Current Event 6

Droughts currently occurring in Southern Brazil are affecting the local coffee growing industry there. Coffee production requires well-maintained trees and droughts caused by climate change are affecting many coffee plantations, reducing the total amount produced. While there won't be a huge shortage anytime soon, the yield of plantations will continue to slowly drop, driving up prices. Demand for coffee worldwide is increasing, so that will drive prices further up as well. The article linked also highlights how the current Brazilian drought is also affecting other commodities such as oranges, soy, cattle, and sugar, increasing the prices of all four. Of course, exact proven link, but extreme weather conditions are a result of climate change, so it's not too far of a leap to make that climate change is contributing to the reduction in commodity yield.


Goals update:
I've been doing really well with keeping the heat off and turning off my power strip when it's not in use. Turing off the strip has actually become a habit now, and I sometimes find myself having forgotten to turn it back on when I do need it.
Shower time reduction has also been going well. I use my phone as a timer and am able to keep it to around 6-10 minutes when I don't wash my hair.
I haven't been as strict on my grocery budget, but I am buying mainly organic foods. They just have that price premium that makes it tough to stick to the $30 limit I set for myself each week

Possible Ecotoxicity in the Pacific Northwest?

After testing shipments of geoducks and oysters and seeing positive results for Arsenic and PSP (a biotoxin produced by algae) China banned all shellfish imports originating from the West Coast. More specifically, geoducks harvested from Poverty Bay in Redondo, Washington were targeted as having high levels of Arsenic. It is believed that China uses a much stricter measurement system than America, as Poverty Bay had been recently tested to determine the safety of the shellfish harvested there. American studies found the shellfish to be safe for human consumption, but really, how acceptable is any level of arsenic in your food? It's understandable that China would halt imports of shellfish if there was even the slightest possibility of it harming someone. Because of the results of the American study, it has led some to think that the ban was more rooted in political issues with the health concern being a convenient excuse to implement the ban.

Current event from Sunday

On the 16th, Secretary of State John Kerry gave a speech in Jakarta, Indonesia in which he covered global warming and the recent agreement between China and the US to work on climate change. China and America are the top two greenhouse gas emitters, so this agreement to work together on curbing their emissions is a big step. It seems that there is a plan to substantially reduce emissions by 2020. Next year, there will be an international meeting in Paris to try to develop a successor to the Kyoto Protocol, which was issued in 1997 (even though America never ratified the deal).

I think that it will be critical for America to get on board with a new deal designed similarly to the Kyoto Protocol, which was aimed at a global commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The recent agreement between the US and China concerning their greenhouse gas emissions gives me confidence though that we'll be more open to ratifying such a document now.


Goals update:
-I finally got a shower down to 6 minutes, so pretty proud of that. I got a small clock that I keep in the bathroom, and that's how I time myself
-We got our power bill, and it came to $245, so a little more expensive than last time, meaning we used a bit more. My one consideration though is that the last billing cycle came to $235, but it covered winter break, when there wasn't really anyone around in the house. Now that everyone's been back for a month, our energy usage was just barely more than what was used over a period of time most of us were gone. So, in my mind that's a victory that we were able to at least keep the per cost down

Current event 3

Oh boy, the Olympics. Russia has spent close to $50 billion preparing for the games, and part of that large sum of money went toward energy infrastructure projects. 49 of these facilities have been constructed since Russia won the Olympic host bid in 2007 in order to supply sufficient energy to the relatively disconnected Sochi. Energy generation capacity has increased in the Sochi region by 800% with the completion of these energy infrastructure projects.

Russia has been working to improve their energy efficiency for the games though, having installed solar powered radiators and boilers, LED lighting in their Olympic venues, and autonomous street lights that only activate when people are walking beneath. Russia also went on to incorporate the Olympic Committee's green building codes for Olympic venues into the National Russian Building Standard, which prior to this had no environmental efficiency requirements to it.

Of course, the true cost of all this development won't be apparent for some time, but a good visual look at the impact is found here, where you can compare the Sochi region pre- and post-Olympic development.

GOAL Update:
-Shorter showers haves been going well, even without a timer. I've found that the biggest contributor to shower length for me was the time it takes to wash my hair. I've decided to cut the number of times I wash my hair down to once every third shower. This way, a good five minutes at least is cut from the first two showers in each cycle. It's healthier to wash your hair less anyway, plus I'll be using less shampoo, reducing my consumption.
-Shopping for more sustainable goods is a little tougher, as there are definitely certain brands I prefer and I have to remind myself to look for the more sustainable option. Also, a lot of impulse items find their way into my cart, like candy. I'll be making a list of items for my next grocery trip to stick to.

Goals! Again.

So for my first goal, I won't be able to see if I've made any real progress at lowering our electric bill until we receive our next statement sometime next week. PSE's website does allow us to track our daily usage in kwh either across weeks or the last few months.

Puget Sound Energy

Honestly, this doesn't inspire hope. But I'll keep persisting in keeping my heat turned off and switching off my power strips. I'm also constantly on the watch for lights have been left on by my roommates.

As for goal 2, I believe that is the one I'm doing the best at. I'd say about 80% of the food I've been buying has come from the Organic section. I've been inadvertently eating less meat products as well. I love chicken strips, but I wanted to switch to an organic option, so I looked in the frozen organic section and saw a bag labeled with "Crispy" and "Tenders" so I grabbed that and was on my way. Only when I got home to cook them did I see that they also are clearly labeled as "Meatless". So I've been eating these organic soy/tofu tenders for the past week, and honestly, they haven't been that half bad, I'll probably get them in the future. I still want some sort of meat though.

My third goal of shorter showers probably needs a little tweaking, since I have no real way of telling how long my shower's actually been other than my own gut. I'll need to get some sort of timer set up for my showers to know when my 10 minutes are up. One way I have been able to shorten my showers is by alternating days when I wash my hair, which easily cuts a few minutes off the time I'm in.

I definitely need to refocus a little bit on my water and energy consumption, but I feel I've been doing a better job overall at living a more sustainable life. For instance, I've been using a reusable mug every time I go to get coffee. That's one paper cup a day (sometimes two!) that I saved by bringing a cup with me.

In the past, whenever I've gone home to visit my family, I'd either need to be picked up and dropped off by parents, or I'd drive myself if they let me borrow a car. In order to reduce the impact my travelling has, I've decided for my new goal to rely on public transportation when I go home to visit my family. There is the Bolt Bus, which leaves from Bellingham and goes straight to Seattle. I might need to get picked up in Seattle, but the 45 minute drive to Seattle is much better than the four hour round trip to Bellingham and back.