Photo via Earthfirst It could, according to an agency charged with monitoring and assessing it. A Climate Wire report notes that the North American Electric Reliability Corps is worried that the aging US electric network may have a tough time handling an influx of energy from new sources—energy that would have to be monitored and transferred in entirely new ways. So, even though Obama…

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Will Renewable Energy Outrun the US National Electric Grid?

Photo credit: Patrick McDonnell/King Features Syndicate The state of our planet isn’t funny business, but dozens of King Features’ cartoonists will be inking the change they wish to see in the world for the comics syndicate’s second annual Earth Day event on April 22. Among them is Patrick McDonnell, the creator of the popular comic strip Mutts , which appears in more than 700 newspapers and 20 countries and was hailed by Peanuts creator Charles Schulz as “one of the best comic …

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Yesh, "Mutts" Cartoonist Patrick McDonnell Makes Every Day Earth Day

Composting is a way of utilizing microorganisms to break down and decompose organic matter.  The unique benefits of composting include a reduction of waste needlessly going into landfills and the production of a free stable, organic soil amendment that can’t be beat.  Many people compost their yard waste and kitchen scraps, but there are many other materials that are generally thrown away that could easily be converted into compost and given back to the soil instead. Hair and Nail Clippings (images via: klauspost , madaise , dvdmerwe , recyclethis , aprillynn77 , joeshlabotnik , nightrose , massimobarbieri , skychen ) Human hair is a rich source of nitrogen and can be added to a compost pile or bin.  Likewise, fingernail and toenail clippings can also be composted if they are free from all nail polish.  If you happen to use peanuts to keep your toes apart during a pedicure, you compost those as well.  Some people claim that in addition to being great for the compost, human hair in the garden helps repel deer that can quickly demolish treasured plants. Beer, Wine and Brewery Waste (images via: t-loe , sondyaustin , roblisameehan ) As unlikely as it is that you would have any beer or wine going to waste, if you did, it could be added to the compost.  Wine can also act as a compost “starter,” and spur the bacteria in the compost to get to work.  If you brew your own beer or make wine, the waste products from these processes can also be beneficial to the composting process. Vaccum Cleaner “Dirt” (images via: dnamichaud ) When you sweep or vacuum your floor, sofa or keyboard, most of the “dirt” you pick up is usually comprised of crumbs, dust, hair and similar debris.  Instead of emptying the dustpan or canister into a wastebasket, it can be put into your compost bin, barrel or pile.  Any synthetic fibers that may be picked up will not decompose during the composting process, but they won’t hurt the compost either and can be sifted out later if you wish. Cotton Balls and Cotton Swabs (images via: afiler , sundazed ) Used cotton balls and cotton swabs can also be composted.  To be sure that your cotton balls and swabs are suitable for composting, check the packaging to make sure they actually are made of cotton, rather than synthetic fibers.  Cotton is a natural substance and makes a wonderful addition to compost, but if you use synthetic “cotton balls” for makeup application or in caring for an infant, they will not decompose in the compost bin. Used Paper Towels, Tissues, Paper Napkins and Toilet Paper Rolls (images via: nickgray , cr01 , chanbliss , tudor , osde-info ) Paper products that you use every day and generally toss in the garbage could be composting in your backyard, rather than sitting in a landfill.  These items, including the cardboard cores and packaging can ad bulk to your compost.   If you have allergies and use a lot of tissues, they can all go in the compost.  If you have a cold or other type of viral infection, it may be best to consult a medical professional before composting them.  Composting used tissues is a controversial issue.  While most cold and flu viruses do not survive for long outside the human body, the jury is still out on composting tissues used during an illness. Dry Pet Food and Pet Hair (images via: punkrockkitten , sparkyd , rsgranne ) If you have pets, you probably have a readily and continuously available supply of compostable materials at your disposal.  Any dry pet food that might go to waste makes an excellent addition to compost and can kick start the process into high gear.  You have surely noticed that your pet sheds a lot too, and all that pet hair can go into the compost as well.  Alternatively, in the early spring, you may want to leave clumps of pet hair and dryer lint in bushes near your home to provide native birds with nesting materials. Dead Flowers (images via: calevans , rustyboxcars ) When a flower bouquet has seen better days, it can still be put to good use.  While no longer fit to provide fragrance or home decor, these dead flowers can complete the circle of life by becoming compost to feed the soil, which will in turn feed the next generation of blooms.  Nothing lasts forever, but dead and dying cut flowers can live on by going through the composting process. Seaweed and Kelp (images via: dbaron , thomasroche , cat-and-dragon ) If you live near a body of water, you can collect seaweed and kelp to add to your compost.  Avid gardeners often use seaweed and kelp to nourish their plants, and by adding them to your compost you are increasing the nutritional value of your end product.  Compost enthusiasts have been known to drive great distances to harvest these materials, all in the name of better compost. Unpaid Bills and Shredded Paper (images via: uzvards , oddharmonic ) Junk mail, bills you don’t intend to pay, magazines and other waste paper can be shredded and added to your compost.  Paper is an especially good ingredient during the spring and summer months when carbon-rich dried leaves may not be readily available.  If you have a cat, he or she may be willing to do your paper shredding for you, otherwise you can shred it by hand or use a commercial paper shredder to speed up the decomposition. Halloween Pumpkins and Bales of Straw (images via: bdesham , simonashley , N08 ) After Halloween, there is usually an abundance of jack-o-lanterns on the curb for trash pick-up.  Pumpkins decompose fairly quickly and are an excellent source of nitrogen for compost.  Fall decorations also often include bales of straw, which can also be used as a carbon-rich ingredient in the compost pile. Roadkill (images via: anticiv , ndanger ) It is always sad when an animal is struck and killed by a vehicle.  Even sadder is when they are allowed to remain in the road where they are repeatedly run over, or cause an accident as drivers attempt to avoid hitting them again.  It may take a hardcore composter to stop and pick up roadkill, but if a compost pile is at least 3′x3′x3′ in size, small animals can be given an above ground burial and become part of the composting process.  In agriculture, when a larger animal dies, there are often large-scale university or state composting programs available to dispose of the corpses. Green burials for humans are also becoming more of a mainstream option.  While human bodies are not composted in the traditional sense, green burials do not rely on concrete vaults or embalming chemicals.  The bodies are simply placed in a biodegradable casket and buried in an area that remains as natural as possible.

