Daily Loaf

What’s the buzz on the latest issues in the Green Community? Check out what you may have missed this last week:

Fixing sprawl and redesigning suburbia- Grant Rimbey CNU explores a possible strategy towards improving existing sprawl. Fixing the sprawl that we have, along with sprawl demolition and recycling, are strategies that could be employed in the future as a new green industry.

Nation’s largest solar facility to be in DeSoto County by next year- Florida Power and Light is currently building the nation’s largest photovoltaic plant in DeSoto County, a $173.5 million, 25 megawatt solar generating facility.

Fresh: New Thinking About What We’re Eating screening – What’s wrong with the mega-industrial food industry- Struggling small farms, problems with food safety rules and the mega-industrial food industry, and a film about all of the above.
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Since 2006, one book has held a prominent position in my library, as well as my nightstand because of its eloquence and forthrightness. That book is E. O. Wilson’s The Creation: An Appeal to Save Life on Earth.  Environmental books have become as ubiquitous as Florida strip malls, so its position at the top of my all time greatest list (not included in this article) shouldn’t be taken lightly. It’s a small book, which can be easily finished in a day, but it’s packed with such insight that its hard not to refer back to it. It has been my inspiration when I have strayed on past ventures in sustainability and good stewardship of the planet. In fact, many of my dinner guests have been subjected to readings from its pages.  So, I begin my article/commentary/blog in the same vain with an excerpt from the book.

According to archeological evidence, we strayed from Nature with the beginning of civilization roughly ten thousand years ago.  That quantum leap beguiled us with an illusion of freedom from the world that had given us birth.  It nourished the belief that the human spirit can be molded into something new to fit changes in the environment and culture, and as a result the timetables of history desynchronized.  A wiser intelligence might now truthfully say of us at this point:  here is a chimera, a new and very odd species come shambling into our universe, a mix of Stone Age emotion, medieval self-image, and godlike technology.  The combination makes the species unresponsive to the forces that count most for its own long-term survival.  (Wilson, 2006)

That part about the Stone Age emotion, medieval self-image, and godlike technology can fuel a discussion for hours. Welcome to the age of Homo sapiens, especially our last hundred years.
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What’s the buzz on the latest issues in the Green Community? Check out what you may have missed this last week:

St. Petersburg College’s new Natural Science, Mathematics and College of Education building is certified LEED® Gold- St. Petersburg College recently announced that for the second time in as many months, the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) has awarded LEED Gold certification for one of its new campus buildings.

Best of the Bay of the Day: Best organic smoothie- Believe it or not, algae and bee pollen add up to a delicious drink called the Spirulina Power Buzz. Read this to find out where to get one.

Tips to improve gas mileage (and save some green)- Do you have a lead foot or drive an inefficient automobile?  Here are a few simple tips to improve gas mileage and save a bunch of green!

Living Sustainably in Tampa Bay: Darren Brinkley, owner of REAL Building- Brinkley is the owner of REAL Building and home that he built for his family in St. Petersburg is the first home in Florida to achieve the LEED for Homes Gold Rating.
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I thought the fuel injectors on my Jetta Diesel were pricey, until I saw what the Tampa Water Department recently charged the Yankees for a new water meter at George Steinbrenner Field – $42,000. According to the department , the fee is based on the amount of water that passes at peak demand. Water guzzlers are more expensive. Sounds fair to me, given we are supposed to be conserving water.

The Yankees didn’t like the fee so they asked the department to waive the charge. Shoot – why didn’t I think of that when I recently had my fuel injectors serviced at a dealer?  “Hey these injectors are a rip off. Can you just waive the installation?” Right. I guess that’s why George Steinbrenner is the multi-billionaire, and I write for blogs.

 This week my faith in a universe that might contain a microscopic shred of justice was restored, for a brief, exquisite moment, when the water department turned down the Yankee’s request.  They pay full boat, like everyone else.
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What’s the buzz on the latest issues in the Green Community? Check out what you may have missed this past week:

Stretching your diet and exercise comfort zone: moving through a plateau: contributor Kelly Rothwell lists a few ways to work through your diet and exercise plateaus.

