Credit 96dpi via Flickr

Like most Canadians over the years I’ve been told of our abundant freshwater resources, and how we are one of the richest countries when it comes to fresh water resources. Numerous reports have been publishes that put our global fresh water share at varying amounts; 25%, 20% and so on. Either way many people would agree, we have an abundance of fresh water. Or do we?

Upon closer examination it becomes clear that only a fraction of the fresh water we currently have is renewable. Again there are varying stats but I’ve read numbers such as only 7%, 9% etc of our national fresh water supply is renewable. That means most of our fresh water is tied into non renewable resources such as glaciers, icebergs and other resources that are in retreat. Withe the onset of global warming it only speeds up the diminishing nature of these non renewable resources.

Many climate and water experts now believe that water scarcity in many countries will reach a global crisis in the latter part of this century, wich raises the possbility of conflict in certain parts of the world.

The myth of abundant, never ending fresh water seems so tied to our public psyche here in Canada that most of us take it for granted. Perhaps that’s why Canadians are amongst the top consumers of fresh water per capita in the world. In fact Canadians use more than twice the water people in Europe use.

But it doesn’t have to be this way, with simple steps we can reduce our consumption. GoBlue.org is a site created by Unilever canada, it discusses the issues above in detail and gives tips on how you can reduce your water consumption in your home.

Visit GoBlue.org
More stats on Canadian water use in Canada

Free Flow Turbine

When someone says hydro power, most of us think large concrete structures holding back million of gallons of water to generate electricity. But what if there was another way to use a river’s natural currents to produce electricity? Possible without placing large concrete structures within a biosphere and disrupting the natural currents or water mass? Among solar panels, and wind turbines is another technology that has potential to generate power for cities adjacent to moving bodies of water: Free Flow Underwater Turbines.

Very simply, it works like a wind turbine along the bed of a river, but the blades are moved by a water current instead of by the wind. The turbine blades rotate slowly allowing fish to pass through safely with minimal environmental impact. One of the disadvantages of wind turbines are days when there is no wind or it’s not sufficient to generate power, not so with free flow turbines, since the current runs all day every day there is no period where the turbine is inactive.

Last year Ontario invested 2.2 million into the Cornwall Ontario River Energy project, it’s goal to develop 15MW of power as a demonstration of the feasibility and commercial viability of free flow underwater turbines.

More info on these unique turbines
Information about the C.O.R.E project in Ontario

Credit: Shrff14 via Flickr

With the amount of money we spend on bottled water we could bring fresh water to all the people in the world who need it. The American people, including most western nations, have been conned into thinking that bottled water is healthier than tap water. In fact the regulations for tap water in the US are much stiffer than for bottled water in most situations. The same is true of most western countries and as regulations pass in other parts of the world the same holds true there as well.

Bottled water costs about a thousand times as much as tap water. We complain about the higher prices of gasoline but we’ll pay even more for water that’s often inferior to what we can get from the tap.

And this doesn’t take into account the environmental impact from bottled water. Oil is used to produce the plastic bottles and even more oil and energy is consumed transporting and distributing a product that we can get from our taps for next to nothing per liter.

Bottled water is one of the easiest items to remove from your carbon footprint. Get a reusable canteen such as a sigg or kleen kanteen and open the tap. If you don’t like the taste of your water get a Brita pitcher and filter your water. While Brita filters have their own environmental issues, such as distribution and adding to landfills, they aren’t as significant as those presented by bottled water.

For more on bottled water and related issues follow the links below:
Treehugger: A world of reasons to ditch bottled water
Earth Policy Institute: Pouring Resources Down the Drain

Credit: D'arcy Norman via Flickr

Until a few years ago the Alberta Oil Sands were too expensive to develop. The oil industry had know about them for years but getting the oil it held out of the ground was costly. Eighty dollars a barrel changed that reality. Today these  boreal forests are being cut down so that the sand can be boiled and the oil extracted. It’s a process that uses an incredible amount of resources and leaves a pollution footprint that is difficult if not impossible to clean up.

This 15 part series (each part approx. 6 minutes) put on VBS.tv takes a hard look at the oil sands and it’s effect on the community that exists around it. What is an energy jewel in the eyes of Canada’s current political leaders, turns out to be a black eye for the environment and for all of us.

Warning: this video series uses some coarse language.

Watch the series here

Lester Brown

Lester Brown knows a thing or two about the challenges we face globally. To paraphrase the introduction to the presentation by Doug Fine, about Lester Brown Doug states “His (Lester Brown’s)  report and now book “Who will feed China?” Did what no threatened Olympic boycott could, it scared the countries leaders into changing policy.” The Washington Post called him “one of the world’s most influential thinkers”.

In this presentation Lester goes over some the of the most pressing challenges we face globally over the coming decades, what he outlines is alarming and enlightening. It would be easy to simply want to give up if you stopped listening after the first third of his presentation, but that would be a mistake. In his measured and carefully prepared manner Lester outlines what we can do to avoid some of these problems. It leaves you with a feeling that something can be done. But his most important point is saved for the end, Lester urges us all to get involved:

“Saving civilization is not a spectator sport we all need to get involved”

Listen to Lester’s presentation
The earth Policy Institute

Farewell My Subaru

Farewell my Subaru: An Epic Adventure in Local Living, is a book that gives the reader the sense that change is possible, no matter the obstacle. And the reader could not have picked a better guide for this journey. Doug Fine is the kind of person that naturally finds the positive in the most difficult circumstances. You can feel his enthusiasm for his low impact lifestyle jump off the page. This energy empowers the reader, after a while you start thinking that installing a solar panel is something you could do too.

