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God’s Warning

August 30, 2011 in Global Warming, Religion & Theology by DJ | No comments

jocelyn Coupaud photo.

I had to laugh today (to keep from crying) – Michelle Bachmann claims that severe weather is God’s way of warning us. Okay, that’s not so far-fetched. But she claims we’re being warned by God about our budget deficit.  Clearly someone, perhaps Mother Nature, is not happy.  But I don’t think it has anything to do with our national debt.

“How the faithful city has become a whore! She that was full of justice, righteousness lodged in her— but now murderers!” says Isaiah. “[T]heir land is filled with horses, and there is no end to their chariots.”

“I brought you into a plentiful land to eat its fruits and its good things. But when you entered you defiled my land, and made my heritage an abomination,” says Jeremiah. “Therefore once more I accuse you, says the LORD, and I accuse your children’s children.”

“They covet fields, and seize them; houses, and take them away; they oppress householder and house, people and their inheritance,” says Micah. “Therefore thus says the LORD: Now, I am devising against this family an evil from which you cannot remove your necks; and you shall not walk haughtily, for it will be an evil time.”

“The fields are devastated, the ground mourns; for the grain is destroyed, the wine dries up, the oil fails,” says Joel. “Even the wild animals cry to you because the watercourses are dried up, and fire has devoured he pastures of the wilderness.”

Do they really believe we are suffering because the government spends too much, or because we permit homosexuality? They do. I can only guess that they haven’t actually read the Book they say we should all read. I read it, and what is happening is no surprise. Militarism, environmental destruction, oppression, and corruption– these are the things the Bible warns against.

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Wood Fired Boiler from Recycled Parts

May 19, 2011 in Global Warming - Zero Emissions Challenge, Reduce Reuse Recycle, Utah life by DJ | No comments

We’re far enough out of town that natural gas isn’t an option for fuel, so our home uses propane.  We had reduced our household propane use to about 200 gallons a year.  Then we started making cheese, heating the water with two propane-fueled tankless hot water heaters.  It takes about 20-30 gallons of propane to pasteurize a batch of milk (depending on the size of the batch).  Last year we went through over 600 gallons of propane, and this year was likely to be more.  So we’ve been looking for alternatives.

Wood is the obvious choice.  It is readily available, can be sustainably harvested, has almost zero carbon footprint, and best of all is very inexpensive.  In a sparsely-populated area like ours, the particulates don’t present a problem.  And obtaining it counts as an exercise program!  But wood-fired boilers online have price tags starting at $3,000 – way out of our budget this year.

We’ve been talking to a friend who welds about building us one.  He was interested because, if it worked, he wants to build one for his own use.  After much research and contemplation, we settled on a dual tank design where the inner tank serves as a fire box and the outer tank surrounds the firebox with water.  A trip to the local recycling yard netted us an old air compressor tank and a 100-gallon butane tank.  Then my friend went to work.  He added a door to the firebox, and a piece of scrap 6″ pipe to carry the smoke out of the firebox to the chimney; this runs through the water tank, allowing the water to absorb extra heat.  He added attachment nipples and a pressure relief valve.

As for the all-important cost, the two tanks cost $75 at the recycling yard.  Parts and labor cost another $350.  Plumbing materials cost about another $350, for a total cost of about $775, which is less than the current cost of a tank full of propane.  Wa-hoo!

When my friend had finished, he filled the boiler with water and started a fire.  In 40 minutes, about 70 gallons of water had been heated to boiling!  I took it home and hooked it up, adding about 60 feet of plumbing to my already-tortured vat heating system.  Bur my results were the same: 40 minutes to boiling, and 185-degree water at the vat.  With the tankless heaters, because of our high altitude, we have trouble maintaining 160 degrees at the vat.  Not only will the wood-fired boiler save us money and reduce our carbon footprint, it will help us heat the milk faster, too!

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Solar Powered Music Festival

October 1, 2010 in Global Warming by DJ | 1 comment

The Zion Canyon Music Festival, September 25 & 26, 2010, was held in Springdale, Utah at the mouth of Zion Natuional Park.  As you can see, the natural amphitheater is incredibly beautiful.

The festival was largely powered by solar-generated electricity. TheMobile Solar Power trailer is manufactured by Green Tow, in nearby St. George, Utah. The New York Times reports that Green Tow originally envisioned its product would be used for emergency response, but its market has broadened significantly beyond emergency use.

