Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with environmentalism

What's the best way to teach 8th graders about soil salinity?

bigspoon — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 14:23:20 -0800

What is the best way to demonstrate to 8th graders the issue of soil salinity as well as showing ways to prevent or reclaim salinized soil? I'm attempting to come up with a lesson plan for 8th graders that would educate them about soil salinity and ideally get them to come up with a creative plan to combat it at least on a small scale. I've read mostly about ways to desalinize using irrigation but if anyone knows about plants which can be used or any other methods that would be even better. The school is located in Lakeview, New Orleans so resources that deal with salinity in humid areas would be helpful. Lesson plan/ educational style resources would be best but really any information on the subject would be appreciated.

Spiritual/Temporal concens and questions about veganism.

Tchad — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 11:47:36 -0800

How does one reconcile vegan principles with environmental concerns? A number of vegan friends (some of them are actually Jains) lead wholly vegan lifestyles to the best of their abilities. This means in addition to dietary restrictions: no leather or suede, no silk, etc.

Not being a vegan or vegetarian myself, I am curious about something that runs through my head and I want to wrestle with a bit:

If one is avoiding all animal products, they will probably be using man-made products. Vinyl instead of leather, polyester or rayon instead of silk, and so on. I am thinking functionally, perhaps not ideally.

It seems to me that these choices are more demanding and detrimental to the environment and to humanity in the long run because of the industrial process and carbon footprint that goes along with their manufacture.

I also wrestle with the environmental impact as it relates to the distant future - My leather soled dress shoes if left on a hill-top will be dirt in 100 years. My vinyl dress shoes with a rubber sole will not.

I know that living naturally is possible with hemp, bamboo, cotton, ramie, and so on, but I am also trying to think about functionally living in urban areas and what is available (for example: bamboo fabrics are expensive as yardage and it seems a poor vegan would be more likely to buy a few yards of poly knit for $2 a yard than bamboo for $15)

So here is my question - does anyone have any links or references to this? I am not looking for the meat packing industry's position paper on why vegans need to be force fed Black Angus, nor am I looking for a vegan paper that declaims the plight of factory farms.

I want something broader and more scientific or thought out. I am curious, but not looking for points to argue to convert folks one way or the other.

Personally, my own outlook is that one should not abuse their position on the food chain or place in the world, but rather take care of it by living well. For me this means that I do not gorge on meat, never allow plastics in my life if I can help it, recycle what I can, buy used if I can find the same thing or better, and in general try to be thoughtful about my own place while balancing out what the future impact is on humanity and the earth.

I also understand that I may be incredibly biased in the way I have framed the question in my own mind. It just keeps popping up as I go through the thought process.

What I am not looking for: Fun-making of vegans or vegetarians or anti-meat rants. I know I probably don't need to say that here, but I usually avoid talking about this because people feel so strongly one way or the other. Vegans (and especially Jains) get 100% respect from me because of the discipline and effort their lives take.

I am sincerely trying to figure out what information is out there from an environmental living-with-the-earth perspective. Is this something that vegans think about but decide the spiritual payoff is worth the cost of the process? Is this something I am off the mark about?

Thoughts? References? I need to educate myself about this so I know what compromises I am willing/need to make for my own life.

No more humans

wigglin — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 15:27:59 -0800

What is the name of this environmentalist group which aims to rid the world of humans? The group's leader promises to never have children, as he views humans as being incompatible with a healthy environment. I don't think the group is particularly popular, but it did attract some news coverage a few years ago. I remember reading a critical article from the Economist, which I can't seem to find now as I've forgotten the name of the group. Thanks in advance!

What more can I do to help the environment?

Zarkonnen — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 15:11:40 -0800

I recycle, cycle, take the train, eat nearly no meat and don't buy useless stuff. But I know it's not enough. What can I do about environmental/consumerism issues that goes beyond that but doesn't involve chasing whalers on a tiny boat in the Sea of Japan? I'm especially interested about answers for things in the UK, but I'm academically interested in international things too. So far, I'm looking at no2id, MySociety.org and its tentacles PledgeBank, TheyWorkForYou etc. Google searches have yielded the Guardian's "Get Involved" page, this guide at OneWorld and Wikipedia's page on anti-consumerism. MetaFilter itself has yielded 350.org. All in all, a fairly good haul.

But given the Hive Mind's great insight, I thought I'd also ask directly.

Note that the answers will eventually get digested and blogged about. Given the rather abstract nature of a lot of the pages above, I'm most interested in practical advice of the form "write letters to x", "go to y on Thursday afternoons" or "start a local z group".

