Big Environmental News shaping up that you may not have heard through traditional means:

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Texas Approves Almost $5 Billion for Wind Project

Texas has approved funding that will help in the development of a state with lots of wind for producing electricity.  This will help build transmission lines from rural areas to more heavily populated areas, enough to carry 18,500 megawatts of electricity.

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Al Gore Challenges United States to Generate 100% of its Electricity Within Ten Years

Gore noted that this is economically viable for reasons related to increasing prices of coal and oil due to increased demand and that as solar and wind generation meet larger economies of scale, they will become cheaper.  He said further that coal and oil markets act in an opposite manner: the more we use them, the pricier they become.  Additionally, Gore noted that he believes we should be taxing what we burn, and not so much what we earn.

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Bush Lifts Moratorium on Offshore Drilling

The ball is now in the hands of Congress regarding whether or not offshore drilling in new areas would be allowed.  The plan may sound okay on the surface of a nation in need of oil/gasoline, but the oil would likely take at least ten years to start pumping, and by then, where will other sources be at?  It’s time to start replacing oil with renewable, carbon-free sources, now that it’s becoming economically viable, and the national security and global warming situations require it.

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Today, Al Gore had his moment.  Perhaps bigger than his Nobel Peace Prize, Gore gave a speech today that may be his crowning achievement: leading the country he was denied the chance to lead.  Whether you think he deserved to lead or not, he was denied the chance.

Today, Gore enthusiastically endorsed the idea that the United States can and should change our economy over to completely renewable sources of carbon-free sources of energy within ten years.  Can’t be done?  Try landing on the moon in ten years’ time!

Gore compared the challenge to the one John F. Kennedy announced thirty-nine years ago to land on the moon.  To summarize the main point of this speech:

He said the United States and the rest of the world were facing unprecedented problems, including growing demand for electricity, dangerous changes in the climate driven largely by emissions of carbon dioxide and political instability in regions that produce much of the world’s oil.

He continued:

“When we look at all three of these seemingly intractable challenges at the same time, we can see the common thread running through them, deeply ironic in its simplicity: our dangerous over-reliance on carbon-based fuels is at the core of all three of these challenges — the economic, environmental and national security crises,” Mr. Gore said. “We’re borrowing money from China to buy oil from the Persian Gulf to burn it in ways that destroy the planet. Every bit of that has to change.”

I love to see Mr. Gore using both his political and environmental credibility to shift the debate from short-term half-measures to, “let’s fix this problem in the next decade,” kind of thinking.  That is important for the next President to be able to tackle this problem head on–that is to say that having the debate moved toward fixing the problem soon rather than allowing the energy industry to drag its feet.

One last point: Gore matched up the idea of taxing carbon use with the idea that one would cut payroll taxes.  That sounds like a plan many can believe in, because it would tax people’s income less while keeping government revenue (needed to pay the bills!) from decreasing.  Gore said we need to be taxing what we burn rather than what we earn.

I just got back from the store, and I still find myself changing over to greener buying habits, even when it takes more money (at times) to do so.  It can take a hit on the grocery/toiletry bill and even make you feel like it’s a major pain.

Today, I introduced a greener toilet bowl cleaner and a Pangea Brand organic skincare product to my bathroom cabinet.  The toilet bowl cleaner was priced just fine — the same as others — but the Pangea set me back a few.

But, there’s silver lining in picking up that greener laundry detergent, dish soap, or toilet bowl cleaner.  And if you slowly replace your fleet of cleaners, toiletries, and paper goods, you will find it much easier to do so.  I have slowly shopped myself into a greener life, one shopping trip at a time.  As items need to be replaced, I purchase the greener toilet paper, paper towels, and waxed paper.

If you try to do it all at once, you’re likely going to drop a lot of money on the products, something many of us may not want to do all at once.  Be prepared, if you so choose.

The better way is to gradually introduce greener options as needed.  So next time you run out of something, consider purchasing the greener option!

Okay, you might find this quibbling or silly, but you’re on an environmental site where, yes, the smallest drops of waste can and will be counted.  But you should listen in, because this tip will save you time, money, and improve your envirohuman impact — all with one, one-time purchase.  Ready?