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22 Things You Didn’t Know You Could Compost

Why is Pamela Anderson supporting the beef industry? Need more reasons to hate junk email? Want to spice up your Earth Day? Today’s Eco-Beat has got the scoop on all sorts of awesome green news and tips. Pamela Anderson to Perform at Cabaret/Steakhouse! Pamela’s a major PETA supporter and once called Jessica Simpson a whore for wearing a pro-meat shirt . So, I’m wondering how an appearance at a trendy new Upper East Side beef emporium gels with her anti-meat politics? Spam Sucks … Tons of Energy In addition to being incredibly annoying, spam emails are now so pervasive that creating, sending, and deleting all of these messages gobbled up as much energy as 2.4M American homes last year. Want to Meet Leonardo DiCaprio? It’ll probably cost you an arm and a leg, but Global Green is holding a charity auction and one of the items up on the block is a the “Experience with Leo” — a glorified photo op at the premiere of his next flick. Have an Ecorotic Earth Day A sex shop called Good Vibrations is giving away a collection of sustainable sex toys for Earth Day. Don’t get me wrong, Earth Day’s a great holiday, but it could definitely benefit from more sex appeal. Kelly Ripa Launches Eco-Friendly Washer and Dryer Electrolux and Kelly have teamed up to release a set of “Kelly Green” energy-saving washers and dryers for Earth Day. Don’t know if it works with your laundry room motif, but they’re literally bright green . Green in a Flash: Toronto may require buildings be retrofitted with a green roof . It’s moving season, so is it greener to rent a truck or use your car ? Yamaha is testing golf carts that run on cow dung — because that’s practical, right? Eco-Beat, 4/16 originally appeared on Green Daily on Thu, 16 Apr 2009 15:00:00 EST 0. Eco.  Green | Green |  Linking Blogs  | Green

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Eco-Beat, 4/16

To some, environmental damage might sometimes seem like a distant, long-term issue. Not in India.