So how much CO2 does a solar trailer save when compared with the gasoline used to tow it out there?  My best guess is that this unit is the 21′ GT2132, which weighs 5,100 pounds and generates 4.7 Kw over an 8 hour period, or 37.6 Kwh of electricity.  Assuming that 100% of the electricity gets used, it would reduce emissions by 112 pounds over two days.  Based on my own experience at towing, towing the trailer 42 miles and back may take 10 gallons of gasoline and generate almost 200 pounds of CO2.

Obviously the longer the unit is used in a single location, the more likely it will save CO2 emissions.  In this case, using solar power may have been great publicity for the concept, but it actually created more CO2 emissions than grid electricity would have.

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Just Imagine: Sustainability for Kids

September 17, 2010 in Internet Resources, Nature by DJ | No comments

At the County Fair this year we met Simone Sheppard, author of Just Imagine, a children’s book promoting sustainability.  It’s a lovely book with a great theme.

From the website:

In this delightful picture book, Sheppard invites readers to open their minds and explore greater possibilities. She entices them, through rhyme and rhythm, to picture themselves as someone or something else. From campers and black bears to bees and flowers, this book invites the readers to imagine what it is really like to be a part of nature. While it is presented in a whimsical, lighthearted format, this delightful literary play, however, conveys a deeper message. It suggests that all living things on the planet are in some way connected and dependent upon each other and reminds us of our responsibility towards the planet we all share.

Simone also offers great things in her on-line gift shop, from calligraphy and wedding invitations framed with flowers, to live plants from her garden.

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Jobs: Why We Can’t Kick the Fossil Fuel Habit

August 23, 2010 in Economics, Oil by DJ | No comments


(FreeFoto image.)

The Wall Street Journal criticizes,

“Senior Obama administration officials concluded the federal moratorium on deepwater oil drilling would cost roughly 23,000 jobs, but went ahead with the ban because they didn’t trust the industry’s safety equipment and the government’s own inspection process…”

That, in a nutshell, explains why we can’t kick fossil fuels: they create jobs.  And no politician facing reelection can survive the claim that he or she cost Americans jobs.  That’s especially true in a bad economy, but it remains true even in boom times.  No one dares risk that Americans might be unemployed, because voters who perceive that the economy is worsening tend to vote against incumbents.

Relatively speaking, there aren’t that many people directly employed in fossil fuel production: the Bureau of Labor Statistics puts the number at about 242,000 in extraction (coal mining and oil drilling and pumping) and another 60,000 in refining and pipeline operations.  Out of 130 million American employees (and millions more small business owners), that’s just 2/10 of one percent.

But as BLS notes, these jobs tend to be concentrated in certain geograhpical areas.

“Three out of 4 jobs in the oil and gas extraction industry are located in Texas, California, Oklahoma, and Louisiana. Although there were almost 1,400 coal mining operations in 26 States in 2007, over two-thirds of all coal mines, and over half of all mine employees, were located in just three States—Kentucky, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia…”

That means when fossil fuel workers lose their jobs, a handful of states suffer disproportionately.  (It should be no surprise to anyone that some of these states are among the most conservative, since they have the most to lose if we switch to clean energy.)

Most people wouldn’t vote to put themselves out of a job.  So you’ll never see West Virginia supporting a clean energy agenda.

No politician would vote to put him/herself out of a job, either, which is why, in the face of the job issue, even most self-proclaimed liberal legislators won’t support a clean energy agenda, either.

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Temps Up, Rice Yields Down

August 19, 2010 in Economics, Global Warming by DJ | No comments


(Magnusvk photo.)

BBC reports that rising temperatures over the past 25 years have caused rice yields to fall 10-20% in a survey covering irrigated fields growing “green revolution” crops in several countries across Asia.  This suggests that even under the best of circumstances, climate change will cut food yields.  They note that the effect of rising temperatures on corn yields is similar.

In short, rising temperatures = less food for people to eat and higher food prices in an already-hungry world.

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Change the World Today: Use Freecycle

August 14, 2010 in Reduce Reuse Recycle by DJ | No comments


(Erik Hersman photo.)

The average American home dumps over 1,600 pounds of trash per year– 200 million tons per year nationally– into our landfills.  Much of that could be reused or recycled.

That’s where Freecycle comes in.  Freecycle allows people to offer items that are still usable so that someone who needs that item doesn’t have to buy it.  And people who need an item can ask if anyone has it. Freecycle’s website says,

“The Freecycle Network™ is made up of 4,834 groups with 7,341,000 members across the globe. It’s a grassroots and entirely nonprofit movement of people who are giving (& getting) stuff for free in their own towns. It’s all about reuse and keeping good stuff out of landfills. Each local group is moderated by a local volunteer (them’s good people). Membership is free.”