Buy a reusable lint brush.  Yes, you likely do not even think about greening your lint brush, I know!  But look, some people buy those silly “lint rollers,” which amount to a fat roll of masking tape being put onto a roller backward, so that the sticky side is outward.  Back and forth a user rolls until, oh no! — it’s not working as well as it was before.  The sticky side gets covered in lint.

But not to fear, the user thinks!  There is yet another layer of tape below this piece, allowing me to continue on making my pants look nice while making the earth look ugly.  Yes, that tape makes its way into landfills and is overall yet another matter contributing to our conspicuous consumption.

Admittedly, I once owned such a roller. Workers often stash one of these at work to spiffy up before the big meeting with the boss.  And one in the closet.  And alongside the ironing board.  But there’s a much greener way!  The reusable lint brush is specially designed to collect lint on its surface and can easily be cleaned by using a reverse action against one’s hand.  This is greener because it likely will last you for many years without need for replacement.

At the end of a lint roller’s life, one likely throws the handle away because the new one will inevitably have its own new handle.  And, there’s no telling when you might run out, so there you’ll be, almost ready for your meeting, when you think that you can peel off the lint-covered outer layer and reveal a new sticky one beneath — only to see that you now have an empty roll!  There you are attempting to use some scotch tape to clean off the rest of the lint, or you go to the meeting with noticeable fur from your dog, who thought giving you a kiss goodbye was as harmless as it was loving.

Okay, so lint is not such a big problem, but chances are most of us are using something to remove it at some point in time, and for under $20 and less than twenty minutes of your time, you can do it a little greener, with a reusable lint brush.

What to do with all that poop? If you have a dog and a yard, you’ve probably wondered at some point, “Is there a better way to dispose of all the little landmines left by man’s best friend?”  Well, if you’ve just been sending turds off to the local landfill along with the rest of your garbage, Alas! There is a better way!

If you haven’t heard of it already, there’s an on-site pet waste disposal system known as the Doggie Dooley, which basically functions as a septic tank for your pets’ backyard droppings.  I first found out about this while visiting my local pet store and thought, “Wow, that makes a lot of sense but is it really environmentally friendly or is this just another case of corporate green-washing?”

So what’s a Doggie Dooley and how does it work? The Doggie Dooley basically functions on the same premise as a septic tank, collecting organic waste and breaking it down into a liquid form that can be drained and absorbed by the ground below, with the assistance of bacterial and enzymatic additives.  Set up is relatively simple: Dig a hole in the ground, set the tank in the hole, and start filling it with feces.  They recommend adding a quart to one gallon of water to the tank on a daily basis along with their “Super Digester” (also called “Waste Terminator” – “I’ll be back!”) enzymes to facilitate the breakdown of waste.  Also, keep in mind that the breakdown of waste only takes place in temperatures over 40 degrees and is more effective, the warmer it gets.  There’s even a handy foot pedal to open and close the lid without bending over!

Are the Doggie Dooley chemicals and enzymes safe for the environment? This was our big question upon finding the system as the overall concept of on-site waste disposal is clearly beneficial to the environment (no plastic bags in landfills, no carbon fuels to transport the waste, no mixture with other toxic chemicals in landfills, etc.).  Think how many millions of dogs pooping everyday of the year a few times (let’s say 50 million times 3 x 365 = lots of bags, lots of poop, lots of wasted fuel and landfill space!

So back to the additive — is it safe?  Well, from all the research we found, the “Super Digester” is nothing more than basic septic powder similar to Rid-X.  So basically, you’re looking at more of a biological additive (enzyme based powder) that facilitates poop-eating bacteria as opposed to a chemical one.  Based on this, we approve it as being eco-friendly.  Find more information at Doctors Foster and Smith.

Looking for a DIY (Do It Yourself) doggie septic tank, try this! Find a small garbage can with lid and drill out many small one-inch holes in the bottom with a drill or jigsaw.  Dig a hole in your back yard (preferably in a far corner or low-traffic area) approximately the same size as the can and place it in the hole.  Fill the bottom with gravel followed by larger stones.  Enter poop, water, and Rid-X and you’ve got your own pet septic tank for probably under $20!  Sure, you don’t have the handy foot-operated opener like on the Doggie Dooley but aside from that and some other niceties of the Dooley, they’ll be pretty darn close, and for a fraction of the price!

