Moving out

By the early Summer all of the signs indicated, even to those living in the landlocked cities, that pollution in the oceans was reaching levels that could not sustain life.

Iterate until redundancy

A little reminder for those who find it hard to believe that humans have any effect on our environment.

 

View from a Rhino House: “You take the high road & I’ll take….”

In the US (where else?) a member of the Washington state House has reluctantly apologized for insisting that bicyclists cause pollution by exhaling carbon dioxide, to a local cycles store owner.

Ed Orcutt, a Republican (go on, you guessed that part, didn’t you?) member of the state House of Representatives Transportation Committee, said, not unreasonably, in an email to a bike shop owner that drivers & cyclists should both share the burden of preserving the roads they use. Then it all started to go downhill…..

“You claim that it is environmentally friendly to ride a bike,” Orcutt wrote to Dale Carlson, the proprietor of several bicycle shops who had voiced concern that a proposed $25 fee on bicycle sales of $500 or more would hurt his business.

“But if I am not mistaken, a cyclists has increased heart rate & respiration. Since carbon dioxide is deemed a greenhouse gas & a pollutant, bicyclist are actually polluting when they ride,” Orcutt wrote.

Yesterday, Orcutt managed an equally odd apology (to constituents, rather than the original recipient of his views on saving the planet).

“In looking back, it was not a point worthy of even mentioning so I apologize.”

Carlson wrote an email to lawmakers on the House Transportation Committee, saying cyclists should not be discouraged from an activity that is “healthy for humans & the planet.”

“I thought that was so off the wall – that (Orcutt) was being sarcastic or something,” Carlson later said.

For the record, Orcutt is correct that a human does produce more carbon dioxide while riding a bike than when sitting in a car, however the pollutants produced by the car (including the carbon dioxide, soot, carbon monoxide – et al) exceed the total human respiratory waste by something in excess of 2.000-fold – assuming there are 5 lazy cyclists in the damn thing. The question of relative damage to infrastructure from respective cyclist / automobile weight is fairly obvious I suspect – even to the good members of the Washington state political club.

Maybe we should all be a little more selective about which species on the planet we would like to see survive.

“Look at him, thoughtless, polluting wrecker….. It shouldn’t be allowed!”

View from a Rhino House: the sweet smell of success

After Beijing has suffered a fortnight of terrible air pollution, a campaign by a multimillionaire with a streak of showmanship who last year was selling canned fresh air, has restarted.

Chen Guangbiao, who made a fortune in the recycling business, yesterday was handing out cans of air, allegedly from far-off, less polluted, regions of the PRC.

The capital’s air quality is closely watched as it fluctuates from day to day but in the last 2 weeks it has hit (& more worryingly stayed at) readings that are well into the “risk” zone.

Air pollution is measured in terms of PM2.5 (particulate matter 2.5 micrometers in diameter) which are easily absorbed by the lungs & may result in serious heart & lung diseases. WHO (the World Health Organization) recommends a daily PM2.5 level of less than 20 & warns that levels greater than 300 create serious health problems.

Beijing’s air quality frequently tops-out at a level of 500, & on 12th January reached 755, the highest ever recorded.

To help make people more aware of the implications of the poor air quality Chen gave out cans of “Fresh Air”, with a cartoon of himself on the label saying, “Chen Guangbiao is a good man” (nothing like a little hubris to anger the Gods; this is not a man to stand next to during a thunder storm).

Chen concedes that his “tinned-air” effort is a gimmick, but says it’s a way to make people aware of the importance of protecting the environment. His campaign has attracted its share of confusion & ridicule but also serious exposure of the issue in the media.

The cans of air were free yesterday, but usually sell for 5 yuan, with proceeds going to poorer regions in the PRC.

Sales, which had previously been moderate, rocketed after the recent streak of bad air days, with 8 million cans sold in the last 10 days alone, Chen said.

Just think what this man could do in San Fransisco…..

Available in an exciting choice of colors.