Environmental Economics

There is an environmental economics lesson in here somewhere

The Comics Curmudgeon:

Just beneath the corny wackiness of Beetle Bailey is of course a constant undercurrent of brutal violence, but I’ve never seen it quite so explicit as it is today. We see Camp Swampy as a set of mutually hostile fiefdoms, whose simmering resentment towards each other could escalate to open carnage based on the most minor of disputes, with little that the camp commanders can do to restrain their nominal underlings. The final panel is particularly harrowing: Sarge, still so keyed up that he probably can’t even feel those visible bruises yet, stalking off wide-eyed from the mangled corpse of his rival, which he’s left among the strewn garbage and its stink lines.

Something about common property resources, I think.

Unsubscribe

From the inbox:

The biggest energy and environmental impact of using Google and other internet services may not be where you think it is. The rapid spread of large data centers that power the internet is responsible for a growing energy use and share of carbon emissions. It is tempting to jump to the conclusion that the internet and all its services stand in the way of energy and environmental sustainability. Not necessarily so!

Thanks Natural Resources Defense Council ("Please note: The word 'National' does not appear in Natural Resources Defense Council")! I now know something I didn't give a fig about!

 

Some people say the same of my blogging*

Grand Lake St. Marys, the poster child for algae pollution in Ohio, is getting some federal help.

U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown's office announced this morning that the Department of Agriculture is making available $1 million toward the purchase of a methane digester.

What is a methane digester? The facility turns methane from manue into energy. Manure that is spread onto farm fields as fertilizer often washes off in the rain and ends up in streams and eventually lakes. The phosphorus from these wastes feed the toxic algae that grows in so many Ohio ponds and lakes.

Blue-green algae, also called cyanobacteria, is common in most Ohio lakes but grows thick in water feeding on phosphorus from manure, fertilizers and sewage that rain washes into streams and eventually into lakes.

The algae can produce liver and nerve toxins.

Grand Lake St. Marys has been suffered with excessive algae for three years. Warnings to stay away from the water have hurt tourism at the western Ohio lake. This year the warnings are not as grave.

Quasar Energy Group of Cleveland was sought the $1 million federal grant for the $2.24 million facility.

The facility likely would be located south of the lake in a central spot in the watershed and take six months to build. The amount of manure to be processed isn't set, but three producers in the watershed have said they can each supply up to 50 tons of manure daily.

via www.dispatch.com

*Re: last line of the story

I hope no one asks for my e-mails that mention "Dan Patrick"

I took a risk, clicked on a NYTimes article and was relieved to find that it is still free (www.nytimes.com):

A conservative research group in Michigan has issued a far-reaching public records request to the labor studies departments at three public universities in the state, seeking any e-mails involving the Wisconsin labor turmoil.

The group, the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, declined to explain why it was making the Freedom of Information Act request for material from professors at the University of Michigan, Michigan State and Wayne State University. But several professors who received the records request, which was first reported by Talking Points Memo on Tuesday, said it appeared to be an attempt to intimidate or embarrass professors who are sympathetic to organized labor.

This records request, which was filed Friday, comes several days after the Republican Party of Wisconsin made a records request to a prominent University of Wisconsin history professor, William Cronon, who had severely criticized the state’s Republican governor, Scott Walker, over his push for legislation to weaken public-sector unions.

The Mackinac Center, which describes itself as a nonpartisan research and educational institution and receives money from numerous conservative foundations, asked the three universities’ labor studies faculty members for any e-mails mentioning “Scott Walker,” “Madison,” “Wisconsin” or “Rachel Maddow,” the liberal talk show host on MSNBC.

But seriously, should I forward all of my *.edu email to gmail? Is Google trying to grab market share by conspiring with the nonpartisan research and educational institutions?

And just think of all the jobs it will create

As villages and cities across Ohio prepare to send out their street sweepers this spring, state environmental officials are considering a proposal that would let them recycle the debris.

The Ohio Environmental Protection Agency said the sweepings could be used to help build or repair roads and medians or even be mixed with salt to help keep cars from sliding off icy highways during winter.

The idea, the agency said, could save money in dumping fees and keep thousands of tons of debris out of landfills.

Cities would have to remove all the twigs, cigarette butts, crushed cans and other trash that street sweepers routinely vacuum up. And cities would have to run tests to make sure there are no hazardous concentrations of metals or other pollutants.

via www.dispatch.com

According to the article, it only costs $40 per ton to dump the sweepings in the landfill.  Based on a quick Google search, the estimated external costs of a ton of stuff dumped in a landfill is somewhere betwixt $3 and $80.  Any idea of the costs/benefits of not dumping?

July 23, 2010 Urban Word of the Day

Congreenient

The practice of recycling, or being green, only when convenient. A person who only recycles when it is convenient to do so.

I would have recycled my Fiji water bottle, but my plastic bin was full. I guess I'm just congreenient.

Not funny: unit pricing for trash would overcome the congreenient problem.

Coase Avoided

My current town...

Recycling in Char-latte

From the city of my glorious birth (Charlotte's new ...):

Beginning next week, Charlotte's recycling program gets an overhaul, with new bins and a biweekly collection schedule.

Under the initiative, known as "Recycle It!", residents have received 96-gallon green recycling carts to replace the older 16-gallon red bins. And with a new waste collection company, the city will reduce its pickup from weekly to biweekly. ...

The new waste management equipment also will be able to process all recyclables together, said Solid Waste Management Director Bruce Gledhill. Before, collectors had to separate recyclables into two different compartments - containers or fibrous paper products - to be processed on different machines.

The new equipment was installed in December and cost around $7 million, he added. ...

The cutback in recycling collection is expected to save the city $15 million over the next five years and $43 million over the next decade, Curtis said.

This seems to pass the benefit-cost test unless the discount rate is r=0.35 over five years or r=0.61 over 10 years.

But, this sounds big brother scary!

The recycling bins for Charlotte also include new technology: Every bin comes with a radio frequency identification chip that tracks the serial number of the recycling bin and the residential address to which it is assigned. The city says the chips will allow the city to manage cart information more efficiently and to better focus environmental education to certain neighborhoods.

Next thing you know, they'll want to embed a radio frequency identification chip in my neck. Lookout for the libertarian outrage in the comments section.

"You guys are interested in cow farts, right?"

Well, I'm offended you even had to ask.

The title comes from a message from David Zetland (at aguanomics) who, besides asking questions with obvious answers, thinks posts about cow farts cheapen his blog.  To that I say, nothing can cheapen our blog--er, or something like that.

The World Watch Institute has released a new report arguing that the FAO’s estimate of livestock’s total contribution to global GHG emissions (18%) is a serious underestimate and that the true footprint of livestock production is around 51% of higher.
 
It bases this figure on the claim that the FAO report fails to count, misallocates or overlooks additional emissions that are attributable to livestock.
 

With sugar on it

Recycle, pretty please:

Public service announcements, fliers, and in Raleigh's case, corporate-sponsored gift cards, are all aimed at getting North Carolina households to do their part in complying with a state law kicking in Oct. 1 that bans plastic bottles from landfills.

But don't look for the trash cops to come knocking if soda bottles end up in your garbage cans.

"That's not the spirit of the law," said Scott Mouw, the state's recycling director. "Clearly, this is more of a law of spirit or intent, everyone recognizing the positive reasons to recycle."

Any state enforcement efforts will be aimed at haulers who show up at landfills with big loads of banned material. Most local governments don't have the power or the interest in dogging residents who don't recycle.

Really, all the enforcement they need to do is tell the second-grade-recycling-fanatics to recycle plastic bottles.