I hope everyone enjoyed (and is still enjoying) the holiday season. I’m having a little trouble breaking free from R & R mode myself (unlike many others in the ‘green blogosphere’), but it’s definitely important to get things rolling again before 2007!
I came across a cool post at Hugg referring to a video of a presentation by Dr. John Todd (filmed at the 2005 Green Festival in San Francisco).
I watched it this afternoon (a little over 40 minutes) and found it very interesting. Unfortunately you can’t see the slides he is referring to, but don’t let that deter you.
John Todd is definitely one of my personal heros and I’m always on the lookout for any news on his activities.
His ‘eco-machine’ concept (also referred to as ‘living machines’) is utterly brilliant. Not too long ago I talked about “aquaponics” – well his total-system approach is like aquaponics on steroids (all-natural, healthy steroids that is).
As he describes in the video, one of his large-scale eco machines (housed in a 7000 sq foot greenhouse) handles 80,000 gallons/day of raw sewage from the city of South Burlington Vermont. It contains 18 tanks, with 18 different ecologies – a wide selection of plants and other organisms which process the water as it flows through the system. After two days, what was once raw sewage leaves the facility as clean water.
For those of you unfamiliar with this eco-visionary, I would highly recommend you check out this John Todd interview at EnviroEducation.com. It’s a tad dated, but provides great background info.
Here is an exerpt from that page:
Dr. John Todd is an internationally-recognized biologist and a visionary leader in the field of ecological design who was named a “Hero of the Earth” by Time magazine in 1999 and one of the 20th Century’s top thirty-five inventors by the Lemelson-MIT Program for Invention and Innovation. He holds four patents and is the inventor of Living Machines, or ecological engines, for the treatment of wastes, production of foods, generation of fuels and the restoration of damaged aquatic environments.
Author of over two hundred technical and popular articles on biology and planetary stewardship, Dr. Todd is the Founder and President of Ocean Arks International, a non profit research and education organization; co-founded Living Technologies Inc., an ecological design, engineering, and construction firm in Burlington, Vermont; and a Research Professor in the University of Vermont’s Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources.
Some of Dr. Todd’s other accolades include the Bioneers Lifetime Achievement Award (1998), the Charles and Ann Morrow Lindbergh Award for technological innovation on behalf of the environment (1998), the Environmental Merit Award from the USEPA (1996), The Teddy Roosevelt Award for Conservation (1990), the United Nations (FUNEP) Award for contributions to the global environment (1990), the USEPA Chico Mendes Memorial Award for environmental restoration (1989), and the Swiss Threshold Award for his contributions to human knowledge (1980).
He has degrees in agriculture, parasitology & tropical medicine from McGill University and a doctorate in fisheries and ethology from the University of Michigan. He has received two honorary doctorates in science and engineering respectively and was awarded an Honorary Doctorate from Green Mountain College in 2000.
I highly recommend you also check out John Todd Ecological Design to learn more about Dr. Todd’s work. It seems to have been updated since the last time I visited (not too long ago). I find all his projects fascinating, but the natural swimming pool and the agricultural eco-park are especially cool.
Things are almost certainly going to be VERY quiet on the blog for the next little while so I figured it might be fun to make a Christmas card for our readers (Steve’s gonna kill me ).
Be assured the images were chosen specifically for their mugshot-like qualities, just for kicks and giggles. We are in fact FAR less serious than that most of the time.
Anyway, I hope everyone AT LEAST enjoys a great holiday long weekend, if not an extended break.
We should be back for at least a couple posts at some point next week.
Not too long ago we received a friendly e-mail from Anna – ‘Director of Marketing & Press Relations’ for Way Out Wax – asking if we’d be interested in testing out some of their products.
Given the fact that this was our very first testing offer, and also given the fact that I LOVE free stuff, I leapt at the opportunity.
I was a little concerned that being located in Canada might be an issue, but Anna assured me that this was not a problem in the least (direct quote: “We love Canada”). Whoohoo!
So I gave over my mailing address then promptly forgot all about it.
Well, the package arrived in the mail today and I was certainly quite excited to see what sorts of goodies they sent. As I started opening up the box I was greeted by a surprisingly powerful lavender aroma – definitely making a good first impression right off the bat (I love the smell of lavender).
Inside I found three interesting candles, a letter and some associated literature.
I definitely have to commend Anna on her choice of candles. As mentioned, I love lavender so needless to say the ‘lavender soy candle’ (in a cool cobalt blue glass holder) is a big hit. She also sent a ‘Sage Mini-Round Pillar’ candle that smells great as well (although certainly not as potent as the lavender). What makes it even cooler is that it’s wrapped in a biodegradable corn-plastic wrapper. Neato!
