Kapute PlastIk

So I was just thinking to myself that europeans are really smart for using glass for a lot of things Americans would rather have in plastic. Pretty much any juice you buy here comes in a REUSABLE (mehrweg) bottle--even, or perhaps especially things like soda and beer. This is an amazing thing that American companies should pick up right now. The bottles, in theory, cost an extra 0.10 or 0.15 € (das Pfand) and there are receptacles that you return them to in most groceries, Getränkenmärkte (basically beer/wine+water+juice+some liquor store), and places with lots of vending machines--whereupon you recoup your change. I know some states have refunds for return of some types of glass bottles and maybe some plastic, but I don't think there is any state--even golden California--that has such and extensive tax/reward system setup. And while I suppose it's government supported, I think it's actually a company that collects the bottles and such. It's really quite an ingenious process given that it's probably much easier to clean and sterilize old bottles than have new ones cast. Granted, plastic is probably cheaper. Until there is some societally-accepted way (i.e. a way Republicans/Libertarians won't complain about--probably never going to happen (incidentally, shouldn't this be exactly the government's job? to regulate where free-market capitalism can't compensate for hidden costs--i.e. transfered health, environmental, and QOL costs)) to tax companies for the end environmental impact of their products, I don't think such schemes would catch on (wow, that's really hard to understand. good luck!).

Anyway; back to my other point. I was just thinking this when I went to lift my curtain and--POP--one of the little PLASTIC clasps breaks. There is absolutely no reason to make these things out of plastic. In fact there seem to be many reasons to make them of brass or steel or, hell, dried hemp--not the least of which is that they are holding up a moderately heavy object which will be raised and lowered 3 times a day and thus transferring (why on earth does that have two Rs? transfer-ing. why, english?) a good bit of stress to whatever is holding them up.

Come to think of it the most traumatic of my misadventures here have been due to unnecessarily cheap things breaking (also: by bike light died the other day. just fell right off. i think i'm illegal now!). So I guess even in Europe people have to some degree bought in to the American mentality: It's cheap! If it breaks, I'll just get another and throw it away! Who cares about the island of trash in the Pacific?!

I'm saddened.

abendteuer der woche

adventure of the week: windräder jagen (mehr). so i never finished the story from last time, mainly because i was so unsuccessful in my first pursuits. however! i have acheived success beyond my (not quite) wildest imagination, as you can see:

i've known about these for a while and, as i've said, i went looking for them one saturday afternoon with very dismal results. i got probably within 500 meters of an entire wind farm (as i learned on google maps later), but i considered myself pretty lost at the time and i didn't want to really get lost in a foreign forest with no food and no way to get help and such. but the second time around, i pushed forward, despite only wearing sandals and sunset quickly approaching. fortunately, i was well rewarded. and the way down (340 m at that) was a lot easier than the way up.

a path leading into the forest. it was a little spooky. almost blair witch style. this forest is weird because it's been planted so all the trees are in perfect rows and you can't see for more than a few meters.

this particular bunch had about 5 windräder in clumps. they were actually quite small compared to the one i saw south of town, but still impressive.

of course, the entire time i had my bike with me. it got to be a little annoying when walking through the forest, but i was definitely happy when i got to the top of hill and didn't have to walk back to leave. the ride around turned out to be, in total, 28 miles or 45.5 km. pretty intense, but enjoyable nonetheless. however, next time i do this, i'm definitely going to wear real shoes.

windräder des niederlands

on windmills: link. i'm going to the netherlands. soon.

mehr TEDs

more good things to see: suburbia. this guy is hilarious. or maybe i'm just immature. everytime i hear the word 'clusterfuck' i can't help breaking out in hysterics. it's just perfect. he also makes fun of 'wineos'--presumably the audience and despots. i might have caused a stir by laughing out loud. 'theoretical pedestrians' and such. and nature 'band-aids'.

NO REALLY! what it. it's hilarious even if you don't care at all about the horrible rape of land and people that is suburbia.

also very good: green is the new black. this lady has a lot of attitude and is really convinced of her message. i kind of want to meet her. her delivery is rough, but i agree that she has the attitude and message to take on al gore and steve jobs.

really, all of these are good. i'm just going to sit here and watch them all day because my experiment time was gobbled up. sigh.

annnnd more: another TED talk. these are awesome.

gutes essen

michael pollan! interestingly, i think i've had this idea several times. most recently wondering why on earth cherries would put so much of their fruit out of reach if they wanted us to spread them around. also, in reference to why i'm willing to try some fruits i see randomly, but not others (not always sucessful however).

i'm a little obsessed! when you have an hour: see this! it takes a while, but it is quite awesome. props to google.

btw, people looking for birthday gifts... books are beautiful. michael pollan has many. i want them all :P.

also (via lisa): conservative organics? no matter what your pollitical alliance (although i'm fairly sure everyone here is more to the left), we can all find a reason to support locally-grown, non-industrial, non-Farm Bill-supported food.

speaking of which: barack obama's view. i'm not sure i like it or believe it. somehow i just don't think it's going to change anytime soon, although if he really wanted to target big industry and lobbists, the farm bill would get my vote for 1st on the chopping block.

deutschland macht grün

deutschers are kind of obsessed with getting off the top 10 list of CO2 producers. interestingly, germany is currently the largest global producer of wind power, with almost double the current production capacity in the united states (despite much less land and less open space). just in my area, which is hemmed in with low hills and widely populated, there are at least 5 sets of 3-5 windmills, and i saw a lot more on the train ride here. the north of germany is much flatter than the middle or alpine-approaching area, and i think there is a lot more wind and wind-power there.

from afar they look small, but these things are really quite huge.

generally they are located away from cities--i've heard because of noise, flitting shadows, and the general annoyance of having a huge tower next to your house. these are about 30 minutes away from my apt by bike.

and some people (like me) think wind is just fun.

i haven't seen as much solar power here, but apparently it is a big deal as well. a little unexpected given the latitude and the rainy/overcast summers here.

grüner welt

in the pursuit of a greener world:

http://noimpactman.typepad.com/blog/2008/07/the-first-step.html

looking back 2-3 years ago, even 1, i've made a lot of small changes in my life. from the amount of meat i eat to how i get around to how long i spend in the shower. and yet, every week i seem to think of something new that i'd like to encorporate into my life. and i do. and i wonder how on earth i managed before.

http://www.bestlifeonline.com/cms/publish/health-fitness/Our_oceans_are_turning_into_plastic_are_we_2.shtml

another site/article that i've only recently read but i've known about for a lot time. really scary stuff. it makes me want to wear a gas mask and never eat anything i haven't personally grown. well, not that i haven't had that desire for a long time. but now it's just coming out more often.

one of my goals for this year is to learn more about environmental problems that are going to loom large in the 21st century--not just focusing on global warming which seems to have utterly captivated the press and people's imaginations recently. ironically, we could almost thank the 100 billions lbs of plastic produced per year (45 billion kg of plastic = roughly 38 billion kg of carbon) for sequestering a very small portion of the united states' carbon output. sigh.