As if California didn’t have enough problems. Mother Nature is turning the heat up on “The Golden State.” Many farm land areas are being battered by a severe drought, especially the Central Valley, (near Fresno), considered the country’s bread basket and it couldn’t come at a worse time. Across many counties unemployment is the highest in the country and with water shortages soon to become a harsh reality, farming towns are bracing themselves for what might be considered a return to the “Dust Bowl” era of the 1930’s. California’s drought conditions are going into its third year, no big deal to the sun drenched inhabitants of the nations wealthiest state. But what makes it different this time is a hard edged recession sequestering funds badly needed for irrigation and crop rotation. Adding more fuel to the fire is the many hyper-growth communities overtaxing the water district infrastructures. It’s time to reboot Cal’s life-giving waterways to cope with the this dry spell, so the next generation doesn’t get stuck with only crumbs from the basket.
Cruising down the road with my foot on the gas, looking for a biodiesel pump is a pain in the —. Almost sounds like a not-ready-for-prime-time rap. What I’m driving at here is the use of the humble, but aesthetically pleasing, sunflower as one of the fuel source alternatives to America’s unquenchable thirst for motoring mojo. Biodiesel is the unconventional fuel blend from oil of various domestically grown, hopefully organic, seeds, beans, or vegetable waste, making its way away from the kitchen and into the gas tank. Why the gangly, colorful plant? Sunflowers have a high content of the ignitable lubricant we worship, ‘oil’, and can produce 600 pounds of that super slippery stuff per acre, more than the ubiquitous soybean, (according to The National Sunflower Association.) So, get your motor running, head out on the highway, looking for the next alternative fuel adventure.
Here’s a toast to the 200th anniversary of Charles Darwin’s birth and to one of the greatest civil leaders of all time, Abraham Lincoln. The British adventurer/biologist who brought us the controversial On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, inspired by his travels on the HMS Beagle throughout South America, especially The Galapagos Islands. “Mysteries of Mysteries” a quote coined by Mr. Darwin in awe of the bio diversity of the islands, as he swept through the archipelago 174 years ago and gave his weary sea legs a brief break from his long journey from England. Nowhere in the world can the 168 plants unique to the islands be found on the planet. Unfortunately 60 percent of those are close to extinction, not to mention many of the iconic animal species, like Darwin’s Galapagos Mouse which became extinct in 1996. Currently two of the most formidable environmental obstacles for the island chain are ecotourism, (173,000 visitors in 2008, according to the Galapagos Conservancy), and invasive species brought over from settlers looking for work from the mainland of Ecuador. Darwin once wrote it was difficult to pitch a tent due to the scurrying land iguanas competing for space. Now between the black rats and other feral mammals hitching a ride from a steady stream of shipping, there’s plenty of room to even build a golf course. Scientists at the Charles Darwin Research Station at Santa Cruz Island, are working tirelessly to limit the damage wrought on by humanities incomprehension and avarice. By preserving Darwin’s great find of Galapagos we may very well save our own origins.
No one knows their trash like International Environmental Solutions, in Romoland, California. Imagine taking your everyday throw away stuff, from paper, plastics to diapers, and sending them to an Advanced Pyrolytic System, i.e. a trash torch’er. From the belly of a furnace like cylinder, high heat flows through a spider web of tubes to spin a steam driven turbine and thus producing many kilowatts of electrons to power your latte/espresso machine in the morning. This high temp method is clean and non polluting since all the gasses from the incineration are also consumed and put to work. Officials from Los Angeles County are considering the high-tech garbage burner, since an extra large version could possibly alleviate about 50 percent of landfill content in the city of the Angels. Instead of the old paradigm of “drill baby drill” we can say “burn baby burn” to the throw away articles of our society.
Nano tech, the teeny, tiny, hard working particles only visible by microscopy, has given humanity the gift of LED lighting. Next time you stop or motor past a traffic light, give thanks to the Gods of nanotechnology. The solid-state pleasing lights only consumes one-tenth the energy required to power an old fashion incandescent bulb, and will last for 20 years. Thomas Alva Edison maybe spinning in his grave over that one. The high tech light source is slowly making its way to the shelves of your local hardware store, but according to The New York Times, the mass rush of the pint size power misers into consumer hands is running into technical problems due to inadequate output levels compared to conventional fluorescent tubes. The Big Round Cubatron, a dynamic luminous sculpture using close to 20,000 LED’s, can be powered by solar charged batteries in the evening hours, thus proving the low wattage draw from the futuristic light source, although the number of LED bulbs to illuminate a given space can be numerous. The traveling art exhibit is one way to bring awareness to the development of LED’s for “real world” results and help put us all on a brighter path when it comes to energy efficient lighting.
As if California didn’t have enough problems. Mother Nature is turning the heat up on “The Golden State.” Many farm land areas are being battered by a severe drought, especially the Central Valley, (near Fresno), considered the country’s bread basket and it couldn’t come at a worse time. Across many counties unemployment is the highest in the country and with water shortages soon to become a harsh reality, farming towns are bracing themselves for what might be considered a return to the “Dust Bowl” era of the 1930’s. California’s drought conditions are going into its third year, no big deal to the sun drenched inhabitants of the nations wealthiest state. But what makes it different this time is a hard edged recession sequestering funds badly needed for irrigation and crop rotation. Adding more fuel to the fire is the many hyper-growth communities overtaxing the water district infrastructures. It’s time to reboot Cal’s life-giving waterways to cope with the this dry spell, so the next generation doesn’t get stuck with only crumbs from the basket.