Last, but certainly not least is the ‘Clear Head Candle’, which comes in an 8-ounce travel tin. It is aptly named, giving off a refreshing (and addictive) blend of peppermint, eucalyptus and rosemary scents – I can’t stop opening it up for a whiff! Getting a little light-headed, but boy do I ever feel relaxed!
I still have yet to light any of the candles but I’m already very impressed with Way Out Wax and their soy candle line! I guarantee my wife will love them as well since she is much more of a candle hound than I am. I think I’m going to have to buy a separate set for Steve because I just can’t see myself parting with any of these! Maybe I’ll let him have them on weekends.
Having flipped through their little catalogue (and visited their website) I see that Way Out Wax offers a wide range of scented candles, as well as a non-scented collection. They also sell a few other interesting products, including pet shampoo and sprays, and even an all-natural bug repellent.
In case you are interested, here are some of the specs:
All candles are 100% soy wax – completely biodegradeable (apparently also cleans easily with soap and water)
Biodegradable plastic packaging
100% natural, essential oils
Wicks made from unbleached cotton or hemp
No dyes or perfumes used
I also just discovered that they give a percentage of their profits to ‘environmental and social causes’.
All in all I am very impressed and will certainly give Way Out Wax a big EcoSherpa green-thumbs up!
Big thanks YET again go out to Linton from Hugg for the recent Pee-cycling posting (go give it a ‘Hugg’ already, will ya?), which mentions a recent article in New Scientist Magazine.
It’s really interesting how closely I (accidentally) timed my posting about Carol Steinfeld’s “Liquid Gold” book to the publication of the New Scientist article (I’m still waiting for that issue myself).
According to the article, while urine only contributes 1% to the volume of waste water, it is responsible for a whopping 80% of the nitrogen and 45% of the phosporous in this waste stream. That’s pretty significant.
Not only do conventional waste water plants consume an incredible amount of water, but they also require a great deal of energy for the various nutrient-removal stages.
So what can we do about it?
Well, until such time as there is a massive overhaul of the conventional wastewater management model, you can do as Carol Steinfeld suggests in her book and simply separate it yourself using either low-tech (bottle) or high-tech (urine separating toilet) and then simply use it around your property as a fertilizer (remember, unlike feces, urine is essentially sterile in healthy individuals).
Here is an interesting blurb from the New Scientist article:
The whole process [wastewater treatment] is very good at converting yellow, black and grey water into more or less clear water, but all that pumping, stirring, aeration and heating uses a lot of power – about 11.5 watts per head of population. That’s only a tiny portion of your personal daily energy consumption, but it mounts up. In the UK, population 65 million, it means waste water treatment consumes 65,000 gigajoules a day – about a quarter of the output of the country’s largest coal-fired power station. In a world where energy efficiency is ever more important, that’s not to be dismissed.
According to civil engineer and urine-separation expert Jac Wilsenach, it’s highly inefficient. Wilsenach spent six years at Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands working on the intricacies of sewage systems, and according to his calculations, today’s methods mean we are literally flushing energy down the pan.
In a paper published last March, Wilsenach calculated that if we were to separate out just half of our urine, the microbes in the aeration tanks could eat up almost all the nitrogen and phosphate (Journal of Environmental Engineering, vol 132, p 331). The energy-intensive polishing stage would become completely unnecessary.
There’s another, even bigger gain to be had from separating out the urine. Lower starting levels of nitrogen and phosphate mean that the microbes in the aeration tanks can do their job much more efficiently, taking just one day compared with about 30, thus reducing the energy demand of the aeration tanks. What’s more, the resulting sludge is richer in organic matter and generates more than three times as much methane. In fact, says Wilsenach, separating out 50 to 60 per cent of the urine could turn sewage works from net consumers to net producers of energy to the tune of about 2.5 watts per person.
I highly recommend you read this excellent article. Again here is the link: Pee-Cycling
You may recall our post about John Wilson’s solar home. Well I recently watched another video of John’s, this time it features an interview with his friend Leonard Allen (president of Solera Sustainable Energies). You may find the video itself a little dry since it’s mostly just dialogue, but if you have some interest in alternative home power systems you will more than likely find it quite interesting.
Also, I HIGHLY recomment you check out John’s ‘Off The Grid’ page (on his Natural Life Network site) for a detailed article about Leonard’s house.
