#Blog

via Instagram http://ift.tt/1NkmeEB

Water Water Everywhere...

                Earth is mostly water with some land, yet in many places people do not have access to fresh clean drinking water. The big questions floating around today are whether or not water should be considered a basic human right. If so then it would be up to the governments of countries  to provide safe drinking water for their populations. When most people in America think about the water problem we think it's something going on in third world countries. But the facts are that this is a problem that hits closer to home then most people think. With the devastating droughts in California and the massive debt accumulating in Detroit, the water crisis is right around the proverbial corner. There are many ways in which we are able to reclaim water, from fog and humidity, to desalination. At the same time people are trying to reclaim water others are wasting it without regard to the people and communities being put at risk. There are those who would privatize water as a consumable resource that should be controlled and utilized as we utilize ore and fossil fuels. The other side of the spectrum are those who see water as a fundamental human right that everyone should have access to no matter their economic status. Over the years there have been a number water right acts brought forward to the UN about the access of water as a right for all people and in 2010 we saw the UN pass a resolution recognizing the access to clean water as such. It was a tremendous step forward but it was only a step, what matters is how it is followed up. Moving forward how water is handled is always going to stir up controversy and full of problems.

                Looking at water reclaiming we can see a slew of innovations being made in this field from the Fog nets to humidity traps, and so on. These systems can be implemented in locations where perceptible water is scarce and temperatures are high such as deserts and high elevations. The moisture can be trapped, condensed, and stored for consumption. The water collected this way can be filtered and made available almost anywhere that a need exists. In areas that have plenty of power and access to sea water, but little to no access to fresh water we see implementation of desalination plants. These plants take raw sea water and refine it into clean safe drinking water ready for use in any application. They way this works is by distilling the water, by heating the water to the point it turns into steam. The steam is then condensed back into clean water. In the next few years we will be seeing more water reclaiming going on as the need for more clean water increases. Likewise as the demand for clean drinking water increase so will the need for regulations concerning the use of said water, particularly in the industry sector. It will no longer be acceptable to pollute and drain aquifers and other natural water Reservoirs. The next few years are going to be interesting to say the least, and we might start seeing the first ever "Water Wars" which is a frightening thought.

#Blog

via Instagram http://ift.tt/1wFqeWD

The Footprint Shuffle

                In the United States we consume a tremendous amount of meat and greens. But could what we consume and the quantities in which we consume it be killing our planet? To assess this claim we will be looking at both the green house gas emissions from the agricultural industry and the meat industry. Roughly one third of all green house gas emissions come from the food industry sector. By using estimates from 2005, 2007, and 2008 one research paper was able to come up with a set of figures for the actual amount of green house gasses put into the atmosphere by the food industry. The figures are thus; around twelve megatons of carbon dioxide, around 86% of all the food industry green house gasses. Within this we have fertilizer production which stands at about five hundred and seventy five megatons of gas emissions, and refrigeration stands around four hundred and ninety megatons. In total the food industry puts around ninety eight hundred to sixteen thousand and nine hundred megatons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. When comparing the meat industry to the agricultural industry we need to factor in the amount of pesticides, herbicides, water use, waste production, fossil fuel use, and deforestation. All these things contribute to green house gasses. When we look at where the green house gasses come from most studies neglect this area and mainly focus on the negative impact of the meat industry. These studies tell people to eat less meat and more vegetables forgetting that the fruit and veggie industry is just as guilty of pollution as the meat industry.

                Let’s look at the meat industry now that we have taken a surface deep look at the agricultural industry.  One aspect of the meat industry that tends to be over looked is dairy. A typical dairy farm in Idaho puts out around thirty three thousand and ninety two pounds of methane a day on study found. Now with three hundred and sixty five days a year, and thousands of dairy farms in the United States we can see how detrimental an impact on the environment the dairy industry truly is. Looking at the meat industry, Americans love their meat. The primary meats consumed in the United States are chicken, pork, and beef. Beef is the most popular and has the most negative effect on the environment, with around twenty eight times more land being used for the productions of red meat, then for pork or chicken. It also has eleven times more water usage, culminating in about five times more green house gas emissions. One shocking statistic is comparing the effect per calorie of beef vs. potatoes with beef requiring around one hundred and sixty times more land, and producing about eleven times more green house gasses. One suggestion of reducing green house gasses, would be to eat less meat, big industry agriculture, and especially dairy. Some eco-friendly alternatives would be to eat certified organic agriculture, and free range/grass feed live stock. By supplementing the typical diet with more environmentally friendly options the amount of green house gasses being introduced into the atmosphere from the food industry can be reduced to a more manageable level.