Ecocritique Blog

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ecocritiques — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 14:30:11 +0000

Masdar, The “Greenest” city on Earth?

ecocritiques — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 21:45:50 +0000

Masdar, United Arab Emirates

This photo may look like something on the planet of Tatooine out of the Star Wars’ movie saga, but it is actually a rendering of what the city of Masdar may look like here on Earth. Masdar is a concept city that some obscenely rich Arab oil Sheiks are planning to build just outside of Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.

The plan is to create and maintain the worlds first 0 carbon city. That is, once the building is finished. Its impossible for these guys to build the city without the use of fossil fuels, but it seems to be a step in the right direction for now. Once the city is online no cars will be allowed (++), and according to the plans any vehicles will have to park in a climate controlled car park on the Al Reem island near by. I wonder if the city officials will have special parking for non polluting vehicles like camels and horses.

The parent company in charge of this creation is Mubadda Development Corp. They have a significant world presence ranging from oil to holding a sizable chuck of Cargill Corp. which is an U.S. based company. The city will truly be an international city by taking the best museums from around the world and creating not just sister museums, but the largest of them. Located within the city will be a Louvre designed by Frenchman Jean Nouvel. This branch of the famous french museum will be a whopping 24k sq. meters featuring natural sunlight throughout the building.

Jean Nouvel's vision for the new Louvre

Not to be out done by the Frenchman, Frank Ghery is planning to create the world’s largest Guggenheim museum in the city.

The new museum will be based on the design for the Guggenheim in Bilbao, Spain, but will be much larger and more technologically advanced than the one in Bilbao. The new museum is slated to be finished by 2012. Its body will be wrapped in titanium just like the other buildings that Ghery has done in recent years and, will prove to be a real work of art itself I’m sure.

Frank Ghery's new Guggenheim design

: Tadao Ando’s maritime museum design

No city would be complete without a full on Maritime museum built by Tadao Ando.

The museum features a reflective coating, ship-like decking inside, aquarium, and a grand reception hall. All of these features will combine to blend the museum in to the seaside surrounding and emulate the natural landscape of Masdar.

Enough of all this fluff. Its time to get to the nitty gritty about how this city intends to accomplish its goals of zero waste. The city plans to power itself with a gigantic 300 megawatt photovoltaic array built by Solyndra of California. This co. claims to be producing cells that are 40% more efficient than the most efficient cells offered today. In addition to the PV array, wind farms will be erected to harness the winds from this seaside city. These same winds will cool the city by being channeled through the heart of the city in between wind towers and the closely placed buildings. Most of the construction materials will be local hopefully, but that remains to be seen. Other American companies will prosper from the $250 million invested in clean tech. Companies like New Hampshire based Segway (Segways will be used as transport within the car-less city) and Pennsylvania based Enertech (makers of ceramic batteries).

Water for the city will come from a solar powered desalination plant and the city’s landscaping will come from reclaimed grey water.

Whats really interesting is the plans for a 500 MW hydrogen plant with BP and Rio Tinto teaming up.

Id like to hear about how they plan to feed all the people of the city and what they plan to do with all the trash. That remains to be seen.

So it seems as if the city is a bit of a prototype for the future. Multinationals working hand in hand to develop and implement new clean technologies. MIT is even starting a school of technology in Masdar with a former president of the University of Delaware at the helm. Lets hope that this new trend will truly benefit the world as a whole and not just become a green facelift for the oil rich of the globe. Obviously the dirty energy from oil cannot carry us into the future and the Emirates wants a jump start on the new clean energy market. Companies like GE and the people behind Masdar are only thinking of how to make the transition from dirty to green while green is the new black.

72 story Tameer tower

Eco-Porn alert!

ecocritiques — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 05:28:18 +0000

The subject of Eco-Porn is not one that every citizen of earth has heard of. They should however know that Eco-Porn is blurring the reality of whats Eco-Friendly. It seems that sex coupled with the environmental cause has made marketing execs realize the cross merchandising capabilities of this new porno. Sex always sells, and everyone loves the environment right? Some do the duty better than others. Isabella Rossellini is good at what she does. She is getting squiddy with it on the Sundance Channel http://www.sundancechannel.com/greenporno/.

Isabella Rossellini green porno

Her DIY props and sense of humor make me more aware about her and wildlife. Some groups like the crazy Norwegians at http://www.f*@kforforest.com/side-meny.html ( this is NSFW). They are pulling off their clothes to pull off their version of environmentalism. Its stunning! They have donated well over $100k in the last year to preserve culture and nature in Central America. Specifically Costa Rica. Costa Rica is a likable place. So if these people wanna do porn to support the environment whats so wrong about that. As long as some youngsters don’t see it prematurely. Pam Anderson is doing her thingy in a thong for her new clothing line MUSE, and it’s just in time for NY fashion week.