Over 1,500 farmers in the Indian state of Chattisgarh committed suicide after being driven to debt by crop failure due to plummeting water levels, the Belfast Telegraph reported today. “The water level has gone down below 250 feet here. It used to be at 40 feet a few years ago,” Shatrughan Sahu, a villager in one of the districts, told Down To Earth magazine “Most of the farmers here are indebted and only God can save the ones who do not have a bore well.” …

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Crop Failure Drives 1,500 Indian Farmers to Suicide

In celebration of Earth Day 2009, several major broadcast media outlets will air green-themed TV programs. Fox Broadcasting, NBC and Nickelodeon will participate in the event that will include on-air graphics and informative segments about going green. The Today Show is just one of several NBC programs that will feature episodes on going green for Earth Day 2009. Photo: Herobags.wordpress.com Media Daily News reports that Fox will kick off its “Green It. Mean It” series on April 19 and will run through Earth Day. The theme is based around reducing the network’s impact on the world’s climate by becoming carbon neutral by 2010. In addition, Fox.com will host a sister site that will feature “Green Tips,” which will also be published daily on social networking sites such as Twitter and MySpace. NBC is also another major network that will dedicate air time to their Earth Week. Starting on April 19 with the Miss USA pageant, NBC will air more than 150 hours of eco-friendly programming across its 40 on-air and digital brands. This will include a four-part series called “Future Earth,” which will air on MSNBC. This is NBC’s second annual Earth Week. Lauren Zalaznick, the Bravo network chief and head of the NBC Universal Green Council, tells the Associated Press that the network does not “shy away” from environmentally friendly efforts. Zalaznick also says NBC isn’t stopping their green efforts after Earth Day. The network is already working on two other “green weeks.” “This is about awareness,” she says. “Nobody argues that picking up garbage is not a good idea, or recycling your cell phone is not a good idea.” Younger audiences will have an Earth Day outlet as well. Nickelodeon has also scheduled green-themed episodes of The Wonder Pets, Olivia, Wow! Wow! Wubbzy!, iCarly and Yo Gabba Gabba! The programming will depict real kids actively participating in Earth Day and improving the environment. But the coolest thing Nickelodeon will do is ask kids to unplug their games and gadgets for 60 seconds on April 22 at 9 p.m. Nickelodeon is also encouraging kids to take action with its new program, The Big Green Help. Designed to promote more than 500 local grassroots Earth Day events, the program will support school and local organizations with sustainability projects. The network will accept applications online from April 22 through Dec. 31.

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Major Broadcast Networks Go Green for Earth Day 2009

Photo by Jaymi Heimbuch In all the hubbub of Earth Day, it’s easy to get caught up in land-bound activities and conservation, and forget about the oceans. But here is one announcement that the oceans will particularly be thankful for. The United Nations, after 16 years of tabling it, have finally made June 8 World Oceans Day. …

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United Nations Officially Makes June 8 World Oceans Day