EHI There!  Have a tip for greening your pet’s life or reducing their carbon footprint?  Tell us about it below!

“Weekly Green News Blurb | You Should Know,” is our newest series that we plan to publish each week on Sunday so you can come to work Monday and catch up on all your needed environmental news — the biggest stories you may have missed last week because the mainstream media drones on about celebrity arrests or is still talking about the latest missing person.  Yeah, that’s a jab at sensational journalism!

If you want sensational journalism, we have a real sensation for you right here.  Let’s go!

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The Life of An American is Worth Less Now

The “value of a statistical life” is worth about $1 million less than it was about five years ago.  It has dropped to $6.9 million, according to the EPA.  Important for environmental regulation: When writing regulations (such as those made on pollution), the comparison of the cost of human life that may be spared by it and the cost of the regulation is compared, and if the cost of regulation is more, it’s unlikely that the regulation will be made.

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Georgia Judge Blocks Coal-Fired Power Plant

A Superior Court Judge in Georgia stopped construction of a coal-fired power plants because the plant must limit its carbon dioxide emissions.  Judge Thelma Wyatt Cummings Moore delivered the decision against Dynegy’s Longleaf power plant near Columbus, based on an April 2007 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that said carbon dioxide is a pollutant under the federal Clean Air Act.  The plant had planned to emit 9 million tons of carbon dioxide annually, about equal to adding 1.3 million cars on the road.  Cheers to this decision!

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Chemical Weapons Destruction is Behind on Schedule

The Pentagon is considering moving chemical weapons to military sites in four states, prompting outcry from many legislators whose states would have weapons travelling through them if the plan were to move forward.  The move is to comply with a 1997 Treaty banning chemical weapons; Congress has declared that the U.S. should be in compliance by 2017.  Fears of the munitions facing traffic accidents or becoming terrorist targets has raised fears chiefly for the safety of the residents of those areas, and might I add the environmental degradation that could make those areas uninhabitable potentially for years to come.  Ribble Rabble Ribble Rabble.

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Ex-Aide Says Cheney’s Office had Portions of EPA Report Deleted

Fearing that references to global warming gases as threats to human health, Cheney’s Office reportedly had such reference removed from a report made to Congress because it would make avoiding regulating greenhouse gases more difficult.  Who’s surprised?  Rabble-rabble!

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Are compact fluorescent bulbs still a bright idea?

The Chicago Tribune gets it wrong on this one, pointing out that “there aren’t many recycling centers available. At some county hazardous waste collection sites you have to pay about $1 per bulb to recycle CFLs,” while omitting the fact that Home Depot is offering CFL bulb recycling for free at all of its approximately 1,000 U.S. stores.  There were exaggerations in the story regarding how long it takes for the bulbs to warm up and that the light is of low-quality, even though the bulbs have come a long way and most models produce a similar light to that produced by the incandescent bulbs they replace.

The article overemphasizes the fact that CFL bulbs contain mercury while ignoring the fact that the net effect is less emitted mercury from power plants because of the use of these bulbs reducing the need for power production — and that coupled with the fact that they can now be recycled for free at Home Depot stores means much less mercury being released into our environment.  The overarching story here is that CFL bulbs are both an eco-friendly option and a way to save money — now even more true with the free recycling option at Home Depot stores.

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That’s this week’s Green News Blurb! See you next Monday with another week’s worth of the news that you may not have picked up in the papers or from your cable news.  Let us know what you think about the stories posted above in our comments section found below.

Despite increasing warnings about the fact that current human, government, and corporate consumption and behavior are unsustainable, the envirohuman impact of decisions still seems to not be considered enough by both individuals and large organizations alike. Yes, it’s beginning to be important for more than a small number of people, and many are really considering the impact of their decisions, but it still is not weighed for every big decision. Even when it is considered, we often decide against the more sustainable choice.

This is where news, blogs, conversations, and emails all come into play. The environment has to be in the daily conversation before it gets considered in our daily decisions. Earth Day/Week/Month is not the only time for this dialogue. It needs to be everyday.

