Confessions of a sustainable mind

Now that classes are done,
I have a confession.
I like taking long, hot showers.
like 8 min. showers.

Turkey day food for thought

A little food for thought while we all sit down to our turkey dinners.  In doing research for my BSI project, I came across this fact about water use by the EPA:

The average American Thanksgiving dinner for eight people takes about 48,000 gallons to produce.

And yet, the turkey always comes out dry. 

Holiday greetings from Goatradamus

Goatradamus emailed me today with some holiday wishes.

Throwback

So my dryer was on the fritz for the past few days. I called my landlord and he replaced it. Our DVD player breaks and we go get a new one. Our cell phone gets dinged up and we go get a new one. We saw where all those electronics went in that video, but what about the jobs that went in the trash as well. Thinking back to the 2nd week of class, we talked about respect for people. In this day of instant gratification, we no longer have a need for the "repair person." We just need more vendors. Although with the market as it is currently, there seems to be a resurgance of antiquated roles such as shoemakers and tailors.

Windbelt: A Possibility for Cheap Wind Power for Third-World Countries

I came across this video, which could be an interesting possibility to harvest wind energy in third world countries, where the average income is about $10, and expensive turbine technology is out of question.  I thought it was interesting how a simple experiment could translate into the development of alternative energy, not necessarily depending on established but expensive technology.

"key to NC's future:alternative energy"

I was watching the news and saw this story come on...a few weeks too late for the debate but here it is anyways!
Its about a manufacturer who is reducing the cost of producing solar panels already for a 1/3rd of their typical cost. The experts say the are costs expected to match traditional power sources in just five years!

http://news14.com/Default.aspx?ArID=601373

The Eletronic Wasteland

Where do the millions of computer monitors, cell phones and other electronic refuse our society generates end up? Flow this website

http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=4586903n