A new study by Dalhousie University in Canada sheds light on an alarming threat to marine life and plastic debris. The study looked at the necropsy reports of more than 400 leatherback turtles, finding plastic in the digestive systems of more than one-third of the mammals. Plastic bags were the most prevalent finding, though balloon fragments, fishing lines, spoons and candy wrappers were among the other materials found. The leatherback turtle is a critically endangered species, with approximately 25,000 nesting females remaining. It is their main diet of jellyfish that caused scientists to focus on the traces of plastic in their systems. Mistaking the increased amounts of plastic bags drifting in the currents for drifting jellyfish is causing the leatherbacks harm. Turtles often mistake plastic bags for their main diet, jellyfish, due to similar appearance and movement in ocean currents. Photo: dep.state.fl.us The recently released Ocean Conservancy report , A Rising Tide of Ocean Debris and What We Can Do About It , found that plastic bags accounted for 12 percent of all marine debris collected during their 23rd annual International Coastal Cleanup. Plastic bottles and plastic caps and lids were also prevalent at six and eight percent respectively. Synthetic materials have replaced organic materials as the most common component of marine debris in recent years. Plastics, for example, are often light weight and highly bouyant, allowing them to travel far distances with ocean currents. According to the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), “Marine litter is one of the most pervasive and solvable pollution problems plaguing the world’s oceans and waterways.” A simple solution to the plastic bag issue is, of course, reusable shopping bags. Although plastic bag recycling is on the rise , the majority of the EPA estimated 90 billion plastic bags used in the U.S. each year are not recycled. An increased awareness of the effects of plastic bags have caused many states and countries to implement plastic bag related legislation . For example, when Ireland levied a fee on each plastic bag used by consumers, single-use plastic bag consumption dropped by 90 percent. Many retailers, like Ikea and Whole Foods, have made great strides in reducing plastic bag consumption by consumers. A Canadian supermarket was able to divert 328 million pounds of plastic bags from landfills in 2008. With reusable bag use, Loblaw Companies Ltd. aims to divert more than one billion plastic bags and 70 percent of store-generated waste from landfills.

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Plastic Bags a Major Problem for Marine Wildlife

One of the growing environmental topics, proper disposal of consumer electronics, will be at the forefront of many Earth Day celebrations as local communities, retailers and electronic recyclers are offering free e-waste disposal events. In anticipation of Earth Day 2009, several companies are sponsoring nationwide electronics recycling programs. Photo: PCC.edu Earth Day 2009 will celebrate the launch of a brand new processing facility in Atlanta. Tampa-based ViaTek Solutions is celebrating the opening of its second processing facility with a week of free electronics recycling at both locations. The event will run from April 20-24 and covers all personal electronics. Baltimore County is holding a free electronics recycling event at the Immaculate Conception Parish in Towson, Md. on April 25 for electronics other than TVs, and will supply tax donation receipts. In Compton, Calif. electronics manufacturer Belkin is sponsoring a free e-waste recycling day on April 25 at Lueders Park. Belkin will accept everything from TVs to computer cables. IKEA stores in Carson and Covina , Calif. will accept electronics for free on April 26, with participants receiving two free energy-efficient compact fluorescent lamps. Panasonic is using Earth Day 2009 to add 30 new Southeast U.S. drop-off sites to its MRM Recycling program. This means there are now 310 drop-off locations covering all 50 states to drop off Panasonic electronics for free recycling. Many states have addressed the issue of e-waste with laws banning them from landfills. In some cases manufacturers and retailers pay for recycling programs. On the other hand, consumers may have to cover the cost through a disposal fee paid at the point-of-purchase . For those who don’t live in one of these participating areas, there’s always takeback programs through retailers like Best Buy and Staples .

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Electronic Recycling Options Increase for Earth Day 2009

