Figmentations

As a continuation from Part 1, here are more notes from the presentations given at the recent Global Green Expo 2008 in Jersey City, NJ.

Read more »

This past weekend, I was fortunate enough to spend two days at the Global Green Expo 2008 sponsored by PSEG. (Below are my take-aways from Saturday’s events. Tomorrow will be Part 2 covering Sunday’s events.)

The event took place at the majestic Liberty State Park in Jersey City, from where you can see a coming together of the park, the Hudson River, with grand views of the New York City skyline, Ellis Island, and the Statue of Liberty.

The venue was simply set up with outdoor tents for the featured speakers, and many boothes for local “green” businesses to supply information. It may not have looked fancy at first glance, but the information and education that I received was priceless and didn’t require any unnecessary glitz and glamour.

Read more »

Water may be considered a generic commodity by some, or a profit-producing product to others. In the end, it is simply a necessity for everyone’s existence.

A recent video snippet that I came across by Katie Couric on “World Water Day” succinctly points out the need for awareness to the larger issue of the 40% of the world’s population that does not even have access to clean water or proper sanitation. Water is definitely something that we need to be concerned about.

Too bad that the World Water Day website is so uninspiring…I think we need to get some good social media marketers to help them out. Want to see some interesting coverage of the water issues? Check out the entertaining (and irreverent) “reporting” on water on the Colbert Report and how related coverage is nicely compiled on one of the show’s fan sites: The No Fact Zone.

Back in the land of plenty, in the news, almost like a politician being criticized from all angles, water has become a controversial topic in the media for other reasons. How apropos and timely does this make the recent Ziggy cartoon posted here?

We’ve heard of the reports that suggest that prescription drugs are finding their way into the nation’s drinking water since the water treatment plants don’t filter them out of wastewater that it treats.

That works out as a nice coincidence for the latest news story which reports that there should not be a pseudo recommended daily allowance of water intake (of eight 8oz glasses a day)…at least that’s what two kidney experts are claiming in a national medical publication.

From the news coverage that I’ve seen, you’d think there was more support behind their claim, and that the dangers were more severe than actually is the case. Let’s look at the language used to conclude that “there is no clear-cut scientific rationale”:

• the only source they found that supports the benefits of water-drinking is: “the complementary and alternative medicine worlds” (I guess those worlds don’t count.)
• water-drinking myths were debunked based on the: “review the scientific literature on the benefits of drinking water” (I guess it can only be true after someone writes about it.)
• they concluded that “there is no rational basis for the widespread belief….it is unclear where this recommendation came from.” (I guess if there’s no proof then it can’t be true.)
• their claims that it can actually be dangerous to drink too much water is solely based on extreme examples.

So, what are we to conclude with these different reports on water. I would conclude that we need to look at the facts behind the messages. What do you think?

A CNN report from this week’s International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Vegas showcases a few new gadgets that run on “alternative power”. One of these alternate power sources includes water, but not the hydropower type. In particular, the water-powered gadget that caught my attention was a water-powered fuel cell for a cell phone, which is no doubt an intriguing concept.

However, even though these gadgets are expensive now as long as the technology is new, if they ever did become affordable to the general public, I’m not sure that people would or should consider water to be the ubiquitous energy source that it may appear to be. Clearly some countries, such as China, Darfur, and Iraq, are experiencing tragic shortages in drinking water even today.

Granted that even though water-based energy probably doesn’t need to be of a drinking water quality, its availability and portability does pose serious challenges. Also, we can’t assume that bottled water would be what feeds this water-powered fuel cell, but it isn’t that far-fetched a likelihood either. Let’s consider the impact of that possibility for a moment.

Consider the potential environmental impact of portable bottled water being used as a fuel source with these key facts from the January-February 2008 issue of AMC Outdoors magazine entitled: “Turn on the Tap: Though popular, bottled water has its dissenters”.

Scary Facts:

• Fact #1: “Americans spent about $11 billion on bottled water in 2006, an 8.5 percent increase over the previous year, according to the Beverage Marketing Corp.”
• Fact #2: “According to the Pacific Institute, 17 million barrels of oil were used in the production of plastic bottles last year and less than one in five containers made its way to a recycling facility”. Note: Not all plastic bottles are of the water-filled type, but even a percentage of this figure would still be staggering.

Action-Based Facts:

• Fact #1: The International Bottled Water Association (IBWA)…says companies are working to reduce their environmental impact by using lighter weight plastic…and more fuel efficient transportation.”
• Fact #2: Also, as referenced in this article, check out the”Think Outside the Bottle” Campaign by Corporate Accountability International which is working to hold the bottled water industry accountable.

The logistics of a portable water-powered fuel cell concept will definitely need to be addressed should the product work well and gain in affordability and popularity.