Dog Sweater/Recycling

Here's a picture of Clyde, my littlest dog, in a sweater that I made last week. He seems to like it.

Just read that last year Southern Oregon University, located in Ashland -- where I live -- was named among the EPA's top 20 "green" schools.

The students purchased "green tags" from Bonneville Environmental Foundation -- these green tags fund sustainable alternate energy generation. Of course, the cost was extra for the students, I believe between $6 and $20. But they were willing to do it. Also, they worked with the local sanitary and recycling department to place recycling bins in each residence hall, and began practicing zeroscaping -- something I've always wanted to do. Essentially, it means using low-water use native plants in your landscaping...you maintain the natural look of your geographical environment while you beautify. I'm hoping that this practice will be mandated or incentivized in the future; rolling green lawns are one of the top wastes of water in areas that simply don't have the resources to sustain them. Living in Los Angeles last year when wildfires were raging and Mayor Villaraigosa was calling for responsible water rationing because we were in the midst of a terrible drought anyway, the sprinklers would still pop on in the morning. I just kept thinking 'Do we really need a lawn that much?' Plus, when you zeroscape correctly, your water and electricity bills drop exponentially. Here's an SOU webpage with links suggesting ways to green up.

Which reminds me: that local sanitary and recycling company (Ashland Sanitary and Recycling) has a special programs section that is as comprehensive as anything I've ever seen. Plus, they are running all of their trucks on Biodiesel from Rising Phoenix Organics, which is where I get my fuel. Back in 2007, when I was working for EnergyRushTV, we did a couple of stories on Ashland Sanitary and Recycling which were never released. Risa Buck, a coordinator there, let me on to an amazing program that they had recently begun at the time. She told me that it's commong for the average recycling center to cart recyclables sometimes hundreds of miles to the nearest repurposing plant (for example, for a long time they had been toting everything up to a center just south of portland -- that's about 250 miles worth of fuel just to complete the recycling). AS&R had worked out a plan to take their glass and locally grind it into aggregate that could be used to create road beds or give blacktop paint its reflective quality. While (as of 2007) they were still sending their plastics up north, the glass was all being dealt with locally -- and even better, it was being reused through a process that burned far less net energy and fuel than carting it so far away. It's worthwhile to mention that Ashland Sanitary and Recycling is privately owned -- which I believe has made sustainability easier to come by for them. They haven't had to negotiate the red tape that's inherent within publically funded agencies or wade through the bureaucratic processes of local government. I would recommend their site as a reduce-reuse-recycle resource in general (plus they sell compost and bring in adoptable dogs from the animal shelter that you can meet when you're down there doing your part).

--Nellamity Jane

Thank you!

Friends,

Thank you for the outpouring of support for the new blog. It meant a lot to me that so many of you are passionate about this subject.

Dave asked some great questions in an email, and I'd like to begin to talk about those, and open up the discussion -- if you know more (or more accurate) information, I gladly accept corrections or additions.

First, are some harmful biodiesel emissions more abundant than those of even the oldest crustiest diesel?

I checked with the National Biodiesel Board's website and with the EPA's section about Biodiesel emissions (click on the link, and then scroll down to the bullet entitled "Draft Technical Report, A Comprehensive Analysis of Biodiesel Impacts on Exhaust Emissions, October 2002 (PDF)" -- the findings are mixed, although there is a general consensus that CO2 emissions were unidentifiably different from those of Diesel (looking at a B20 blend), and that NOx emissions were actually a bit higher (again specifically for a B20 blend):

Emission impacts of 20 vol% biodiesel
for soybean-based biodiesel added to an average base fuel
Percent change in emissions
NOx.........................................+2.0%
PM...........................................-10.1%
HC...........................................-21.1%
CO...........................................-11.0%

So, as the volume of biodiesel increases, several toxic emissions are reduced, and at least one (NOx -- which is a generic term for a group of gases made up of both Nitrogen and Oxygen in different concentrations) rises. The in-depth report also points out that emission impacts varied depending on the type of biodiesel (animal fat, soy bean, rapeseed were the tested types), as well as the type of conventional fuel to which the biodiesel was added.

Again, this is just an opening of the discussion -- there is much more to be said and debated. For instance, in areas like San Pedro, where the cancer rate is astronomically high, would it really be beneficial to implement a new fuel that puts out more NOx? Maybe not...there.

"So, how can we get off foreign oil AND prevent more accumulation of toxic gases?" Dave queried.

Clearly, Biodiesel is not the cleanest alternative -- but for those of us who can't afford to go electric yet, it's a good start (in my opinion), if only because, as the National Biodiesel Board points out:

"Biodiesel is the first and only alternative fuel to have a complete evaluation of emission results and potential health effects submitted to the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) under the Clean Air Act...These programs include the most stringent emissions testing protocols ever required by EPA for certification of fuels and fuel additives."

And again, I think it would be wrong to put faith in biodiesel as the 'magic solution.' But at least we know what we're getting into -- we have the numbers, and at this point we can work to offset (I don't necessarily see the practicality or definite measureability of offsetting, but I think it's a principled notion) Biodiesel emissions if we wish.

Damn, I've written a lot, and left little room for knitting news. Chris, up at the top is a picture of some baby booties that I made up to sell in a local children's shop. My "company" (haha) is called Nettell -- and I will post information about the genesis of that whole shebang soon. The pattern is modified from a Debbie Bliss creation called "Snowflake Booties" in the Debbie Bliss book Baby Style.

Hope you'll comment!

Best,
Nellamity