Bio-Based Ideas

Over the last couple of weeks, I am noticing more media talking about the current droughts around the world.  PBS: I found this short video post from PBS revealing on what our kids will likely have to face:   ABC NBC (Note: This is the Australian NOT the American broadcast network): DW: If you can find America news outlets talk about this in detail, please let me know because in general the coverage has been lackluster.

I am now learning the new media format in this video about sustainability 1-step at a time.     

These are thoughts that I had on this topic. Fact: 1.) Burning of fossil fuels leads to release of CO2. 2.) CO2 is a greenhouse gas that leads to warming of the planet, and all of us are directly responsible through the burning of CO2. Therefore 480 gallons of gas releases 9600 lb of CO2 per year. Since we have to reduce our carbon emissions by a lot, why don't I arbitrarily ask if it is possible to reduce emission by 90%, that is go from 9600 lb of CO2/year to only 960 lb of CO2/year. We need a 10-fold improvement in GHG emissions reductions What are possible menu options one could chose from to get to this point? 1 .) Reduce the distance from home to work The fold improvement is a direct result of how much closer one can move to work. For instance, if one were to reduce the distance to commute to work by half, this would lead to a 2-fold reduction in GHG emisions. There are other side benefits of moving closer to work which include reduced car maintenance costs

I just watched this documentary together with my son and my wife. Different from David's typical approach of sparse objective commentary, this documentary movie is a personal witness statement that David Attenborough is making describing how our planet has changed in his life time. It's compelling, and urgent but still hopeful.   Please, watch this documentary and share with your friends so they get the message!

It has been too long since I posted here...There are 2 or 3 articles that I started but did not finish yet. Rather than start another well-researched post, I just wanted to quickly jot my thoughts down. Setup The other day, I finally started to address some of the concerns around my family house. The south facing side of the house (my in-laws room, and the room of my 2 sons) gets really hot in the afternoon. I do want the room to be cooler, but I also don't want to increase the use of the AC which is associated increased GHG. So the question was:  How do I increase comfort level without increasing AC use? The answer is something I applied to the previous house we owned. Since up to 50% of thermal temperature gain comes through the windows, it is to increase the shade to those windows via solar screens. Our house does have white internal shutters that do block a lot of light and heat coming into the rest of the room. But direct sun light heats up the windows themselves which then ra

I feel like this is the first time that David Attenborough has explicitly lent his voice to this topic. Although David Attenborough's approach has been much gentler sprinkling in a sentence or two alluding to the impact of humans on the world in other nature documentaries such as Blue Planet 1+2, Planet Earth 1+2 and the latest One Planet (available on Netflix currently), he is unequivocal in this documentary. His message is clear: 1.) Global climate change is real. 2.) It is caused by burning of fossil fuels in all aspects of our lives which produces carbon dioxide. 3.) Global climate change does not just impact remote areas. Poor countries will be disproportionally affected, all countries will feel the effects. 4.) The effects are happening NOW as shown through the disappearance of coastal areas in Louisiana, resulting actions by the federal government to relocate communities specifically listing climate change as the reason. 5.) Human-induced climate change will affect the