Pamela’s new Swimsuit line MUSE

Is the clothing made in the U.S.? Or is it shipped Thousands of miles just to be sold? Some clothing companies claim “Made in the USA” or “L.A” but, the yarn, fabric, and dye all come from Korea or some other country. Truth is that if we made it domestically we could probably stimulate this economy. The question we must ask ourselves is… Is sex really obscuring what is truly green and what isnt? Or does the natural form of the human body always mean what it’s mouth is saying is true? Beware of the scantily clad beautiful people out there selling something as green that is really x-rated. Not everything you see out there is what it seems, and I encourage you to look beyond just the physical realm when pondering the environment. Don’t get “greenwashed” by the ad. execs and marketing fiends.

This green porn washed up on my screen http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sDI2mR9ohIs. How “Green” can this night club Club4Climate be? If anyone has been there let me know. Who thinks that CNN does a lot for the environment? Who do you think pays their bills? Finally here we have AC360 and Mr. Jeff Corwin who seem to be getting along rather comfortably in this 2007 presentation of “Planet in Peril”. Nuff said!

CNN Eco-Porn

Bar Surya's Eco-Club ad

Club4Climate ad With Danielle Lloyd

Don’t let sensationalism over ride your better judgment on what organizations to support.

Be wise and vigilant when it comes to your planet.

Sources:

Grist.org

Treehugger.com

Wired

Sundancechannel.com

nypost-se.com

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Everglades restoration: U.S. Sugar buyout/Ethanol plant proposal

ecocritiques — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 04:47:56 +0000

Sept. 25th is the deadline for a deal to buyout U.S. Sugar Corp, and restore 187,000 acres of Everglades wetland. The deal has a rock bottom price of $1.75 billion dollars that will be paid to U.S. Sugar for the land. In return for the $9,358 per acre paid by the Water Management District Floridians will get the satisfaction of knowing that the land will eventually be restored to its original state in time. That is, after U.S. sugar gets off the land in 2016. U.S. Sugar has worked a leaseback into the proposed deal for $50 per acre until 2016 rolls around. That means business as usual for the next 6 years. The state will get approx. $56 million from the leaseback over the span of the 6 years and U.S. Sugar has agreed to pay an additional $25 million for clean up of all the fertilizers and pollution they have dumped into an area the size of 3 Orlandos.

U.S. Sugar planned buyout map

Conservation and restoration of the land is critical to the survival of Florida as we know it. Growing up here in South Florida makes me especially interested in the deal and its progress. The deal has some bitter sweet qualities attached to it. When I found out that there is a proposed Ethanol plant that might be worked into the deal I thought to myself this may be the reason why the price of sugar has just gone up from 18 cents to 18.5 cents per pound. This new breed of Ethanol is made from the sugar cane bagasse. It was pioneered by a University of Florida professor named Lonnie Ingram. In this new technique Ingram uses a genetically engineered form of E-coli bacterium to aide in the harvesting of the sugars from the cell walls of the sugar cane. This new process is much more efficient than other means of Biofuel production. However, some are concerned that despite the advances in the extraction process the Ethanol is a pig when it comes to H2O.

ethanol plant

Other Ethanol plants have been known to consume up to 400,000 gallons of H2O per day. Where will this water come from? The same everglades we are trying to protect and restore. Assuming that if Governor Crist has spent upwards of $20 million to research this Sugar based ethanol project it is here to stay. Word has it that Florida Power and Light may be running the Ethanol plant.

Now about Ethanol. Ethanol is no more efficient than regular gasoline. In fact its less efficient giving less MPG than traditional gasoline. It can ruin the engines in boats because it releases resins, gums and debris in the fiberglass tanks found in boats. In addition to this the Ethanol breaks down old fuel lines meant for old school gas adding to the problem.

We need to be investing in cleaner versions of fuel for our cars. Fuels like hydrogen and electric power are the key not Ethanol based garbage.

I urge you to write you congressman and tell him or her what you think about this.

Reading= Richard Weiskoff’s “The Economics of Everglades Restoration”

Sources=

Carboncapture.us

Cristian science monitor

Treehugger.com

Chinese Drywall infecting U.S. homes

ecocritiques — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 22:08:35 +0000

Residents in homes across the U.S. are filing suit with the U.S Consumer Product Safety Commission over the use of Drywall from China. The suits include residents from 24 states and Washington D.C. The drywall from China has a different texture and is gray in color compared to other drywall. People exposed to this new menace have experienced “acne, asthma attacks, bloody noses, congestion, coughing, dizziness, ear infections, eye
irritation, fatigue, gastrointestinal problems, hair loss, headaches, hives, irritated eyes, joint and muscle pain, nausea, nosebleeds, phlegm, rashes, runny nose, shortness of breath, sneezing, sinus problems, sore throat, tightness of the chest, trouble breathing and urinary tract infections.”(chinesedrywall.com) None the less, it seems as if the material in question is still being used and can cause damage not only to your health but your home as well.

What can we do to stop this? If you are building a new home or having a renovation done tell your contractor NOT to use Chinese drywall. If they do, have them remove it and replace with new drywall from the U.S. or another reputable source.

Here is a link to the EPA’s study on the subject

http://www.chinesedrywall.com/files/drywall_sampling_analysis.PDF

Sources:

Palm Beach Post

Chinesedrywall.com

EPA