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Slippery Ships: Smart Friction-Free Sailing
Walter Derzko, Smart Economy
New Scientist this week reports on a clever way to save energy.
Ships travelling through oceans on a slippery carpet of bubbles could travel at much faster speeds, or carry far bigger loads on the same amount of fuel. Researchers are proposing to pump a layer of microbubbles beneath a flat-bottomed hull to reduce the friction-drag between the water and the boat. The hope is that the resultant decrease in turbulence could improve the ship’s efficiency by up to 20 per cent.
(21 Feb 2006)
The mother of all link posts
David Roberts, Gristmill
So much material. So little time. So many complicated issues. So little expertise.
How about a big fat linky post!
Treehugger has a fantastic interview with Hunter Lovins, long-time champion of sustainability, now president of Natural Capitalism Solutions, Inc. She talks about her current international work, focusing on Afghanistan. I particularly like this exchange, which is relevant to our discussion of poverty earlier:…
(22 February 2006)
Gristmill has been giving energy issues more and more coverage, from an environmentalist POV. This collection of links emphasizes the Lovinses, but also offers Econbrowser on Bush’s oil addiction remarks. -BA
Turn the Eat Around
Forgotten by many, a Brooklyn neighborhood nourishes its own
Tom Philpott, Grist
Wander into Brooklyn’s Red Hook neighborhood on a Saturday morning in summer, and you’ll see a sight not uncommon in New York City these days: a thriving and diverse farmers’ market. Neighborhood denizens cluster around stands offering free-range meat, fresh cheese, cream-on-top milk, and a whole array of fresh fruit and vegetables, many of them grown right down the block.
Yet unlike most of New York’s bustling green markets, which tend to thrive in upscale residential and shopping areas, this one lies in one of the city’s poorest neighborhoods. Red Hook’s median family income is below the federal poverty line of $19,000 for a family of four, and 40 percent of the neighborhood’s families live on less than $10,000 per year, according to the 2000 census. More than 80 percent of its population lives in public housing.
(22 February 2006)
I’m Hatin’ It
How the feds make bad-for-you food cheaper than healthful fare
Tom Philpott, Grist
If you’re going to talk about poverty, food, and the environment in the United States, you might as well start in the Corn Belt.
This fertile area produces most of the country’s annual corn harvest of more than 10 billion bushels, far and away the world’s largest such haul. Where does it all go? The majority — after accounting for exports (nearly 20 percent), ethanol (about 10 percent, and climbing), and excess (another 10 percent) — anchors the world’s cheapest food supply in purchasing-power terms.
Our food system is shot through with corn. It feeds the animals that feed us: more than 50 percent of the harvest goes into domestic animal operations. About 5 percent flows into high-fructose corn syrup, adding a sweet jolt to soft drinks, confections, and breakfast cereal. All told, it’s a cheap source of calories and taste. Yet all this convenience comes with a price — and not just an environmental one.
…Meter reckons that if the region’s consumers were to buy 15 percent of their food from local sources, it would generate as much income for the region as two-thirds of farm subsidies. He says the Southeast Minnesota Food Network, an organization formed in 2001 to refocus area farmers on producing for the local market and encourage consumers to buy local, has been using his data to recruit new members.
As the federal government dithers with its food pyramids and ruinous cheap-corn policy, low-income communities are organizing to gain control over the quality of their food supply. Meter’s work in the Midwest and Herrera’s in the Northeast represent the rumblings of a growing real-food underground — an upsurge that challenges not just the hegemony of processed food, but also the social relations that allow it to thrive.
(22 February 2006)
The cheap-corn policy also has substantial energy costs (fertilizers, fuel and pesticides). Related article in Grist: Suzi Parker’s Finger-Lickin’ Bad: How poultry producers are ravaging the rural South.
-BA
