Thursday, July 19, 2012

Organic Clothing Saves the Ocean?

Home Activist Alert: Selecting Clothing Made With "Natural" Fiber Can Help the Ocean

According to a study released in the Environmental Science and Technology Journal, clothing made from plastic fibers can release alarming amounts of microplastic particles into your sewer, which then find their way downstream to the ocean, contributing to the increasing challenges microplastics are creating for ocean ecosystems, and also finding their way back to your body via seafood.

" “It seems obvious in hindsight that fibers are leaving clothes in washing machines and ending up in the waste stream, but it hadn’t been considered as a source up until this point,” said Kara Lavender Law, a research oceanographer at the Sea Education Association in Woods Hole, Mass. “This is eye opening.” "  (from "Discovery News," http://bit.ly/rmMnTF)

This appears to be a new category of "low hanging fruit" for the workaday environmental activist. Selecting clothing constructed of natural fibers not only tends to yield a longer-lasting and more comfortable wardrobe, it helps reduce the stresses that microplastics, dies, and hydrocarbon processing place on those ecosystems that they are located within. Your decisions can and do make a difference. Consider clothing made of 100% cotton, hemp, or wool. You may just find an easy and enjoyable way to help the environment!

Tuesday, July 10, 2012

Excerpt from the NYT:

 " “A country the size of the U.S. is almost never hot everywhere, all at once,” said Dr. Trenberth. The most significant thing about the NOAA climate report is that it tells of so many all-time records for heat being broken, he said, adding, how hot it is on a given day is not as important as the historical records that are being consistently broken [this year]."  "

It would appear to me that anthropogenic global warming is underway full force. My attention will be to the arctic permafrost and the gas hydrates frozen in the arctic sea bed. One positive economic benefit is that oil-from-tar sand, courtesy of your Canadian government's friendliness to the industry, will become cheaper as it will take fractionally less energy to melt through the filthy stuff. This industry, emitting alarming amounts of carbon right at the weakest point in the system, may have a measurable impact in the near future on the thawing of the north. The conventional science points to the movement of carbon-laden gases through the atmosphere as having important effects on climate, so I can't imagine this point-source pollution right in the vulnerable arctic can be a positive activity in regards to climate change mitigation.

Something I've been trying to remain conscious of, myself, is how much I'm running the AC. Fans are far less expensive to run, both in the amount of electricity used and the cost of your bill! I have a window fan that is nice and quiet right next to my desk, and it can do wonders for cooling down a room housing a computer and two monitors. Unless it pushes above 80 outside, I can be very comfortable with just the fan, so you can, too!
Deep Sea exploration leading to more than really cool videos: http://nyti.ms/L68oE1

Thursday, June 7, 2012

I'm looking for anybody with some helpful advice for an aspiring young writer. Please contact me!
The job market appears to be going through a bit of a rally! Economy shows signs of progress, check out the current events page: http://craigsphere.blogspot.com/p/current-events.html!

Wednesday, June 6, 2012


This is what you saw yesterday if you had viewing equipment for the transit. I didn't get to see it this near to sunset, but was able to clearly see the small dot of Venus imposed on the sun's disk. It was a memorable event that admittedly pales in comparison with our entertainment options, but thinking about the forces and speeds and size involved does give you a bit more appreciation of the event, I think.

The last time a transit happened, the Brooklyn Bridge was still under construction (I'm ignoring 2004 here, as it happens in cycles and I missed it then!). If you got to share this event with your family the way I did, you know how special a seemingly simple thing like this can be to our mundane lives spinning by on this tiny blue globe.

Tuesday, June 5, 2012

Completed the Move!

Hello again! I plan to begin developing this blog on a more routine basis. I am finally moved in and mostly settled in my new apartment not too far from The Winfield bar and grill! I am currently seeking a full time job near the Rochester, NY area in the Environmental sector, if at all possible; but am willing to move in order to be active in the industry (I'm actually looking at offers overseas, which is kind of exciting!). It looks like things are finally heating up after years of extremely hit-or-miss cold leads in the environmental industry; it looks like different firms are finally ready to take a chance on new professionals like myself, and I'm ready for it! I can't wait to put my writing to use on some real, new environmental issues or proposals!

I am interested in submitting a version of my Energy Independence essay to the New York Times, but I noticed that they ask for 750 words or less for the opinions section. I'm afraid I'm not quite sure if an opinion piece championing any sort of green industry would be received well even if it were published. I should probably stop worrying and just put together an opinion to be submitted with the essay in support, and I think I'm going to get to work on that soon. Any help or advice would be appreciated, also any suggestions for submission to lesser-known publications with a greater chance of seeing print would be fantastic! I'm afraid I just don't know as much about independent writing as I wish I did, I'm always looking for help!

I'm spending my free time outdoors and with my newest game, Diablo 3! I plan to catch the transit of Venus across the solar disc at sunset tonight, I'll be down at the Webster pier! Feel free to join me, I'll have a few pieces of welder's glass along to observe the sun with.