The power of green goo

Germany debuts the first-ever algae-powered building. A residential complex in Hamburg, Germany, known as the BIQ House, has made its debut with algae as the main power source. It is a net-zero structure. Surprisingly, it only took three years to be completed.

Like fermented grapes? Like public lands and wildlife? You may have to choose…

Changing temperatures have cascading effects. Growing areas for wine-producing regions are in jeopardy as temperatures rise. Wine-producers from around the world explore alternate lands for vineyards. Not surprisingly, prime vineyard lands happen to fall in primo regions like the already densely inhabited Mediterranean or wildlife corridors of the Yellowstone to Yukon ranch land.

Why go hybrid when methane is cheaper?

Russia deals with “pain at the gas pump” by adopting natural gas cars which run on methane. Despite fears that cars will explode while using natural gas in tanks on cars, the savings is enough for people to install aftermarket conversion kits. One user reportedly gets 140 miles on about a gallon of gas, which costs him the equivalent of $3.80 in Russian rubles.

Honeybee in peril

Dramatic decreases in honeybee populations across Spain and the United States have prompted evaluation of the die-offs. Many signs point to the use of neonics, a class of pesticide that is widely used. However, disparities exist as honeybee populations in Canada and Australia – both countries that use pesticides – seem to be unaffected. Recently, a new Harvard Study was released and links widespread colony collapse disorder to a specific pesticide called imidacloprid.

Noble Discoverer by jkbrooks85 via flickr

Shell Oil to suspend drilling for 2013

Big news this week as Shell Oil Company announced the decision to suspend drilling in the Arctic Ocean for 2013. Give them some applause, if you’d like, for taking safety precautions, but hold off on the standing-ovation; they plan to resume drilling in 2014.

Big Food = Big Problems

Research by Oxfam America shows that big food companies like General Mills and Kellogg’s are “failing the poor.” This negative impact is a direct hit to their supply chains, which are made up of the folks in developing countries that supply the land, labor, water and commodities needed for production.

Shanghai, China adopting urban farming practices

Shanghai, China turns to urban farming as the city grows and demand for food rises. This is just one aspect of the Sustainable Urban Masterplan for Shanghai, which includes plans for vertical farms and community gardens.

Australia reef shallows at risk

Increasing evidence points to global warming as a major contributor to the impending extinction of the coral reefs. The Great Barrier Reef is “likely to pass critical damage thresholds in roughly 30 years” due to extreme changes in acidity and temperature shifts.

shore crab by Diving Ben via flickr

Crabs bothered by noise pollution

Did you know that ship noise affects crab metabolism? A study out of the University of Bristol found that reducing harbor noises may lead to higher yields per season, as there’s no evidence of crab adaptation in the form of noise acclimatization.

feature coral image: Great Barrier Reef by Phil Camill via flickr

Recycling means different things to different people. For some, it is second nature to separate every paper, glass, plastic, and aluminum item from regular trash. Others simply don’t bother. While many are familiar with the outcome of not recycling (haven’t we all seen images of the tortured waterbirds and sea turtles entangled in our waste?), how many of us really understand what actually happens with those materials we set aside to be recycled? Words like the “Great Pacific Garbage Patch” are enough to make us think twice about throwing away plastics numbered 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 7. But are our efforts really worth the trouble? How much of the stuff in the recycling bin actually gets recycled?

Recycling in New York City.

Both of us unquestionably, to a fault, separate every last piece of paper, cardboard, plastic, glass and aluminum. Shannon lives in New York City where she finds sorting and saving to be quite the undertaking. Real estate is not cheap, so excessive space for storing recyclables is generally not abundant. And since recycling is only picked up once a week in NYC, it begins to take up a lot of said real estate in the tiny space that Shannon can afford. Carolyn lives in a less urban area and consequently has more space for storing recyclables between weekly pick-ups. However, she still wonders just how many contents of her recycling bin actually get repurposed.

After contemplating this issue, we realized how many gaps we had in our knowledge of something we so wholeheartedly take part in.  So we started to ask the “hard questions.”  What actually gets recycled? Does that recycling actually have a quantifiable impact? Since we didn’t know the answers to these questions, we wondered if there was a better way to disseminate this information to the public.  When Shannon tried to research the issues locally, the results were utterly overwhelming, and she’s an environmentalist – imagine how the average citizen must feel!

We intend to tackle the recycling questions mentioned above, among others, in an upcoming recycling series on the blog. What are some of your recycling questions and concerns? Are you familiar with the specifics to your area?  Hopefully these and many other perplexing questions will be answered.

Shannon and Carolyn are self-diagnosed recycling addicts and look forward to demystifying the process together.

Photo by Dattodesign on Flickr

Have you ever wanted to compost your food scraps but felt limited by the size of your home or lack of local resources?If you live in Washington, DC you have options like Compost Cab or Fat Worm. If you live in Maryland, your options for residential composting largely depend on what you can do at your home.

Some folks like vermicomposting, which uses Red Wigglers (Eisenia foetida) or Red Earthworms (Lumbricus rubellus) to break down food into fertilizer. Vermicomposting kits come small enough to set up in your home, and Treehugger details several options available for urban composters.

However, if worm composting won’t work for you and you don’t have the space to have an outside bin, you are at the mercy of the service range for metro DC composting companies. And the services require a $ub$cription, to haul away your organic waste. It’s all for the greater good, so many people do not hesitate to pay if they cannot compost at their residence. But if you live in an area outside of service range, if you do not have a backyard, and if you have a small apartment, your organic waste goes into a landfill.

One of the challenges is availability of facilities. The Maryland Department of Environment has shut down Maryland facilities, and new restrictions and regulations have stalled openings of additional sites in the region; the closest facility to the Maryland and DC region is in Delaware. However, demand for commercial and residential composting continues to rise, so Howard County, Maryland began a pilot compost program fall 2012. Details about the small scale effort serving Elkridge and Ellicott City, MD can be found on their public works page.

Perhaps someday we will have a city-wide weekly compost pickup like Portland. For now, I look forward to the day when I can either compost at my residence or send my organic waste to a composting facility.

Do you compost at home? How does your city handle composting?

Carolyn is a graduate from JHU’s AAP ESP program. She’s passionate about sustainability, good food and getting outside.