Friedman's Free Trade Environmentalism Paradox

destro — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 11:59:47 -0800

Does Thomas Friedman actually believe that Free Trade and Environmentalism can coexist? Or are they mutually exclusive beliefs of his? And if so is there a theory behind it? I always assumed they were inherently incompatible, seeing as it forces countries to not put environmental restrictions on the goods they import. He seems to advocate both free trade and environmentalism very heavily, and I wasn't able to find much criticism of him for this in a cursory search.

Compact Florescent Lifespan

mccarty.tim — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 07:51:49 -0800

My family's been wanting to upgrade to compact florescent for years, but we've always found they burn out quickly thanks to our flaky power surges. Would dimmable bulbs be helpful, or is there some sort of inexpensive power conditioning that can be added to light sockets? My family tries to be environmentally friendly, but we've yet to completely switch over to compact florescents. This is because our most used rooms, like the kitchen and the living room, have a lot of power surges on their circuits, thanks to things like the air conditioner and refrigerator coming on, and possibly surges from the power company itself. For our electronics, we use surge protectors, and they definitely extend the life of those items. Is there a way I can add this to a lightbulb socket without much work?

Also, our local hardware store has finally started carrying dimable lights. This is a boon to us, because the contractor who built our house seemed to love dimmers. However, I'm wondering if because dimmable lights are made to tolerate voltage changes, can they also handle a few quick power surges/brown outs? Would we be smarter to get dimmable lights for our regular sockets than trying to deal with power conditioning?

Also, we're worried about hiring an electrician, as we don't have much money free at the moment. There is probably something not quite right with the wiring in the house, but it seems to only hurt kitchen appliances not on surge protectors and florescent bulbs.

PS: We tend to stick to big brands, like Sylvania and Philips. The cheap ones seem to die way faster.

Liberal-minded statistics?

jitterbug perfume — Fri, 02 May 2008 04:13:00 -0800

My boyfriend needs to find some statistics for a research paper. Specifically, pro-vegan, pro-environmentalist, anti-war, or other such statistics. Preferably all gathered in one place. We need hard facts - in the vein of those presented in "Diet for a New America" by John Robbins (for example, the statistics involving the water and grain used to feed livestock and how that detracts from feeding third-world starving nations) - but more current. As far as anti-war, looking for things such as the cost of war per day compared with what America as a country puts towards education and/or environmental issues yearly, etc.

I'm trying.

DenOfSizer — Sun, 23 Mar 2008 08:05:31 -0800

I've tried making my own seltzer - and it just isn't happening. So which is the least bad environmental choice, drinking it from 1 L bottles or aluminum cans?

What every environmentalist's home needs

Anonymous — Fri, 23 Nov 2007 13:44:47 -0800

Eco-friendly gifts for an increasingly devoted environmentalist? My partner's birthday comes a few days after Christmas, which means December is the month I need to come up with all the gifts ideas I can. Her interest in environmentalism and sustainability has really skyrocketed in recent months and I'd like to get her gifts that go along with this. She's also very become extremely anti-plastic -- she has been moving to replace most of our plastic containers with glass containers and repurposed glass bottles.

To give you a sense of the sorts of things I'm thinking about, one thing I'm considering is a composting bin. Flowers and indoor plants for the home would be another. I know she's very interested in bamboo furniture. But I'm hopeful there are great, eco-friendly gift ideas out there that only the wisdom of the crowd can provide...

How to improve our efforts to winterize our drafty, old apartment?

tempest in a teapot — Tue, 09 Oct 2007 10:47:04 -0800

Are there more affordable, non-permanent things we can do to winterize our apartment? This will be our second winter in our ground floor apartment in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia. Last winter was mild compared to average winters, but we still froze. We try to keep the thermostat set no higher than 15C (for environmental and financial reasons), and we wear proper, Canadian winter clothing inside. Hats, fingerless gloves, long underwear, everything! And it was still too cold to manage.

The steps we took last year:
•caulking around all of the windows and sealing them with plastic
•draft dodgers at the bottoms of both doors
•weather-stripping around both doors
•uncovered the windows during the day to allow passive heating, then covered them at night for extra insulation
•used the oven and hot pots of water to warm up the kitchen

We have forced-air heat, and when we jack up the thermostat, it does warm the place up— for about an hour.

Our building was originally a dry goods store built sometime in the 1880s or '90s, so we know there's no insulation. One of our exterior doors is really a hollow-core interior door. Our storm doors and windows are ancient and warped, and we can't convince the landlord to replace them.

We do all the right things, but our oil bill was still astronomical, and as I said, we weren't warm. We don't want to suffer through another winter— what can we do?

Green Buildings in London

kookaburra — Sat, 11 Aug 2007 09:52:06 -0800

Where can I find a list of office buildings in and around London that are "green"-certified? LEED (the U.S. equivalent) has great lists of their certified buildings online, but UK organizations like their Building Council, BREEAM, and AECB are being difficult. Help!