Each group is local.  Through our group, my wife and I have gotten rid of egg cartons, chicken wire, lengths of stove pipe, and other items that we would otherwise have thrown out.  We’ve also gotten useful plywood boxes, buckets, and plastic containers that someone else would have thrown out.

Freecycle helps change the world by keeping stuff out of landfills, but that’s not all.  It changes people’s minds.  Now, when I have a piece of “junk” I can’t use, I don’t just throw it in the trash.  Rather, I think, “Could this be used for something?”   Anbd instead of running to the store, I stop to think, “Could someone else possibly have what I need?”

Even more importantly, Freecycle contributes to a healthy community by fostering cooperation and consideration of others.  No longer do I live in an empty universe where I buy, use, and trash: an undiverted path from factory to landfill.  Instead, I get to share with others to satisfy their needs and mine, and reduce the amount of unneeded stuff our country buys.

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WaPo: Climate Change Is a Major Threat

August 7, 2010 in Global Warming by DJ | 4 comments


(Brian Hursey photo: Drought at Lake Lanier in the state of Georgia.)

“In a depressing case of irony by juxtaposition, the death of climate change legislation in the Senate has been followed by the appearance of two government reports in the past week that underscore the overwhelming scientific case for global warming — and go out of the way to repudiate skeptics.”

The Washington Post, no bastion of liberalism, has come out strongly in favor of doing something about climate change.  Its editorial quotes two powerful government reports, and contrasts them with the “conspiracy theory” of climate change deniers.  TreeHugger notes this as one of the few triumphs in climate coverage by the mainstream media.

Our government has, over the past ten years, consistently put corporate interests above the interests of the nation and the People.  It remains unlikely that (short of nationwide marches in the streets) they will take any action to stem our massive CO2 footprint.  And why should they?  The average age of a Senator is 61.7 years, “one of the oldest [Senates] in history.”  They’ll all be long dead when the fruits of our inaction become life threatening here at home.

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Fed vs. Local: Counties Scramble to Create Alternatives

July 20, 2010 in Rural-Urban Cultural Divide, US Politics by DJ | No comments

san-rafael-swell-03-sep-2005 014 by Steve Corbato.
(Steve Corbato photo: San Rafael Swell, being considered by the fed as a National Monument.)

There are rumors that the federal government wants to create a new National Monument (maybe two) in Utah, and Utahns are upset.  When President Clinton created the 1.9 million acre Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, giving even the Utah Congressional delegation only hours notice that he planned to do so, a lot of locals lost lands that they had other plans for.

One proposed legislation pending in Congress would set aside 9.5 million acres as wilderness– no development and no vehicles.  That’s twice the size of the state of Massachusetts.  Added to what has already been designated as wilderness, it would put a third of the state off limits.  Many Utahns say that’s not fair.

Many Utah counties are recognizing that setting aside nothing for wilderness, while economically preferable, is unacceptable.  So, rather than allow the fed to dictate terms, several are working with stakeholders to create their own conservation plans.

As with so many issues these days, it’s difficult to find a middle ground.  Some environmentalists want everything set aside and are willing to settle for nothing less.  Likewise, some development proponents oppose setting anything aside.

There’s not question: Utah is a beautiful state.  I would like to see its beauty protected in some way.  But at the same time, does the fed have the right to tell any state that a third of its land resources are off limits?  Local plans, where they exist, should trump federal interference, unless there is a compelling reason for the fed to decide otherwise.

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184 Million in Perspective

July 16, 2010 in Oil by DJ | No comments

BP MC252 Gulf Of Mexico by [ Mooi ].
(Mooi photo.)

184 million gallons.  That’s the amount of oil Deseret News says was spilled during the 85 days BP’s well gushed into the Gulf of Mexico.  That’s 4.4 million barrels.

4.4 million barrels of oil is more oil than Iran produces in a day, and half of what the U.S. produces in a day.

It’s over 4,200 acre-feet of oil, which is enough to cover over 4,200 acres of land in oil one foot deep.  That’s over 6.6 square miles– a foot deep.

It’s enough to drive my Saturn SL1 over 7 billion freeway miles.  I could drive non-stop for almost a thousand years.  (I’d be very old.)

It’s enough to meet the needs of the entire nation of Bangladesh for 49 days, Nicaragua for 153 days, Sweden for 12-1/2 days, or Cambodia for more than three years.

But 4.4 million barrels of oil would only satisfy the demand of the U.S. for about 5 hours and 7 minutes.  Every day, we consume almost five times the amount of the BP Gulf spill.

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