For this reason EnviroHumanImpact joined the ranks of other websites and blogs to help promote the consideration of one’s envirohuman impact. We’re here everyday trying to help you the individual to make daily living changes that help improve your envirohuman impact while influencing companies to bend to your will, as a consumer, to offer greener options and to improve their behaviors.

We’re bringing news, advice, and tips because we care and we want everyone to care. It matters to us all, whether we have admitted that or not. Please, when you read something here, participate! Don’t leave the site thinking how great the ideals are without doing something. Start employing small life changes that add up to improved envirohuman impact.

Your behavior rubs off on your peers and can have a huge impact over time. Being greener can be healthier and can save you money! Start with our Greener Under Twenty Series or check out our growing Product Reviews section for easy ways to begin living greener!

Find something useful? Share it with friends! Use our Share functions found at the bottom of every post. You can email articles or share them on many different social networks. Use the Digg or Reddit functions so that these online conversations infiltrate others’ consciousness, making it easier to have personal conversations on a shared basic understanding of the issues we face.

At that point, when news, websites, social sites, etc. are all saturated with quality content regarding the environment, people will begin talking, considering, buying, and acting greener. Companies will have to listen and adapt or face potential loss of business.  In many ways, people are adopting a more environmentally friendly approach — but we have far to go.

We have joined the conversation, helping to spurn action, and you can do the same, right here. Comment on articles here, and please, take the opportunity to make our environment healthier for today and tomorrow with your daily living choices.

EnviroHumanImpact is incredibly excited to introduce it’s newest series and blog carnival: Cirque du Vert.

Is that English? Well, first of all, it’s French and while we don’t typically use French on EHI, we thought it appropriate to name our blog carnival in line with other prominent theatrical acts such as Cirque du Soleil (so pardon our French).  If you haven’t stayed up on your French since high school, “Cirque du Vert” basically translates to “Circus of the Green.”  So in other words, a carnival of green ideas and environmental topics.  Not to mention, we believe you’ll find Cirque du Vert to be a “premium” blog carnival, much the same as the Cirque du Soleil shows are premium theatrical or circus acts.

But wait, about the “blog carnival,” what is it? Well, according to Blog Carnival, it is:

A particular kind of blog community. There are many kinds of blogs, and they contain articles on many kinds of topics. Blog Carnivals typically collect together links pointing to blog articles on a particular topic. A Blog Carnival is like a magazine. It has a title, a topic, editors, contributors, and an audience. Editions of the carnival typically come out on a regular basis (e.g. every monday, or on the first of the month). Each edition is a special blog article that consists of links to all the contributions that have been submitted, often with the editors opinions or remarks.

Now that you know what a blog carnival is, what can you expect from Cirque du Vert? Cirque du Vert will be hosted by EnviroHumanImpact every other Friday and brings an “enviro-copia” of blog entries, focusing on the main relationship between human actions affecting the environment and the way the environment in turn affects humans. We’re looking for the best posts on everything from “Going green” tips and environmental news to recycling, conservation, and gardening. If you have a quality, original, green or environmental post on your blog, we want to see it!

Submission Guidelines: Each bi-weekly edition will focus on a unique topic concerning “green” or environmental topics (i.e. Recycling, Green Tips, Pollution, etc.).  The first edition is scheduled for Friday, July 25th, 2008 and is open to all environmental topics.  If you’re interested in submitting a post for this or any future edition you can do so via our Submission Form at BlogCarnival.com.

You can help make this a success! Consider this your chance to be heard and become a more active participant in the EnviroHumanImpact community.   Comment below if you have any questions and we’ll see you in two weeks!

Did you prepare any produce today?  Make coffee?  Peel a banana?

Plenty of waste to go a(g)round Chances are you have plenty of organic waste produced at home, including yard and garden waste, much of which could have a place in a composting bin or pile.  While we will discuss a little about how you could do some composting here, most people have a pretty good idea of what composting is: you either have a pile or bin of organic material that breaks down, rots, decomposes, by thriving worms, bacteria, fungi, and insects who feed on the pile.

