigerator or freezer to keep foods fresh longer. Avoid boxes with a NON BIODEGRADABLE PLASTIC MESH! That really helps defeat the idea of reducing pollution. Simply spread a layer of baking soda ½” deep in a re-usable container at least 4″ x 4″. Replace this baking soda monthly but do not throw it out. Keep it to clean your toilets (per step 9).

7. Sprinkle some baking soda into the bottom of garbage bags to eliminate odors rather than using chemical perfumes to mask odors.

8. Eliminate chemical deodorizers in the bathroom by using baking soda as an odor absorber. Simply spread a layer of baking soda ½” deep in a re-usable container at least 4″ x 6″. A small container with vanilla, mint extract, or other essential oils from which one drop can be dispensed into a small dish (which you can fill with dry flowers, pine cones, etc) can acts as a “quick cover up” to avoid toxic sprays and their environmentally unfriendly packaging. Avoid the harsh toxic chemicals found in many commercial deodorizers. Replace this baking soda every month and keep it to clean your toilets (per step 9).

9. Sprinkle the toilet with baking soda and then spray a layer of vinegar over it. Scrub with a brush. This cleans and deodorizes without the harsh chemicals found in toilet bowl cleansers.

10. REMEMBER: Whatever you flush ends up in the water supply from which you drink!!

August 9, 2008

Things to do to save the world …

Filed under: Energy, Environment — Tags: , , , — Administrator @ 01:08

Reduce Your Energy Use and Carbon Emissions by 2-6 tons per year for under $300 without changing your life style

The simplest thing that you can PERSONALLY do to save money, help the environment, and create a more sustainable lifestyle is to take a series of simple actions to save energy.

1.Go through you home and feel for drafts around windows and doors when there is a wind outside or a big temperature difference. Caulk around the frames of windows and doors. Also feel for drafts around electrical boxes on exterior walls as these are often improperly sealed and can be major sources of heat loss or heat gain. Replace weather stripping around your door if you feel any draft and consider installing a heavy curtain to cover your door as this can help insulate it and save energy. Caulking costs less than $1 per window, and weather stripping is under $10 per door. These steps can save up to 1100 pounds of CO2 per year for a typical home. Ask your utility company for a home energy audit to find out where your home is poorly insulated or energy inefficient. This service may be provided free or at low cost. Make sure it includes a check of your furnace and air conditioning.

2.Plant trees around your home. Each tree also directly absorbs about 25 pounds of CO2 from the air annually. Many government departments will give you small trees for free!!!

3.Check the gaskets around your refrigerator/freezer doors to make sure they are clean and sealed tightly. Turn your refrigerator down. Refrigerators account for about 20% of Household electricity use. Use a thermometer to set your refrigerator temperature to approximately 37 degrees Fahrenheit and your freezer approximately 3 degrees Fahrenheit. Half of electricity in North America is generated by coal and every kilowatt hour used contributes over 2 pounds of carbon dioxide to the environment.

4.Set your clothes washer to the warm or cold water setting rather than the hot setting. Using warm or cold water versus hot water for two loads of laundry per week can save approximately 500 pounds of CO2 per year if you have an electric water heater, or 150 pounds of carbon dioxide for a gas water heater. Even better, look into a solar hot water heater such as the low cost models from Omachron available in January 2009. Investing in such solar water heater can save 4.9 tons of CO2 annually and can pay for itself in only 2-3 years.

5.Ensure that your dishwasher is full when you run it. Use the energy saving setting if you have it to allow the dishes to air dry. Allowing you dishes to air dry can save 20 percent of your dishwasher’s total electricity use.

6.Turn down your water heater thermostat from 140 degrees F to 120 degrees F. this will save 1,20 pounds of CO2 per year for an electric water heater, or 880 pounds for a gas heater. If every household in the United States turned its water heater thermostat down 20 degrees, we could prevent more than 45 million tons of annual CO2 emissions.

7.In the winter, set your thermostat at 68 degrees in daytime, and 55 degrees at night. In the summer, keep it at 78. Lowering your thermostat two degrees during winter saves 6 percent of heating-related CO2 emissions. That’s a reduction of 420 pounds of CO2 per year for a typical home.

8. Clean or replace air filters as recommended. Energy is lost when air conditioners and hot-air furnaces have to work harder to draw air through dirty filters. Cleaning a dirty air conditioner filter can save 5 percent of the energy used. That could save 175 pounds of CO2 per year.

