All the Muck That's Fit to Rake

All the Muck is a blog that will look at a host of issues: politics; rhetoric; environmental problems; education; social justice; urban planning (or lack thereof); music; sports; and the beauty of living one's life via simplicity and taking it easy.

Tuesday, January 30, 2007

Garbage to Energy: A Not So Modest Proposal

As this article in today's St. Louis Post-Dispatch shows, one corporation in the area has put forth a wonderful proposal on how to compete vs. Laclede Gas in Maryland Heights.

Link: http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/business/stories.nsf/story/EEECD8F117BB34C5862572730010DC4F?OpenDocument

This is a good example of businesses (Weber is one of 423 projects across the nation) taking advantage of natural processes for profit: taking something that we produce a lot of (garbage) and turning it into something we use a lot of (energy).

Huzzah.

Wednesday, January 24, 2007

Addendum on Global Warming

If you missed it (dated Jan. 3), here's an important statment by the Union of Concerned Scientists about the disinformation campaign about global warming waged by the oil industry, in particular ExxonMobil.

The link is to a short article, but you can also read the UCS's full report through subsequent links.

Link: http://www.ucsusa.org/news/press_release/ExxonMobil-GlobalWarming-tobacco.html

An Interesting Analysis of Last Night's Speech

A fascinating and sometimes snarky analysis..."The Semantic State of the Union."

Link: http://webtools.uiuc.edu/blog/view?blogId=25&topicId=504&count=1&ACTION=VIEW_TOPIC_DIALOGS&skinId=286

As expected, the president only addressed global climate change once, with the statement that "These technologies will help us become better stewards of the environment -- and they will help us to confront the serious challenge of global climate change." The US needs to address climate change supported by something more than a belief that technology will be our savior, the belief that technology will save us from the fact that most Americans are not strong stewards of the the environment because they are neither financially nor ethically compelled to be so. Fundamentally changing how we produce and use energy is needed.

His mention of raising CAFE standards is long overdue, say two decades overdue in fact, and part of the reason for that is because of the influence of American automakers, who have been soundly thumped by Japanese manufacturers for years. I support raising CAFE standards and strongly funding R&D of cellulosic ethanol, but changing the status quo in regard to smokestack pollution and energy plants is necessary.

And it's obvious that this administration doesn't want to harness market forces to reduce and regulate CO2 emissions. On Monday, a coalition of business leaders and environmental groups called upon the administration to address climate change in a comprehensive manner. Link: http://www.enn.com/today.html?id=12078

While Bush's speech had a few good but vague energy policy ideas on the surface, he's pretty much "staying the course" on the global warming and true change about our country's energy policies. From my eyes, the speech in this regard was mostly hokum and rhetorical gladhanding. But maybe Bush's lapdog Blair can introduce him to Sir Nicholas Stern and some change can come about?

Link: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/6096084.stm

Sunday, January 21, 2007

This Super Bowl should be renamed...

The Fragile Psyche Bowl: Manning vs. Grossman.

Although I'm an SEC fan, I rooted for both the 'Aints and the Pats today. The people of Nawlens needed that win, and I've been tired of Peyton Manning's histronics since he played for the Tennessee Viles.

Add the Manning lovefest that ESPN regularly pumped out or still churns out (repeated shots of Archie at Ole Miss games, NFL experts' man-crushes on Peyton) and add Peyton's overexposure via the relentless barrage of those damn commercials, and I'm pulling for the embattled Gator in this bout. And Chicago is by far a better city than Indy. No contest there.

Chicago wins.

Peyton never could beat a Gator. Just ask Spurrier.

Friday, January 19, 2007

Why No Love for McCain?

Various media reports state that McCain is the front runner for the GOP nomination right now. But from my conversations with some Republicans, they don't seem too overjoyed about the prospect of McCain getting the nomination.

So what gives?

McCain has cultivated this "maverick" persona over the past few years, but why do many Republicans seem so unenthusiastic about him? I've heard various comments such as these: "He doesn't rally the 'base.'"; "He's too old."; and "He's a grand stander."

Can anyone elucidate why there's no love for McCain?

Chase Utley...

You're not only a stud baseball player, but you also have your priorities straight.

Link: http://www.stopglobalwarming.org/sgw_marcher.asp?668915

This dude is definitely on my keeper list for my fantasy baseball team.

QBN

Thursday, January 18, 2007

To All You Drinkers of Bottled Water,...

you're getting duped. You've been scammed.

As the author Brian Howard in lays out in his article, "Message in a Bottle: Despite the Hype, Bottled Water is Neither Cleaner Nor Greener Than Tap Water," in the Sept/Oct 2003 issue of E Magazine, blind taste tests and extensive scientific studies have shown that the American paranoia about our tap water is unfounded. In fact, some bottled water is not as clean as tap, and the consumption of bottled water contributes to the unnecessary use of plastics (made by petrochemicals, by the way) while helping the bottled water distributors rack up massive profits.

And the contention that bottled water is "convenient" is a falsity too. How hard is it to buy a reusable bottle and fill it with tap water or tap water that's been filtered from your home? The bottled water manufacturers have been savvy in exploiting Americans' obsession with good health. Sure bottled water is better than soda/pop, but at what cost to your wallets/purses/man purses, and at what cost to our environment?

Add that to the fact that approximately 40% of all bottled water started as tap water (Howard p. 28), that bottled water is largely self-regulated (29-30), that the FDA doesn't have a full-time staff member who regulates bottled water (29), that the carcinogen phthalate can leach out of the plastic (30), that bacteria grows in bottled water when stored for a short time (30), that aquifers are being depleted at an alarming rate, and that the Container Recycling Institute "estimates that supplying thirsty Americans with water bottles for one year consumes more than 1.5 million barrels of oil, which is enough to generate electricity for more than 250,000 home for a year, or enough to fuel 100,000 cars for a year" while only approximately 5% of plastic waste is actually recycled (37), Americans need to seriously consider their consumer habit of buying bottled water.

Here's an article, "The Bottled Water Lie" by Michael Blanding, that provides a more recent take on this scam.

Link: http://www.alternet.org/stories/43480/

So don't buy into the bottled water lie.

Or you can simply keep scarfing down Aquafina (tap water from Wichita, among other places), Dasani (tap water from Queens, Jacksonville, among other places), Everest (tap water from Texas), Yosemite (tap water from the LA suburbs) with no eye toward to the future (Howard 34).

Enjoy.

I'm back...again...finally

You should expect some more regular posts (I promise, I promise), but for your viewing pleasure, check this out.

http://www.current.tv/pods/supernews/PD05222

Funny stuff.