(Image courtesy of John Wilson)
What’s especially cool about this home is the fact that the Allen family enjoys a ‘normal’ lifestyle – they have a dishwasher, clothes washer and dryer, computers (with high-speed internet), large screen TV, stereo etc. Add to this the fact that the home is quite large.
It’s certainly a great indication of the potential of alternative energy systems (especially when you consider the technological advances that continue to be made in this field).
Caught an interesting article this morning about the impact that global warming seems to be having on ski resorts around the world, and the steps some of them are taking so as to reduce their environmental impact.
I’m not a downhill skier myself (went once when I was a kid and DID enjoy it immensely though!), but given the fact that it is a pretty popular sport and one that likely sucks up a lot of power and fuel, I’m certainly glad to hear of some improvements.
Here is an exerpt:
However, with climate change becoming regarded as a direct economic threat to the industry, there is a growing movement among skiing resorts to provide sustainable solutions to the problem. Aspen in Colorado, US, normally seen as a playground for the rich and powerful, may seem an unlikely hotbed of environmentally aware activity, but the resort’s managers believe they have no choice. “In a moderate case scenario, which includes emissions reduction by 2050 skiing in Aspen will be severely hampered, perhaps even gone,” says Pat O’Donnell, chief executive of the Aspen Skiing Company. “I won’t even discuss what happens under a ‘business as usual strategy’.”
Among the green projects Aspen is therefore undertaking, the resort’s snow cats are now fuelled with biodiesel, its “Cirque” lift operates entirely on wind power and its highland patrol headquarters has a 2.3 kilowatt solar power system. Aspen was the first resort to join the Chicago Climate Exchange policy, binding itself to reducing carbon dioxide emissions. It was also the first resort to offset 100 per cent of its electricity use by purchasing renewable energy certificates from wind farms.
It’s unfortunate that it often comes down to seeing evidence first-hand before people actually start taking action – but I guess that’s just the nature of most humans!
It’s been awhile since we’ve sent a ‘shout-out’ to our friends at Terracycle, and what better day to do so than the same day we congratulate two other inspirational green entrepreneurs (a.k.a ‘The Method Men’).
The above YouTube video is a number of months old, but it’s definitely worth watching – especially if you are not yet familiar with Terracycle. But definitely don’t watch if you are offended by the term ‘worm poop’! LoL
Another great video I highly recommend watching is found at ‘HP Enterprise TV’ (thanks to Linton for the heads-up at Hugg.com). You can access it >>HERE<< (you MAY have to scroll through the videos – keep your eye out for Terracycle on the top row).
Some interesting tidbits gleaned from the vids:
Terracycle currently growing 400-600% per year (according to Tom Szaky they are the ‘fastest growing lawn & garden company in America’)
[Not surprisingly] they are already shopping around for a much larger facility than their current headquarters in Trenton, New Jersey
This year they launched 10 new products, and they are hoping to double that in 2007
Every aspect of the business is handled ‘in-house’ (no marketing agencies, no printing firms etc etc)
Szaky has his sights set on taking out Miracle Gro and becoming America’s #1 fertilizer! (wow)
Very very cool! I just can’t get enough of these guys.
Be sure to check out the Terracycle website as well. It looks as though they’ve added a fair amount of new content since the last time I was there.
Caught a cool post on the Ecorazzi blog yesterday. It seems the founders of Method, Eric Ryan and Adam Lowry, will be sharing the PETA’s ’2006 Person of the Year Award’. For those unfamiliar with the PETA (yeah I admit it, I had to look it up) they are the ‘People For the Ethical Treatment of Animals’, and they are honoring the Method duo for their refusal to test any of their products on animals (they also will not do business with any supplier that does). Aside from that, remember that all method products are created using natural, biodegradeable ingredients (none of which are animal-derived). Cool!
Steve and I are both big Method fans, having tested out their products and just generally being impressed with their approach. That being said, I actually didn’t really know all that much background info about the company or its founders. Needless to say, I’m even more impressed now that I’ve read a little more!
Here is the interesting blurb from their ‘About Us’ page:
They met in high school. They were roommates in San Francisco. And one morning, in December of 1999, they had an idea. It was early, and Eric Ryan and Adam Lowry had set out on a quest for fresh snow. From San Francisco to snow is about four hours, so they had some time to talk.
Eric had experience in style and branding, and he mentioned that he was thinking about introducing design to the home care industry. And he just so happened to have met a talented local graphic artist willing to work for deferred pay. Eric also admitted that he had kind of a lot of cleaning products under his bed.
Adam was no ordinary friend. In fact, he was a chemical engineer from Stanford University with a degree in environmental science. As soon as Eric began to talk, Adam realized that he could use his expertise to create naturally-derived, biodegradable formulas for the beautiful products Eric had in mind. And method was born.
