Are mushrooms the new plastic?

Eben Bayer, is a co-inventor of mycobond, an organic adhesive that turns agriwaste into a foam material for packaging and insulation. Eben Bayer says he has a new organic recipe for a packaging material that protects fragile things from being damaged while in the box. A new age, 100 percent compostable Styrofoam. It is not made up of all the chemicals that Styrofoam is, or the "toxic white stuff", as Bayer puts it.

Eben Bayer took the hard facts of how bad Styrofoam is for the earth and all its habitants. He states that twenty billion dollars is spent every year on making things out of Styrofoam, from surf boards, coffee cups, to table tops, packaging material for just about everything we buy that comes in a box. According to the EPA, Styrofoam eats up about 25% of all landfills. Styrofoam does not go away, it will be around for thousands of years after use. It may be broken down into tiny microscopic pieces, so we cant see it, but we are breathing it.

He helped invent a new type of packaging. This packaging is made from mushrooms. It is completely compostable, does not cost any more to make it then Styrofoam, and only uses 10 percent of the energy to make than that of Styrofoam. The process of making this new packaging material takes about 5 days, but the mushrooms do most of the work. Mycobond is created by using natural growth process of fungus call mycelium. It is produced from crop waste like seed husks, seed husks and mushroom roots, (which bind the food scraps as they eat them). Again the foam is organic and compostable.

Material can be used as:

-fire retardants

-Insulation

-packaging components

Although the Internet dubs it to be catching on quickly, I feel as though its not quickly enough. If this new material is not toxic, completely compostable and cost as much to make as regular Styrofoam, then someone should start spreading the word and making it mandatory for companies to use this new mushroom packaging.

Green Schools in Indonesia

I had the pleasure of watching a clip about a green school in Bali Indonesia by CO founder John Hardy. This Idea put into motion is giving students a relevant, holistic and green education in the most amazing environment on the planet.

Their classrooms are made of bamboo, in which have no walls, so the students feel the breeze as it passes through. The black board are made of bamboo, this school is nested on 20 plus acres of rolling gardens. There is a community built around this school, houses in which are also green houses. All food in this village is organic, are picked and harvested by the children themselves. This school also has, Compost toilets. This beautiful school is all built by hand.

I think this is the best idea I have seen so far in building a greener future, by shaping the minds of our future. Giving children a new way of thinking, we are on our way to a cleaner more greener, sustainable future.

http://www.ted.com/talks/john_hardy_my_green_school_dream.html

POO-GLOOS, Where does your waste water go?

Gresham, Wisconsin, a small town of 600 is experimenting with their wastewater. Right now all of the wastewater is drained off into a "lagoon where there's bacteria, or bugs if you want to call 'em, that eat at the waste and they take and turn that into oxygen and get rid of all the sludge and heavier materials." Says Art Bahr, the Town Administrator.
The problem is that in the cold winter the bacteria in the lagoon doesn't work as fast at breaking down heavier materials. So the folks of Gresham have been experimenting with a Poo-Gloo. The Poo-Gloo or Biome is made up of seven small domes (figure 1) inside one big dome. Between them is a plastic material thats a fixed film technology. This basically increased the surface area in a warmer environment (biome) for bacteria to thrive and convert waste. The wastewater enters through the bottom, and after the bacteria remove harmful materials, the water drains out the top.
The town currently has one Poo-Gloo that is in an experimental phase. According to Bahr, the town will need thirty four of these Poo-Gloos dispersed between two ponds to handle the towns 275 utility consumers. At five thousand dollars a Poo-Gloo thats around $325,000 with installation and technology updates.
But whether it is cost effective or not, the Department of Natureal Resources is very interested in Gresham's experiment and how it can be used through out the midwest.



Figure 1

We generate a lot of waste as humans, especially modern American humans. I think small towns taking the initiative to find a better solution to pollution is 100% American Awesomeness. The cost of these little crap-shacks is 5000$ a piece. I don't know how long they last but the podcast said that, if they are maintained they should last for "many years." well for those kinda clams you'd wanna get your money out of it. I don't know if the 325,000$ start up cost for 275 utility costumers is reasonable or not. there are a lot of other questions this brings to mind. Who flips that bill? What is the alternative to Cold Weather Biome Lagoons? septic systems? How clean is the water that comes out the top? Can one household have their own biome lagoon? is a biome lagoon system better than septic? Are community wastewater treatment systems better than a residential system? how can we reduce waste altogether?