9.Buy low cost, energy-efficient, mercury free LED light bulbs such as those from Omachron Lighting Corporation for your most-used lights. Although they cost more initially, they save money in the long run by using only ¼ to the energy of an ordinary incandescent bulb and lasting 50x+ times longer. LED lighting can provide better lighting with a better color and an attractive light. Only 10% of the energy consumed by a normal light bulb generates light. The rest just makes the bulb hot. If every American household replaced one of its standard light bulbs with an energy efficient LED light bulb, we would save the same amount of energy as a large nuclear power plant produces in one year. In a typical home, one LED light bulb can save 520 pounds of CO2 per year.

10.Wrap your water heater in an insulating jacket, which costs just $10 to $20. It can save 1100 lbs. of CO2 per year for an electric water heater, or 220 pounds for a gas heater.

August 1, 2008

Bamboo – sustainable pulp, fiber, paper and construction materials source

Filed under: Energy, Environment — Tags: , , , , , , — Administrator @ 00:05

A grove of giant bamboo in Ecuador
A grove of giant bamboo in Ecuador

Bamboo – A grass you can use like wood but grows up to 50x faster

In North America and Europe, soft woods and hard woods have traditionally been used for house framing, flooring, and doors as well as for making furniture. The problem with using trees for construction is that they take 20-100 years to mature which means that vast tracts of land must be committed for many years between harvests of the wood.

An excellent alternative to using hard woods and soft wood lumber is to use bamboo.
Unlike hardwood and softwood trees, bamboo grows very quickly and can be harvested in only a few years as they grow up to 3-4 feet/day (1.5-2.0 inches/hr)), with growth rates of 3-6 inches per day being common due to a unique rhizome system and is dependent on local soil and climate conditions.

Bamboo scaffolding of Four Seasons Hotel Hong Kong (2003)
Bamboo scaffolding of Four Seasons Hotel Hong Kong (2003)**

Bamboo is already important to East and South East Asia where it is used in gardens, as a building material, and as a food source. Bamboo can survive in diverse climates from cold mountains to hot tropical regions Bamboo already occurs in the south eastern United States and there are a number of species that can be grown in the northern USA and Canada . There are already 35 species of bamboo that can be used for pulp and paper instead of trees. Bamboo grows in many sizes from small one inch diameter poles to large 12″ diameter bamboo which grows 100 feet (30 meters) tall in only 3 to 4 years.

Treated, bamboo is a very hard wood that is both lightweight and very durable, and can be used in making or building houses, fences, bridges, toilets, walking sticks, canoes, tableware, furniture, chopsticks, food steamers, toys, bicycles, construction scaffolding, as a substitute for steel reinforcing rods in concrete construction, hats, and for martial arts weaponry, including fire arrows, flame throwers and rockets. Omachron has developed a series of environmentally safe treatments to preserve bamboo for use in construction.

Harvesting bamboo for wood requires care to select mature stems that are several years old, as first-year stems, although full sized, are not fully developed and are not as strong as more mature stems.

Bamboo can also be carved for decorative artwork, and can be made into flooring. Bamboo flooring is made by steaming pieces flattening them, gluing them together, and then sanding and finishing them. The only caution about bamboo is that it is easily infested by wood-boring insects unless treated with wood preservatives or kept very dry.

Bamboo can be used to make paper and the fibers can be used as yarn and fabrics. Bamboo fabric is soft and has claims of natural antibacterial properties. Clothing, bed sheets, and towels made from bamboo are a great natural item and available at Omachron OnLine. Bamboo has gained increasing popularity in the culinary world as a material for cutting boards, as they are hard enough to withstand years of knife abuse, yet more forgiving to the knife blade, causing less damage to the edged utensils over time

You can plant bamboo in your own back yard throughout much of North America and the wood and fibers can be used for everything from small building and carving projects to simple fencing, decoration, and making paper and crafts with your kids. For more information visit Omachron OnLine

Some skateboard and snowboard deck manufacturers as well as surfboard builders are beginning to use bamboo construction. It is both lighter and stronger than traditional materials and its cultivation is environmentally friendly. At least one snow ski manufacturing company, Liberty Skis, now uses bamboo construction for these reasons.

Bamboo is also used to make enclosures in fish farming, where cages can be made from a wooden frame and bamboo lattices.

Omachron OnLine will also be offering a completely sustainable bamboo paper which is free of pesticides or fertilizer.

Bamboo is a great potential as a fiber resource for pulp and paper and clothing and can be an excellent low impact farming opportunity in the near future.

Bamboo and switchgrass are also excellent fuel crops when used with the Omachron plasma combustion system to power generators, space heating, and vehicles.
For further information visit Omachron Technologies Inc website.

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** This Wikipedia and Wikimedia Commons image is from the user Chris 73 and is freely available at http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:BambooConstructionHongKong.jpg under the creative commons cc-by-sa 2.5 license.