Anyway, congrats to the men of Method. Keep up the great work!
It’s always nice to hear about people finding some value in our posts here on the blog. I must admit to being a bit of a feedback junkie – even if people want to provide us with critiques, I am more than happy to receive them with open-arms since such feedback can only help in the long run.
While we certainly can’t hope to win everyone over, we do aim to appeal to as wide an audience as possible. I know I can let my ‘inner goofball’ get away from me at times, but hopefully our more informative posts help to balance things out.
…EcoSherpa has a post on solar panels made from blueberries. The site in general contains a number of excellent posts and really serves as a news source for edge-of-the-envelope sustainability news. They also link to a new site that could be promising, The Better World Homepage. I’d love to see how this one develops.
Well we certainly appreciate the kind words, and do enjoy offering up some interesting and unusual green news bytes whenever we can.
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While I have everyone’s attention I guess it wouldn’t hurt to make this into a bit of a Sherpa News post.
1) First of all, I’m sure some of you have noticed the absence of Steve (aka “Sherpa”) for the last little while. Just so you know he is still alive and kicking, but happens to be extraordinarily busy with work projects at the moment. We should expect to hear much more from him in the new year. In the meantime I (“Sherpa #2″) am more than happy to hold down the fort.
2) You may have also noticed a couple new links to our EcoSherpa Squidoo Lens popping up in various places. Be sure to have a look if you haven’t checked it out in awhile (or at all). It’s coming along reasonably well and I hope to add more to it in the near future. I think it will be a great place to post some of the notable resources we come across (and blog about), and it also provides access to our EcoSherpa Flickr gallery (which at the moment is focused solely on my winter composting activities).
3) We are planning to launch an EcoSherpa newsletter before too long (probably early in new year) so keep your eye out for that. Aside from keeping everyone up to date with general Sherpa news, we hope to get to know our readers a wee bit better (and thus be able to provide an even better resource over time), and also will be periodically releasing a full-fledged newsletter (with graphics and longer articles etc).
4) Also stay tuned for some new websites from yours truly. As you can probably tell I’m pretty passionate about composting. While I enjoy sharing that passion on the EcoSherpa blog, I certainly don’t want to dilute our overall theme with too many composting-related posts – so I’m going to put together some smaller sites dedicated solely to the topic.
Ok, well I think that’s about it for now. As per usual, feel free to get in touch if you have any questions/comments/suggestions/requests.
It’s been a little while since I last provided updates on my ‘winter composting extravaganza’ so I figured today was as good a day as any!
Truth be told, I haven’t even been out to the bin in a number of days so I really wasn’t sure what to expect. One major development since my last post has been a major retreat by Old Man Winter – a mild spell for the last week or so has resulted in all the snow melting away.
What’s interesting is that temperatures in the bin were somewhat cooler than expected the last time I took measurements (last week) – many zones having dropped to the 10-15 C (50-59F) range. I guess that’s the trade-off when you use heaps of snow as insulation around an outdoor bin.
Temperatures seem to have increased once again – many readings from today were in the 20-30 C range (68-86F), with some zones even hotter than that. This probably explains why I found quite a few worms in the upper layer of leaves, even though conditions were fairly dry in this region.
Another potential indicator of high temperatures was the congregation of thousands of springtails along the underside of the lid and in the upper layer on leaves. For those of you unfamiliar with springtails, they are a tiny fungus-eating invertebrates often found in areas rich in organic matter, such as forest leaf litter. They tend to be very common in composting bins (both indoors and outdoors) and certainly shouldn’t cause concern (I even have a small ‘pet’ population of these critters in the rich soil of one of my tropical houseplants).
Another interesting organism which seems to be doing very well in the bin these days is some form of slime mold (I think). It’s presence seems to be linked to the rise in bin temperatures since I only started noticing it when things went thermophilic on me a little while ago. It seems to be doing very well once again – as you can see in the picture above, it has spread onto the old door mat that’s been sitting at the top of the bin.
I decided to add some water today so as to cool things off and provide a little more moisture for the worms in the upper layer of leaves. I am however trying to avoid this practice as much as possible since we have very thick clay soils and I suspect my hole in the ground (below the bin) will become a lake of compost tea by spring if I’m not careful.
Anyway, that’s all for now. Hopefully before too long winter will test my skills a little more than it has been.
Note: The Winter Composting Extravaganza has moved to a new home. To catch all the latest winter composting action be sure to check out the Compost Guy Winter Composting Page.
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