Never composted? If you never have composted before, you are going to love how cheap the process can be (for free, if you want), easy it can be if you do not mind waiting for nature to do its thing, and how great this is for the environment.  For those who are impatient, managed compost bins can produce finished product in as little as three to four weeks.  But am I going to go into the nitty-gritty, the germy-wormy, the slimey — oh, blimey…?  Thankfully, no, that will be the subject of future articles.

And, the reasons are… Today, we will be discussing the reasons for why you should compost — one of the easiest daily habits you could carry out to improve your envirohuman impact!  Near the end, we’ll share some resources detailing the ways you can go out and actually do some composting in your own backyard.  But before then, let’s take a look at why you ought to putting your biodegradable items outside your home on the ground (or in a bin) rather than having it hauled off to be buried in the ground.

1. Wasting a resource: Having organic material hauled away as garbage is a systematic way of taking good, reusable organic matter to a large hole in the ground, where it is mixed with a host of inorganic, toxic substances and debris, such as plastic items, styrofoam, battery acid, leftover chemical detergents, and heavy metals, like lead and mercury.  Hands down, getting that organic material back is extremely difficult to impossible.
2. Causing extra fuel consumption: Hauling away that organic matter takes a lot of fuel to haul away to landfills.  According to CompostGuide.com, “The average household produces more than 200 pounds of kitchen waste every year,” and that does not include yard and garden waste, which is obviously a lot more.  So, let’s say that the average is only 200 pounds.  At that rate, every ten families is having a ton hauled away to landfills every year, contributing to global warming and particulate matter in our air by having trucks haul even more away to be buried.
3. Filling up limited landfill space: Organic matter takes a lot of space in landfills and the space is limited.  Granted, the concept of landfills needs a major overhaul — we need to send much less material to be buried, and recycle more.  But the point is that we’re limited on spaces where all of that “junk” can be buried, and we don’t need to inflate it with hundreds of millions of tons of compostable waste every year.
4. Robbing nutrients: We’re literally robbing our soil of a rich natural resource that provides necessary carbon, nitrogen, and other nutrients.  We already have erosion and soil fatigue to fight, we do not need to compound the situation by taking excess organic matter and shipping it far from where we need it — wherever we want and need to grow trees, shrubbery, and gardens.  The solution is not to go out to your local home improvement store or nursery to buy organic matter, manure, mulch, and often, chemical fertilizers.  According to CompostGuide.com, “Using compost improves soil structure, texture, and aeration and increases the soil’s water-holding capacity.”  Even if you do not garden, help keep your land’s resources fertile by composting.
5. Squandering an opportunity for which we and the environment already have paid: Much of our produce is imported from far away — we are paying for that transportation cost financially and the environment pays in that it takes fossil fuels, most of the time, to move that food from plot to table, meaning more dirty emissions and more greenhouse gases.  Having had the environment already pay (and we’ve used our dollars), are we seriously going to throw away that banana peel, those coffee grounds, that avacado peel and pit, and your (now dead, whoops!) African violets, into a pit full of toxic trash, when we could use it to enrich our soils?  Seriously?  Even if it’s not imported, it likely travelled a thousand or more miles to your home — and our soils around our homes could use the nutrients as local growing of produce gains popularity.
6. Composting is an (easy) sustainable practice: Our potential future sustainability will sit upon sustainable practices.  It’s sustainable to compost our organic matter where it falls, meaning, where you dump it right outside.  When done right, it can be done with no lingering odors or pest problems, and this practice can play a huge role in replace our dependence upon synthetic fertilizers.
7. Compost helps dilute toxic substances in our soil: As air and water pollution also pollute our soils, adding clean (or relatively clean) organic matter to our topsoil will over time help reduce the proportion of toxic materials, like lead and mercury, to organic matter, by diluting the toxins in a soil of organic material.  This also helps our soils to deal with future pollution and to remain fertile and to not be toxic for foods and trees to grow.

These are some of the main reasons for why you should begin composting in order to do your part to impove your envirohuman impact.  Need more information? A great place to start, with explanations and links to other articles on the subject, as linked to in this story, is www.CompostGuide.com.  But if you are looking for a good peer reviewed article, check out Wikipedia’s on the subject.  Bottom line is, the soil in your backyard could make great use of your coffee grounds!