This week we learned about chapter four's presentation, which discussed Brown’s ideas for cutting Co2 wastes up to eighty percent by the year 2020. The reason was due to rising fossil fuel prices and eventual economic downturn. Some ways there were to change our lighting sources, which everyone can do. A good alternative to traditional incandescent light bulbs are CFL lighting which is a good upgrade because it uses seventy five percent less electricity and can reduce your bill by thirty dollars. The CFL light bulb costs twice as much but lasts ten times as long, making it a better value. There is a light bulb even better for your dollar than that. LED lighting uses eighty-five percent less electricity and lasts fifty times as long. I have already replaced ninety percent of the lights in my home with LED lighting and it would be a great if businesses and the government would lead by example and do so also (and not just in the 88% of American “EXIT” signs). In the PowerPoint slide, they also said one light bulb if bought at the same time a child is born would last until they graduate.
Next, they stated in their presentation that Europeans use half the amounts of fossil fuels as Americans do. This chapter also discussed transportation briefly, including hybrid cars and rail systems. In addition, that thirty percent of energy used is on recycled materials, and that they are found in everything we use daily. Last, they mentioned the gridlines and cities trying to even the gridlines out by doing planned power outages in specific areas in California.
Chapter 5 discussed that oil, coal, and natural gasses should be replaced by wind, solar, and water energy sources. Texas is currently the leading generator of wind energy in the US and ten more states plan to incorporate more solar energy in the near future. The advantages to wind power include it is abundant, the low cost, and it is widely distributed. The main disadvantage to wind energy sources is that wind is not very prevalent in some areas and not always constant so places with this in use need some type of supplemental energy source as well. If 1/5th of wind is used in replace of other forms of energy it would create seven times the energy. If proposed in the United States, only one percent of farmland would be used for windmills, and farmers would be paid thousands to have them on their property. Hydropower is also being used for approximately sixteen percent of world’s energy, obviously a resource that can be used adequately!
Chapter 6 was mainly on the idea of designing cities for people not cars. Which was a concept discussed thoroughly in the movie we watched video on Curitiba, Brazil. The movie discussed how their urban transportation has to be completely changed. Some of the ideas to make this happen were high tolls, effective and cheap transportation system, priority to bicycles and pedestrian at stoplights, cars extremely expensive, etc. This chapter also discussed many reasons to reduce urban water use including nutrients being lost for agriculture, flush and forget, contributes to 405 dead zones, expensive, also disease and death (2 million children). Farming in cities is also a key concept in bettering our world. Gardens in vacant lots, yards, and rooftops make a huge difference.
The last part of the class we watched a movie called, “The Power of Community.” It was about the crisis in Cuba, also known as “the special period.” It started in about 1992 after the breakup of the Soviet Union since so much of normal imported items became scarce. Due to the political issues, Cuba was found in a situation where they were extremely low on food and oil peaked, creating jobs. They were forced to start growing their own foods to survive and fulfill basic human needs. They did not have oil to use machines and started planting and cultivating foods on every empty space. They used farm animals like oxen to help farm. The average Cuban lost twenty pounds by 1994. Before the 90’s Cuba exported sugar cane and a couple other abundant crops and then imported oil, lard, rice and many other items. This was not a sustainable system, so in October of 1993. Some Australians came to help teach the people how to cultivate there foods and use organic materials. This in turn would create a balanced eco system and more organic compost. They also taught them about bio pesticides and bio fertilizers, so now Eighty percent of Cuba has organic agriculture. In the United States we see bugs as the enemy and use strong chemicals to try and get rid of them, which in turn create more problems for the crops. With a balanced system, this would include manure, bugs, and disease. There is little need to do anything but pick the foods and maintain the soil. Farming has also become one of the highest paid professions there is and the entire economic system turned upside down. Creating many other positive changes like decentralizing universities, free health care and schools, fat consumption reduction, and the exchange of doctors to Venezuela for oil. In addition, reduced number of cars, scarcity of tools allowed for little developments people live in necessity not abundance, eighty-five percent of Cubans own homes, less cancer/heart disease, use of sugar mill’s wastes for low cost environmentally friendly energy.
It is important to learn from what the Cubans were forced into before it is too late. Since 2010 is the projected peak point of oil. The rate at which we are going now will not last. The population is only rising, and peoples demand are going up, while production of oil is going down. This is an infinite resource and will run out soon. Whatever it is, we need to do something to change our dependence on oil before a social, political, and economic downturn occur!
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