July 11, 2008

How to help save the coral reefs of the world

Filed under: Environment — Tags: , , , , , — Administrator @ 00:18

Use a hat, shirt, and umbrella and reduce your use of sun screen to help save the coral reefs of the world AND reduce you risk of skin cancer!!!

Coral Reefs are “the Rainforests of the Sea”. They are the natural habitat to thousands of plant and animal species and they are critical to the health of our planet. Coral reefs are threatened around the world due to environmental changes and pollution caused by people.

Many people think that there is nothing that they can directly do to save coral reefs. That is NOT TRUE. While it may be beyond your personal control to reduce the negative environmental impacts of marine debris, over-fishing, run-off pollution, reckless diving and snorkeling habits that can harm the coral reefs of the worlds; there are some simple things that you can do to help save coral reefs and reduce your risk of skin cancer.

There are many different types or coral reefs which include Fringing reefs. They are reefs that form along a coastline and grow on the continental shelf in shallow waters. Barrier reefs grow parallel to shorelines, but farther out and are typically separated from land by deep water. Coral Atolls are rings of coral that grow atop sunken volcanoes in the ocean. The Great Barrier Reef off the coast of North East Australia is over 1,257 miles long and is the largest in the world. Hawaii also has some amazing coral reefs as do the Cayman Islands.

It has been estimated by some experts that global warming can be a threat to the health of our reefs as well. If the water were to rise by just 2 degrees it could lead to the phenomenon known as coal bleaching, in which the coral die and turn white. This has been observed off the coast of Florida. Another aspect of global warming is the rise in sea levels near the shore, leading to more powerful wave action, and stronger currents which can bring potentially dangerous pollutants farther out into the ocean thereby damaging more coral. Scientists from the U.S. Geological Survey have indicated that Hawaii may already be experiencing some erosion due to coral damage along the south shore of Moloka’i.

If you love to walk on white sand beaches, and you want your children and grandchildren to enjoy this, you must help to protect the coral reefs of the world!

If you are out in a boat, do not dump waste into the water as this will harm the local ecology.

Do not wear organic based sun screens, and preferably, do not wear any sun screens when you swim. Wear a T shirt and limit you exposure to the sun and help prevent washing your sun tan lotion into the lakes and oceans of the world. Consider wearing UV protection beach clothing that allows you to swim without getting a sunburn and which reduce the risk of skin cancer.

Use fewer household chemicals and reduce the use of chemicals on your lawn or garden.

Don’t litter or throw cigarette butts on the beach. What’s on the beach will eventually go into lakes and oceans and may be eaten by the fish causing them harm.

Do your part … it’s easy to make a real difference …

July 9, 2008

The best environmentally friendly products are cheaper and last longer

Filed under: Energy, Environment — Tags: , , , , , , , — Administrator @ 00:10

Green buildings, hybrid cars, solar panels, organic food, fair trade goods and more – living an eco-friendly lifestyle is now easier than ever! Environmental awareness and social responsibility associated with product purchases is now becoming an important part of the decision-making process for many of us.

In choosing a sustainable lifestyle, remember that the cost of goods is primarily driven by the cost of energy. Most goods are primarily based upon the cost of materials, other than software, books, etc wherein labor is a significant factor. Increasingly consumers, employees, shareholders, government, non-government organizations and service groups, like insurance companies and banks, are considering social and environmental responsibility as an important part of their operating practices.

However, many purchases made to “benefit the environment” are misguided in that they involve paying for an item with a long payback period compared to the operational life of the product. Therefore, products with a long payback are fundamentally not “sustainable” and do not represent a good use of resources to make. When you look at a purchase, consider the energy savings and potential pollution reduction or avoidance, and consider the payback and the projected useful life of a product.

Products with the MOST environmental benefits will have a pay back period of less than 4 years, and ideally they should pay back in 1-2 years and the useful life of the item should be at least 3-10x greater than the payback period. The shorter the payback period and the longer the useful life, the greater the benefit of the item.

This means that when we use energy to make a product, we can have the greatest impact on climate change, pollution and the associated ill health, by choosing products with a quick payback and a long useful life so that the energy and pollution savings become ever greater.

Also, if you have an environmentally good product you no longer want, give it away to someone who will use it to ensure that the full environmental benefits of an energy saving product are realized. If a product is discarded before its useful life is finished, a portion of the benefits of making the energy efficient and/or environmentally friendly item are lost.

Once a product has reached its useful end of life, reuse the parts or recycle it to ensure that we have a truly sustainable future.

Wayne Conrad

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