Waste is not going away, Waste is an integral part of American society, American as McDonalds apple pie. Waste is a product of humanity, and how we make it, deal with it, through it out, flush it down, is connected to our daily behavior and practices. HOW CAN HUMANS KEEP UP WITH THE WASTE WE GENERATE?

To check the podcast out yourself go to: http://www.loe.org/shows/shows.htm?programID=11-P13-00005#feature6

Is a grassroots movement enough to change the conventional food system?

Our conventional industrialized US food system is at the core of pressing issues such as food access/security, obesity, and widespread pollution. It is simply unsustainable.
The locavore movement is an attempt to transform our current food system by promoting urban farming for the most part. Here are a few examples:

• Detroit, which has lost a third of its population, could be home to 10,000 acres of arable land in deserted urban neighborhoods, and create up to 35,000 jobs connected to the food economy.
• West Oakland CA lost access to fresh food as white residents moved out and the neighborhood became predominantly black; as a result, the rate of child obesity rose. Today, there is urban gardening, a food coop, and farmers markets thanks to grassroot efforts.
• Re-think, a New Orleans group led by engaged students, has vowed to change food in public schools. As a result of their efforts, school gardens have been established and sustainable practices have been introduced in the kitchens and cafeterias.

Food is political and our food system clearly reflects our values as a society. Shifting our entire system towards a more sustainable model entails profound changes in our society. While all these projects are encouraging, I think they are almost anecdotal. Change from the bottom-up might take a very long time to reach a critical mass. But we are facing pressing issues such as food security and obesity that, it seems to me, require immediate attention and action. I don't believe that regulatory changes at the federal level would be effective, but perhaps at the state level where there could be less partisanship and more focus on problems to solve. I am thinking about the Farm-to-Plate initiative in Vermont as a model to drive change. Maybe I am a bit naive though...

*Post is a response to Going Locavore show*

pure convience

Water is a some thing the world will need forever. Sustainable use of water is key for the future. I have been doing lots of reading and research on the change of use of the water. It has always been that 80% of the water in the US has been for agriculture. The issue become what is needed to be produce that is water intensive. An example of this is the tar sands in Canada it would only be possible to get the oil for it with out water. The logic of using something as important as water on extracting oil. The documentary liquid assets hit a lot of important points http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bu0S3tp66Rg&feature=channel . There is nothing to switch to when there is no more water. People all over the world have been looking to water as an income source but finding that no amount of water in the world can be equal to a water supply. With more and more people going with out water it will be interesting to see what will be the optimum path to a global solution. If it will be government policy or capitalistic market policy, only time will tell.

ArborSculpture, A Primer: An Alternative to Milled Lumer

I had a Tough time getting the formatting to work right in Blogger. Here is an embedded frame; And if that doesn't work a direct link to the Blog Post.

https://docs.google.com/document/pub?id=1jSH4_BqDlNXiPv7kNNf0dpmEUIakDyhlN-QV_31EItg

Green Guide

David Suzuki is a Vancouver, Canada native and attended Amherst College in Massachusetts receiving his B.A. and received his Ph.D from the University of Chicago in Zoology. He has created the David Suzuki foundation in which he states they work with the government, businesses, and individuals alike to conserve the environment. 

“Our mission is to protect the diversity of nature and our quality of life, now and for the future.” Suzuki states on his website that Canada is doing everything they can to remain on the path of avoiding dangerous climate change and is also taking the right steps to create a safe level of greenhouse gas emissions. One of the top priorities at his foundation is the issues of climate change, something in which Suzuki is very passionate about and has created controversy when giving speeches, encouraging people to find a way to prove what certain leaders are doing to harm the environment is illegal and sending them to jail. 

The foundation also promotes outdoor learning and encourages people, especially the younger generation, to learn what it is to live healthy and embrace outdoor living. On his website, Suzuki also offers tips of how to live healthier and what everyone can do to make informed decisions to decrease their environmental footprint. Among the website are tips to even eat sustainable seafood: “Eat locally caught or farmed seafood that shows up on the green or yellow lists on the seafood guides. This helps reduce the amount of energy used to provide seafood to your plate.” 

Suzuki also talks of illegal acts such as dumping mine tailings into freshwater to spread the word of how to maintain nature. A lot of his focus is on the environment and how to bring communities closer to their natural habitats. He also encourages people to take action for smarter regulation of chemicals in cosmetics. Although its becoming a trend to advertise natural ingredients in food, the topic of chemicals in cosmetics is something not mentioned as often. Overall, Suzuki’s foundation provides tips to live more sustainably and the importance of everyone becoming involved.