Joyce Rouse's website itself is not intended to answer the questions a
specialist might have. It would take you only a few mouse clicks and
keystrokes to pose these questions to the environmental groups to which
she provides links. If they respond, you have your answers. If not, you
have justification for posing rhetorical questions to an empty debating
chair.
When I was Assistant Dean of Men at Crown College in Minnesota, I helped
form a student organization to study conservation and alternative
energy. Our investigation of solar, geothermal and other options for the
college came up dry, and we doubtless wasted time and paper. However,
our efforts prompted the college to add extra insulation to a student
housing unit they were building, which has probably paid for itself
several times over by now.
Payback time is a valid question which is taken into account by
responsible environmentalists and conservationists. Total cost is a
concept which should receive more attention and which might help family
farmers and cut back on direct mail advertising, for example. Our city
of La Crosse incinerates appropriate solid waste for electrical energy,
which I understand has some advantages over recycling.
Vandergraaf, Chuck wrote:
>
> The link that Dan supplied is, unfortunately, not the type of information I
> would be looking for. Rather than supplying a list of links to
> environmental groups, what I would want to know, for alternatives, are
> answer to, at least, the following questions: 1),what is the TOTAL cost to
> the environment of your proposed alternative and 2), what fraction of the
> TOTAL required demand can be met by your proposed alternative.
>
> Let me use solar power as an example. What are the costs, financial and
> environmental, of producing the photovoltaic panels (including the energy
> required in production of the silicon cells, handling and disposing of the
> wastes generated in the production of the panels), how much real estate is
> required per MW generated, what is the upkeep (how do you keep bird poop,
> dust and debris from the surfaces of the solar panels and what are the risks
> in doing so, e.g., workers falling off the panels and being injured or
> killed), what is the expected life of the panels, how does one recycle them
> or dispose of them (and what is the environmental impact), etc. Once I have
> these data, I'd want to know how much of the demand for electricity would be
> supplied by these panels, whether they could be used in urban areas or only
> in rural settings, and under what weather and climatic conditions they can
> be used. For example, in Yellowknife, NWT, or Fairbanks, AK, solar panels
> are not much help in the winter! Even along the west coast of BC, there are
> often long periods of rain.
>
> The same calculations need to be done for wind power, biomass, etc. Only
> then can we determine if these alternatives are economically and
> environmentally viable. Yes, I know that environmentalists will point at
> government incentives to oil companies and the displacement of aboriginals
> due to hydro-related flooding, but these costs can be quantified. I also am
> aware that we can do a lot by using passive solar heating, increase
> insulation, and plant trees to decrease a dependence on air conditioning.
> However, even the cost of increased insulation needs to be factored into the
> equation and the costs and risks of the disposal or recycling of insulation
> material must be taken into consideration.
>
> I did not find anything at all like that on the Joyce Johnson Rouse's home
> page and I don't have the time to chase after all the links.
>
> BTW, note the following statement taken from the home page that Dan refered
> to: "But with all the traveling, concerts, speaking and activist work I'm
> busy with, I won't have time to keep up with monthly Earth Mama Club
> issues." This is a recurrent problem I have with environmentalists: I
> simply don't see how "all the traveling" contributes to the "sustainable
> technology" that environmentalists espouse. Not that I'm opposed to
> traveling, but it seems to me that, because we are depleting our fossil fuel
> resources, travel and sustainable technology are incompatible, unless that
> travel is done by human or animal power. I hope I'm wrong and invite
> anybody to show me the fallacy of my statements. Maybe, if
> environmentalists can show convincingly that their "spreading the word"
> saves more energy than they use in traveling around, they may have a point.
I'd rather have my elementary students singing Joyce's songs than the
Back Street Boys, Britney Spears and worse they might otherwise sing.
One of her refrains goes, "So buy a little, use it a lot, and only take
what you need." I'd rather hear this message than that of former
President Reagan's Interior Secretary James Watt, who said something
like, "We don't need to conserve the environment because the Lord will
be returning soon."
BTW, I forgot to give my own horn a little toot. The following song
appears on my cassette "Challenges: We Need Each Other." It happens to
be printed on "recycled" paper with no plastic wrapping, and with
address changes inked in. Details are available off-line.
Dan Eumurian
USE IT AGAIN, SAM
Words and Music by DAN EUMURIAN
Chip your plastic jugs and melt them down.
Give that worn-out tire another round.
Save some cardboard, glass and dirty oil.
Mulch your leaves and grass to build the soil.
REFRAIN
Use it again, Sam. Use it again, Sam.
Now is the when, Sam. Use it again.
Take the daily news that you have read.
Clip and file the best of what was said.
Bundle up the rest and have it shred.
Insulate the roof above your head. (To REFRAIN)
There’s a double reason to recycle all that you can.
What you don’t need to buy new won’t clutter your land.
In the race for raw materials, youll get a jump.
Then you’ll save some more by extending the life of your dump.
If you’re going to use aluminum cans,
Let a smelter take them off of your hands.
Separate the treasure from the trash.
The day of resource waste is about to pass. (To REFRAIN)
© 1992, Come Thru Music Co., BMI
on “Challenges: We Need Each Other” cassette
1634 Barlow St., La Crosse, WI 54601
Tel. (608) 788-8637
hope4you@CenturyTel.net
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Tue Jul 18 2000 - 12:48:40 EDT