File this under: oh man, this is really friggin’ cool. In case you aren’t aware, there’s a giant sea of really, really hot stuff floating around underneath the surface of the earth. If tapped into, it has the potential to be a geothermal power source. So why isn’t it being tapped into and used?
That’s the question asked by an Australian study, which determined that only 1 percent of Australia’s geothermal power potential could supply the country with 26,000 years of energy. That’s like, longer than the crazy Christians think that the earth has been around for!
Apparently, the only difficult part of the plan is getting the power out of the ground. In a report that the Australian Geothermal Energy Association recently produced, all of the details are explained. Workers would have to drill 2.8 miles into the ground to reach the hot magma, which would reach 20 percent of all electricity demands using this system. It is estimated that it would cost $10.45 billion and take 10 years from start to finish, but once the initial cost and time is laid out, there’s clean and free energy coming up from the ground. Not bad, eh?
Sorry I’ve been MIA on the posting lately…I was forced to drive through some flyover states and have spent the last week and a half reminding myself what the term “red state” really means. Anyway…
You know those magazines that you keep having delivered? Turns out, you’re probably not recycling them, and neither is your neighbor. That adds up to a whole lot of trees that are being cut down unnecessarily. 35 million a year for magazine production alone, to be exact.
In fact, according to GQ Magazine, only around 20 percent of Americans recycle their magazines. That’s pretty bad, especially considering that around 70 percent of Americans have access to magazine recycling in their own communities. That means that half of Americans are slacking on their recycling, without having an excuse!
So, what can you do? First of all, find out if there’s a recycling program where you live. Then, start recycling your magazines. Better yet, find out if the magazines you subscribe to are available online (many are available to subscribers in a PDF file). You can always print the articles that you want to save.
Remember a few posts ago, when I talked about how harmful plastic water and soda bottles are to the environment? Well, this is particularly true of ocean flora and fauna. In fact, hundreds of marine animals, from fowl to fish, have been found to regularly ingest plastic. Mmmmm. Plastic.
One single albatross was discovered to have the following in its stomach:
1.) A plastic pen cap
2.) A plastic tampon applicator (this will be the subject of a later post. Ladies, ditch those Playtex plastic applicators!)
3.) Styrofoam
4.) Several plastic bottle caps
5.) An entire plastic bobber
6.) One of those plastic rings that are attached to the plastic bottle caps when you first buy them
7.) Plastic tubing
8.) Oh, and a little bit of squid
Unfortunately, this is hardly an isolated incident. In fact, it is becoming more and more the norm for ocean creatures to ingest our carelessly discarded trash. So, this is where Dr. Eriksen comes in. He’s raising awareness of ocean pollution by making a huge trek on a raft full ‘o junk. So, check out the YouTube video above, visit Dr. Eriksen’s blog and educate yourself on the plight of our oceans.
What with wedding season assaulting my mailbox with invitation after invitation, I got to thinking: what’s the big deal with paper invitations any more? First of all, they’re expensive. According to the Bridal Association of America, the average American couple spends $659 on invitations and reply cards alone. That means that the Thank You cards and postage aren’t even included! Sure, weddings are special days. But are they so special that people are willing to spend the better part of $1,000 just to invite people to come?
Second, they’re a hassle. To RSVP, I have to hunt down a stamp (and than another couple of 1 cent stamps, because the post office raised their rates AGAIN) and remember to mail the envelope. Of course, although calling my friend and telling her that I’ll be at her wedding with a guest would be easier, proper etiquette dictates that I have to mail the stupid invitation back. Of course, now that I know how much they cost, it’s no wonder future brides are so anal about getting the RSVP cards mailed back.
Instead of sending paper invites, consider going the technical route. Evite has some classy wedding invitations, none of which are bad for the environment. Plus, with all of the money you save on invitations by going the Evite route, you can upgrade your booze. It’s a scientific fact that 99.872 percent of Americans would rather have a sweet open bar than a cutesy wedding invitation.
I know I’ve said it before, but this week it just seems particularly fitting. I share a dumpster with a bunch of other people in my community (I live in a town house), and earlier this week when I went to dump my trash, I was astonished at what I saw. There was a full-size bed frame, one of those basketball hoops that stands alone (you fill the bottom of it with sand) and a decent looking sofa. All in the trash!
Instead of throwing these things away, if people would first list them as “free” items on Craigslist or Freecycle, they could find good homes! I’m sure there are tons of people in your area who would your throwaway items to good use. So, before tossing anything substantial (even if it doesn’t seem that substantial to you), try to give it away. It’ll help somebody who could really use the item and otherwise probably wouldn’t be able to afford it, and it’ll keep some trash out of the landfills.
Hey ya’ll…sorry I’ve been MIA lately, but there was a family emergency and blah, blah blah. Anyway, I’m back and ready to fight global warming, pollution and everything un-green one blog at a time!
Today’s post is about junk mail. As annoying as it is for each and every one of us, think of how bad it is for the environment. Well, people are finally starting to do something about it, and a petition is circulating asking Congress to create a “Do Not Mail” registry. Similar to the “Do Not Call” registry that came about in 2003, it could put an end to junk mail as we know it.
You know how gas is like, all expensive and stuff? If you own a diesel car, it doesn’t have to be. In fact, the good people at GreaseCar can hook you up with everything you need to transform your diesel vehicle from a gas guzzling environmental disaster into an earth friendly awesome-mobile. Plus, depending on the model of your ride, you can get the complete kit for under $1,000.
Basically, if you change your car from gas to grease, it’ll pay for itself in less than a year. Pretty sweet, eh? As an added bonus, the cooking oil doesn’t even need to be fresh. You can work out a deal with a local restaurant and cruise around town for free, all while reducing the size of your carbon footprint.