Household chemicals versus organic cleaning products

padraigin — Wed, 02 May 2007 10:23:50 -0800

Help me figure out the true environmental impact of using household chemicals such as vinegar and baking soda versus using ecofriendly commercial products. In the interest of keeping our toxins low and our house clean, I'm thinking of switching entirely to using things like vinegar, salt, baking soda, and borax to clean with. Right now I'm also using up the various commercially produced cleaning products we have on hand, but I like the results I'm getting with the vinegar and other items.

But it's all leading me to wonder: what exactly is involved in producing the giant jug of Heinz or store-brand white vinegar I'm buying? What is the environmental impact of producing a box of baking soda or borax? By using these products, am I supporting the industrial farming/mining/chemical industry in a way that using a "green" product like Seventh Generation would not?

It has occurred to me that the household chemicals can be purchased in bulk, where I might not have that option with some random organic cleaning spray and would thus be continuously purchasing plastic containers that have been shipped from who knows where. And after reading "The Omnivore's Dilemma" I'm not as married to the idea that organic is better, but do things like white vinegar and baking soda even exist in an "organic" form? And is it better to support a company that manufactures organic or ecologically sound products, or to support a company like Heinz or Arm & Hammer?

I kind of get the feeling that there are pros and cons to either choice, but I'd like to make an informed decision before I run out of Pine-Sol. And it's not like I can just go to the farmer's market and buy a bushel of locally mined fair trade borax and call it a day.

Wind power from utility poles?

jacobjacobs — Wed, 28 Feb 2007 08:49:16 -0800

Would it be feasible (/cost efficient) to put small wind turbines on existing utility poles to generate power? I've tried googling this idea but I can't find anything specifically about the subject. It seems as if a windy location could have small wind turbines designed to put atop existing utility poles and feed back into the grid, eventually becoming profitable (?).

I've discussed this idea w/ some semi-knowledgeable folks and understand some of the difficulties (eg, getting back to the grid for each), but I'd like to ask here for a general discussion. With the NIMBY outcry being a major deterrent, simply adding a small windmill to the already ugly utility poles may be acceptable. Personally, if I drove into a town w/ this I'd want to move there, but that's just me.

Or, is this happening anywhere?

Who are some nonviolent political pranksters?

Phred182 — Sat, 21 Oct 2006 01:38:20 -0800

Please tell me about some nonviolent political pranksters I might have missed. This Salon article (ad view required) got me thinking about monkey wrenchers and pranksters. My own username comes from an impressively dopey movie in the same vein. The
Ebert review led me to The Fox, an environmentalist prankster active in Chicago in the 1960s and 70s. He doesn’t have a wikipedia page, but he did have Mike Royko. Maybe there are others who are only known regionally, or have otherwise been slighted by history. Any suggestions?

I’d like to learn more about nonviolent, ideological, political pranksters. I’ve seen this thread. N.B.: I’m not interested so much in college pranks, as there’s already a definitive—and unnecessarily beautifully written—book on the subject.

They don't have to be environmentalists, and I've seen the Yes Men.

Green Printer?

eustacescrubb — Wed, 11 Oct 2006 08:22:13 -0800

I'm trying to find an environmentaly-friendly and/or socially responsible printer. The printer needs to have a reputation of turning out high-quality product and should be able to accept Adobe suite (InDesign/Illustrator/Photoshop) files via the internets.

Environmental blogs

salvia — Tue, 22 Aug 2006 11:49:17 -0800

What are good environmental blogs? I'm looking for something with community-generated content, like Daily Kos or Metafilter, but with an environmental focus. I know of some, but I haven't found one that really is what I'm looking for. (Googling "environmental blog" gets me nothing much.) Can there really be nothing like this out there?

Does recycling increase resource extraction?

Citizen Premier — Wed, 16 Aug 2006 22:21:04 -0800

Does recycling aluminum cans reduce the market price of aluminum? If so, could that possibly cause mining companies to have to mine more aluminum to maintain the same profits? Does anybody know enough specific details to say if there's a connection? Has aluminum mining gone down with the rise of can recycling, raised or stayed the same?

I'm an enviromentalist! Yes, that is my Suburban.

Anonymous — Mon, 01 Nov 2004 12:43:01 -0800

Is it possible to drive a big gas-hog SUV and still be a good environmentalist?

Can anyone recommend some good environmental blogs?

Ufez Jones — Mon, 14 Jun 2004 20:38:08 -0800

Can anyone recommend some good environmental blogs? I know about the Sierra Club's Daily Scoop and the Daily Grist, but what else should I slap in my bookmarks?