the love of change
This isn’t a challenge, since I stole it from a Google blog… though you’re certainly welcome to try your hand. If you check the answer at the Google blog, be a pal and don’t speak up in the comments. Leave the glory to the diehard Google Earthers.
Anyway, Happy Valentine’s Day from Tropophilia. Single or involved, lonely or in love, independent or engaged (*cough* TAYLOR *cough*) — have a lovely day, whatever your status.
Image courtesy of Google.
One of the great things about technology — aside from the geeky awesome gadgets that Taylor and I crush on — is the unprecedented access to information that it gives to the individual. Indeed, sometimes too much access, as evidenced by the 800+ unread items in my Google Reader inbox.
I have been so behind on reading my feeds this week that I briefly skimmed and then discarded a gem of a post over on the official Google blog, written by none other than Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. Luckily, Taylor saw it too and brought it back to my attention. What a champ.
In his post, Kennedy writes about his involvement in the fight against “mountaintop removal” coal mining. He explains the devastation caused by this process with some mind-blowing statistics:
Each day coal companies detonate 2500 tons of explosives – the power of a Hiroshima bomb every week – to blow away Appalachian mountaintops to reach the coal seams beneath. Colossal machines then plow the rock and debris into the adjacent river valleys and hollows, destroying forests and burying free-flowing mountain streams, flattening North America’s most ancient mountain range. According to the EPA, 1,200 miles of American rivers and streams have already been permanently interred, leaving behind giant pits and barren moonscapes, some as large as Manhattan Island.
Fascinating, and certainly the first time I’d ever heard of such a thing. Yet another reason to expedite investment in alternate energy sources. Harvesting coal out of the earth is one thing: having the audacity to rip the tops off of mountains to get to it is quite another. If we’re going to be pillaging the earth’s resources for a while until we figure out a better way, shouldn’t we at least pillage responsibly?
But why is Kennedy telling us all this on a Google blog? While his post is certainly raising awareness about this huge and largely unknown mining method, it is also drawing attention to one of the great phenomena to emerge from Web 2.0: the mashup.
Since I’ve already gushed with geeky joy over gadget blogs, I feel safe bringing this (extremely useful) gizmo to your attention:
The Eco-eye is a straightforward concept: a real time accounting of energy use in your home and the corresponding carbon emission. It also displays the cost of your energy use on a daily, weekly, monthly, or yearly basis.
Little tools like this encourage a healthy level of guilt in our consumption of energy–inspiring us though our competitive nature to turn off the lights when we leave the room and unplug “vampire appliances” that draw energy when idle. Something like this exists in most hybrid cars: a green “ECO” lights up on the dash when the car reaches peak efficiency, and a real-time display shows the driver what mileage he or she is achieving over the course of a trip. While it’s sort of silly, these types of incentives work. Sure, we’re saving money by identifying wasteful drains on our home energy or maximizing gas mileage…but it’s also uniquely satisfying to feel like you’re driving as efficiently as possible or powering your home in a sensible way.
TreeHugger and SMITH magazine (I’d never heard of it either…) are hosting a contest called “Six Word Memoirs: The Green Life.” Basically, the challenge is to summarize your philosophy on environmental issues in 6 words or less:
“Got a swell philosophy? Traveled a strange path? Fall off the eco-wagon often? Lay your tiny tale on us [...] Everyone on this big blue marble has a green story. So, what’s yours?”
Let me warn you, it’s a challenge. Maybe you, dear reader, are less verbose than I am, but six words is a limited canvass for anyone. The contest hosts are offering great prizes (my fingers are crossed for the Planet Earth DVDs), so you should give it a shot. And be sure to add your submission to the comments here as well. In a few days, I’ll share my submission–though if you’re clever you can probably find it on the contest site. Good luck!
You know what to do. Good luck.
(Hint #1: this has been in the news and is fairly change-related.)
(Hint #2 [2-13-07] : all the guesses have been ice cold, but the answer is even colder.)
[Update #1: No, no one's gotten it yet... and that may be a record for this crowd. But I did realize that newcomers may not know what to do. For first-time players: the point of the satellite challenge is to guess the location and (when relevant) explain why it has something to do with change. Good luck!]
[Update #2: There it is. Thought that clue would help.]
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