Greenpeace comes to Tampa with bad news about Florida’s emissions: Joshua Michael Poll takes a look Greenpeace’s report that Florida is one of the biggest emissions producers in the world.
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Have you ever heard the Vietnam-era quote, “war is not healthy for children and other living things?” It is a staunchly obvious and painstakingly reasonable appeal that cuts to the ethical core and casualties of war.  I read an article this week that reminded me of it, but instead of war, the murderous culprit in this story is climate change.

A new report by the Global Humanitarian Forum (GHF) says that global warming already kills about 300,000 people a year.  If that projection is not startling enough– or if you have more of an economic mind, and are not much swayed by stacks of human figures—the report also says that climate change costs around $125 billion in economic losses annually.
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Remember when we were suffering from drought? Back when we longed for rain drops to quench our gardens, or heck, wash our cars? Tampa City Council has eased the ban on lawn sprinkling, which ends Monday June 1st. City dwellers will fall in line with Hillsborough County residents abiding by SWFWMD’s emergency restrictions; allowing lawn sprinklers to run once a week from midnight to 4 a.m.

Our city once had the strictest regulations in the state; Council members had the foresight to see beyond the immediate crisis, to address our dwindling water supply. We all know water is one precious commodity, more expensive by the 12 oz bottle than gasoline is by the gallon. By initiating tough regulations, City Council was preparing us, forcing us, to change our water guzzling ways. Forestalling the implementation of ration cards, tandem showers, and sky high rates. Okay, maybe the latter is more likely but one thing is for sure: water rates will rise as supply diminishes. Not to mention as our aquifer falls lower and lower, so does the surface; so we should be in for some major sinkhole action. Council members Mulhern and Miranda voted against lifting the ban, with Mulhern correctly stating that, “A three-year drought is not solved by two weeks of rain”, and Miranda resigning from the Water Board in disgust.

I miss the drought and the restrictions. Okay, so I’m lazy – for months my crunchy weeds, um, I mean lawn, didn’t need mowing but beyond my front yard and personal issues, the drought and its dire circumstances prompted discussions of conservation. Read the rest of this entry »

Tampa City Council Reclaimed Water Workshop
Tampa City Hall
Thursday, May 28, 2009 @ 9:30 a.m.
(The public is welcome to participate)

Tampa’s water issues have been in the news a lot lately and many of you have expressed your passionate feelings on the subject. We’re in the middle of a water crisis. We have the tightest restrictions in Florida meanwhile we are discharging 50 million gallons (mgd) of water into the Bay daily!

Confused yet? It’s understandable.

How did we get here? While it’s easy to point fingers, that won’t help us solve our problems. We need to learn from our mistakes as a City and move forward.

This Thursday, Council hopes to “turn the page” towards a new era of common sense water conservation by addressing the following issues: Read the rest of this entry »

A series on water, water resourcefulness & Tampa water problems.

Don’t be fooled by the recent rains; the Tampa Bay area has serious fresh water supply problems. Tampa has had an ongoing problem of maintaining reserves of potable water to supply its growing population.

Water infrastructure mismanagement, combined with the recent drought pattern, has made some kinds of water use a ticketable offense. So, I figured I’d write a series of articles about that uniquely bound molecule H20 (a.k.a.: water). Read the rest of this entry »

Our reservoir is essentially dry.  More than 6 major brush fires burn in the counties around us due to the dry conditions and we’re only at the beginning of the dry season.  Is anyone besides me wondering what happens next?

As I fill my 3-gallon watering can in the morning (early, within the time allowed for hand watering under St Pete’s watering restrictions) I wonder if the drought is the reason for the low water pressure in my tap.

What happens when Tampa Bay really runs out of water?  Does the water pressure get lower and lower?  Does our tap water become salty as sea water fills our aquifers?  Does it just stop running? Is someone engineering the use of rivers further North now that our own rivers are dry?  Is our water bill going to double or triple because we have to buy all our water from the de-salination plant?

While there is a patchwork of new restrictions belatedly being put in place by Tampa, St Pete and the counties, it concerns me that we have so little information about what the drought is going to mean over the coming years.

I think if ordinary people knew the actual price we are going to have to pay for water we would be showing up in droves at SWFMD meetings to demand stronger water management policies. Read the rest of this entry »