Coal is the undisputed leader in dirty fuel sources. But beyond the issue of global warming/climate change (burning coal is the number one source of the greenhouse gas, carbon dioxide), coal-fired power plants also release dangerously high levels of sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxide, mercury, arsenic, lead, carbon monoxide and hydrocarbons into the atmosphere, creating environmental hazards both near the plants (i.e smog, respiratory complications, fouled water from coal-slurry impoundments), and far from the plants (i.e acid rain, mercury pollution in rivers and oceans, etc.). And that is only the burning of coal, to say nothing of the mining and transportation of it. Generally speaking, the older the plant, the more polluting it is, but the type of coal burned also plays a significant role determining the amount of CO2, SO2 and other pollutants released into the atmosphere. That said, some coal plants are dirtier than others: R. Gallagher – Indiana, USA (image via Bill Alden ) As one of the older plants on this list, Duke Energy’s Gallagher Generating Station is also one of the dirtiest. Located along the banks of the Ohio River in Floyd County, Indiana, Gallagher stores coal fly ash in ponds on the banks of the Ohio River. But the relatively small 600-megawatt Gallagher station made the list mostly because it emits 50,819 tons of sulfur dioxide (SO2) annually—a ratio of about 4o pounds per megawatt-hour—the highest of any plant in the United States. Kraftwerk Niederaussem – Bergheim, Germany (images via Wikipedia; WWF ; davipt ) Owned by Germany’s RWE Niederaussem is consistently one of the largest sources of CO2 in all of Europe. Even though the plant saw its emissions drop by 20 % to 24.9 million tons in 2008, the 3800 megawatt plant burns dirty and inefficient lignite (brown coal). Vast lignite mines in Germany , like the one pictured above, have swallowed entire villages and large swaths of fertile farmland. Scherer Power Plant – Juliette, Georgia, USA (image via © Roy Tenant ) At 27 million tons of carbon dioxide annually, the Robert W. Scherer Power Plant is the single largest point-source of CO2 in the U.S.. Scherer is owned and operated by Georgia Power, which also owns the Bowen Plant. Scherer burns through an average of three train-loads of coal per day – coal hauled in from Wyoming’s Powder River Basin, 1,800 miles away. At any given time, BNSF has thirty-six different two-mile long coal trains somewhere on the ten-day roundtrip between Wyoming and Georgia. Taichung Coal-Fired Power Plant – Lung-Ching, Taiwan (images via 笨笨的小B ; PoYang_博仰 ) The 4130-megawatt Taichung power station is the world’s biggest CO2 emitter , with over 40 million tons produced in 2008. The CO2 emissions of the Taichung project roughly corresponds to the CO2 emissions of Switzerland. Belchatow – Belchatow, Poland (image via wikipedia ) Belchatow is arguably the largest coal-fired power plant in the world. Run by state-owned utility BOT Elektrownia, Belchatow emitted the most CO2 of any EU installation last year, pumping the equivalent of 34 million tons into the atmosphere; making it the second biggest coal-fired source of CO2 in the world. Kendal Power Station – Mpumbulanga, South Africa The 4116-megawatt Kendal facility in South Africa is the largest coal-fired power plant in the world. With an annual CO2 emissions of 26.8 millions tons, Kendal is the tenth biggest source of CO2 in the world. (images via Eskom ) Bowen  – Bowen, Georgia, USA (image via ERAU ; kenny42952 ) Along with the Scherer Plant, which is also owned by Georgia Power, Plant Bowen is consistently one of the top three emitters of CO2 in the United States. In addition to the 24 million tons of CO2 it emits annually, Scherer is also one of the bigger sulfur dioxide sources, emitting 206,442 tons of SO2 annually (it should be noted that while the total amount of SO2 produced has a relatively low ratio of 18lb/MWh, as compared to Gallagher’s 40lb/MWh). Hazelwood – Hazelwood, Victoria, Australia (images via drive ; SACC ) The WWF referred to Hazelwood power station as “the most polluting of all power stations operating in the world’s major industrialised countries.” Scheduled to be decommissioned by 2009 due to the exceedingly high volume of CO2 emissions from burning brown coal, a 2005 decision by the Victorian Government will keep the plant operational until 2031. Agios Dimitrios – Agios Dimitrios, Greece (images via M@nthos ) In terms of CO2 per Megawatt-hour produced, the 1595-megawatt Agios Dimitrios power plant in Greece is the dirtiest power plant in Europe. The lignite-burning facility was at the top (or bottom) of WWF’s Dirty Thirty (Europe). Drax – Selby, Yorkshire and the Humber, UK (image via TheWritingZone ) Drax provides 7% of the electrical power required by Britain. Drax is actually the most carbon efficient coal-fired power plant in the UK, even though it generates around 1.5 million tons of ash and 22.8 million tons of carbon dioxide each year, which just goes to show, even the cleanest of coal-fired power plants are dirty. (Article sources: CARMA ; WWF ; Environmental Integrity Project ; EIA )

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Clean Coal? 10 of the World’s Dirtiest Power Plants