It’s a green living tale for those of us that aren’t Al Gore. Doug Fine strikes the reader as down to earth as they come, in his own words:

I started in Long Island, New York, growing up on concrete and Domino’s pizza. I didn’t see a real tomato probably until I was 18. I thought supermarket orange baseballs were what tomatoes were. I didn’t understand why anyone would eat solid pieces of wax. But I always wanted to camp out in the backyard, and knew that there was such a thing as an ecosystem.

Here’s the publisher’s summary:

In Farewell, My Subaru, Doug Fine vows to grow as much of his own food as he can, use only the sun to power his ‘Net surfing and sub-woofer, and consume little to no fossil fuel for an entire year — never mind that he’d never raised so much as a chicken or a bean. Or that he had no mechanical or electrician skills. Or that coyotes and mountain lions would like to treat his Funky Butte Ranch like a buffet line.

Beginning with a near-Biblical flood that makes Doug’s ranch in New Mexico resemble Noah’s Arc, and ending with a hilarious farewell to his beloved Subaru, Fine struggles at every turn with the contradictions and challenges of going green as his shopping list changes overnight from things like, “wasabi” and “pineapple juice” to “shotgun shells” and “goat syringes” (for the mischievous Pans he found on Craigslist).

Including practical resources for regular Americans who want to live greener and funny sidebars with facts you never imagined about the clean, local life, Farewell, My Surbaru is both a hilarious romp and an inspiring call to action; it’s a book for the reluctant environmentalist, the armchair traveler, and anyone who has ever wondered: do I really need that four dollar frappuccino from Kenya?

Farewell My Subaru is available Amazon, or if you prefer to lower your cabon footprint order from Eco-Libris, a portion of the book sale goes towards planting new trees.

Official webpage page for the book
Video promoting the book (Doug is great in this)
Eco-Libris link for purchase
Treehugger.com interviews Doug Fine

Credit: Valcent Inc.

While most of the headlines relating to Biofuel have been saved for Corn Based ethanol, other technologies have slowly been developing in the background. Corn based ethanol had it’s moment in the sun, but some serious questions are beginning to emerge whether it’s a truly sustainable crop to process into fuel.

First and foremost is the amount of land needed to produce enough fuel so that Corn could replace conventional oil. Simply put there’s not enough crop land in the united states to meet even half of today’s fuel needs for the US alone. So if corn isn’t a viable alternative, what is?

While a few other alternatives have potential such as switch grass and Rapeseed each of these have their drawbacks as well. However algae holds much potential, firs it only requires 1-2% of the current crop land in the US to produce half of the current US fuel needs. Second algae requires little fertilizer (another oil based product) and pesticides. Third algae is among the fastest growing plants in the world, and about 50 percent of it’s weight is oil. That lipid oil can be used to make biodiesel for cars, trucks, and airplanes.

To ilustrate the potential output from algae to oil here is a quote from the CNN article mentioned below.

Kertz said he can produce about 100,000 gallons of algae oil a year per acre, compared to about 30 gallons per acre from corn; 50 gallons from soybeans.

The biggest drawback is that algae is one of the least mature technologies, however with time and progress it could become a replacement fuel.

Article from the Seattle PI on Algea compared to other biofuels
CNN article on a company making break throughs in algea fuel production
Video from Valcent the company spotlighted in the CNN article
Chart comparing Biofuels

Credit: ^Berd via Flickr

Many of you reading this will be aware of Peak Oil, however if you’ve never heard of the term I decided to post this primer on what Peak Oil is and why it matters to you. Like global warming it has it’s believers and non-believers, but either way what is in deniable is the very existence of “modern” society due to a non-renewable resource.

Just about everything we buy and consume is made of oil, other than the obvious fuel, the very keyboard I type on is a plastic derivative of oil, fertilizers that grow our food are oil based and so on and so on…

To be honest oil has given humans the ability to progress beyond our wildest dreams. With oil we’ve increased global food production and have been able to house, feed and clothe a population explosion the likes history has never seen. But what if this precious substance was beginning a slow downward crawl? It’s not when we run completely out of oil that’s a concern, it’s when we run out of enough oil to function that’s the problem. Say goodbye to blueberries in January.

Whether you believe in peak oil or not, one fact everyone agrees on, oil is non-renewable. Eventually we will run out, it’s a matter of when, not if. If we know about this problem why are we not developing alternatives today? (some are but more on that later) Why leave this problem for our children, or our children’s children?

Many people may look at today’s dropping oil prices and think this is a non issue. However in my opinion this is a temporary situation due to a lessening of demand as people try to economize. Once the recession passes you’ll again see $80+ a barrel oil.

For now read on and make up your own mind.

Article that gives a general overview of Peak Oil.
Article about Hubbert’s Peak and Peak Oil in depth

Credit: Simon Sherk via Flickr

Here is a four part BBC documentary that examines in great detail the food distribution system of the western world.  From growing the food, to harvesting and ultimately distribution. The series also examines our dependence on fossil fuels in relation to the food we eat, and how without these fuels our food supply would no longer be sustainable.

With the exception of the last 60 years, no other time in human history has the person consuming the food been so completely separated from the food source. Ask yourself, if the supermarket suddenly disappeared, how would you feed yourself?

(Note: while this may be a BBC production the same issues exist here. When you buy a fruit in winter check the sticker, often it will be shipped from another country such as Chile etc.. )

Click to view part 1
Click to view part 2
Click to view part 3
Click to view part 4