The City of Ottawa is embarking on a consultation process on changes to its solid waste management plan. This is a good thing, but only if the implementation options are right for the community. In my opinion any solid waste manangement plan must encorporate and respect the following principles: Waste must be handled as close […]
Category: Recycling
What’s with the wind every recycling day!
It is spring again and the problems with wind on recycling days becomes more and more obvious as the snow recedes. Here is a piece I wrote back in 2012 that discusses my exasperation with the wind-blown litter each recycling day. Source: What’s with the wind every recycling day!
Why Tesla’s battery for your home should terrify utilities
Originally posted on On the River 2009+:
Elon Musk’s electricity empire could mean a new type of power grid http://www.theverge.com/2015/2/13/8033691/why-teslas-battery-for-your-home-should-terrify-utilities
What the heck is an Earthship? … maybe an idea whose time has come!
Have you ever heard of the concept of an “Earthship“? I was introduced to the concept by my brother-in-law about 14 years ago and was blown away. What is an Earthship then? In a nutshell, an Earthship is an Eco-friendly home, made predominantly from recycled materials, designed to be as close to “off-grid” as possible.
The concept of Earthships arose in the halcyon flower-power days of the 1970s in various states in the southern USA. The concept seems to have developed by Michael Reynolds, an architect from New Mexico. As you can see in the linked Wikipedia article, his idea was not without problems, but it was, none-the-less revolutionary. Michael has a website where he educates about, demonstrates and promotes the Earthship technology. The site has designs for a number of systems that an Earthship needs if it is to meet code (see figure 2, below). Continue reading “What the heck is an Earthship? … maybe an idea whose time has come!”
A better way to recycle plastics? Mike Biddle replies to questions and comments about his 2011 TEDTalk
This is a follow-on article to Mike Biddle’s excellent video on new ways of dealing with plastics recycling. In this article (originally published on the TED.COM website, Mike responds to a number of questions that arose from his original TED talk. He deals with the thorny issue of getting the waste to one of the […]
The Story of Change : a new video from the makers of the “Story of Stuff”
This video is all about empowerment. It is all about acting on our commitments…to the environment, to social justice, to each other. It is about supporting our government’s initiatives for becoming a “World Class Regulator“. As with other “stuff” video, this one makes its point in the same clear logical fashion, taking us from being […]
What’s with the wind every recycling day!
Have you every noticed, that it is almost always windy on the nights when you have to put out your paper or your plastic for recycling? My house is at the end of a long street that parallels the direction of the prevailing winds and you should see my front yard on recycling mornings. What a mess. […]
Gourken's Brain Dump (more of a trickle actually) 