California considering banning the incandescent lightbulb by 2112

http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/local/states/california/northern_california/16589248.htm">

SACRAMENTO -
Decrying the inefficiency of the common light bulb, a Democratic Assemblyman from Los Angeles wants California to become the first state to ban it - by 2012. Assemblyman Lloyd Levine says compact fluorescent light bulbs are so efficient that consumers should be forced to use them. The compact bulbs use a quarter the energy of a conventional light.

"Incandescent light bulbs were first developed almost 125 years ago, and since that time they have undergone no major modifications," said Levine, who represents Sherman Oaks. "It's time to take a step forward."

Levine is known for his environmental bent. Last year, he authored legislation to require large supermarkets to recycle plastic bags. Schwarzenegger signed that bill but has not yet taken a position on the light bulb bill.

Levine isn't the only one who's seen the light. Democrat Jared Huffman, who represents San Rafael, is working on a similar bill.

The idea has annoyed some Republicans, who say people should be allowed to make their own choices about which bulbs to buy. But Levine, who heads the Assembly's Utilities and Commerce Committee, points out that the new bulbs are so efficient that electric utilities give them away.

He said replacing one 75-watt incandescent light bulb with a 20-watt compact fluorescent bulb would prevent 1,300 pounds of carbon dioxide from being pumped into the atmosphere by electric plants. Carbon dioxide is a major component of the gases that most experts believe are responsible for global warming. Consumers could also save $55 over the life of a single bulb.

California Incentives for Renewables and Efficiency

I think we've got a head of steam! Alternative technologies have come of age. We have the technology...now we need the will. How many more cliches can I apply? We'll see... ;-) But seriously, folks -- here are the resources to help you green your business or home -- or both!

Database of State Incentives for renewable and efficiency - CALIFORNIA LINK

Fascinating compilaton of state-by-state rebates, incentives, programs to assist conversion to alternative energy sources! Highly recommended source for marketing and consumer research.
California's list page includes:

Green Building Incentives
Leasing/Lease Purchase
Local Grant Programs
Local Rebate Programs
Personal Deductions
Production Incentive
Property Tax exemption
State Loan Program
State Rebate Programs
Utility Grant Programs
Utility Loan Programs
Utility Rebate Programs
Alternative Fuel and Vehicle Incentives
Rules, Regulations & Policies
...and Related Initiatives:

Green Power Network
Wind Powering America

Best Practices manual for environmentally preferable purchasing

Environmentally Preferable Purchasing for Green California

BEST PRACTICES MANUAL

Access chapters of the Manual from the navigation bar on the right.
I Introduction
II Existing Laws, Mandates, and Guidelines
III Acquiring Environmentally Preferable Products

Finding existing Environmentally Preferable Products

Guiding Principles

Questions to ask before purchasing a product include:

Is the product less hazardous?

Is it reusable or more durable?

Is it made from recycled materials? Do we really need to buy a virgin product when the recycled version is just as good?

What happens to the product at the end of its life? Can it be recycled? Will the manufacturer take the product back? Will it need special disposal?

Does it conserve energy or water?

What is needed to properly maintain and/or operate this product?

Have its environmental attributes been certified by a non-biased, widely-accepted source?

Available Products and Sources

The California Department of General Services develops and administers contracts for goods and services that have environmental attributes. Many of these contracted products and services are healthier and safer for people, and protect the environment. Local governments have access to these contracts as well.

The United States Environmental Protection Agency maintains a Database of Environmental Information for Products and Services - a tool to make it easier to purchase products and services with reduced environmental impacts. Environmental information on hundreds of products and services is included in this database.

... And SoCalGREEN is bring this information into focus for Southern California. We give California green companies visibility in our own region...so that together we can grow and green our own backyards.

Removing uranium from drinking water

Uranium is a natural substance that leaches into rivers due to mining and other natural resource activities.

Moab, Utah is the site of a uranium mine that has caused concern that the Colorado River could be endangered.

Atlas Corporation operated a uranium mine near Moab, Utah and the byproduct of mining left a ten-million-ton pile of radioactive tailings. The pile is located less than 1,000 feet from the Colorado River. Proximity of the material to the watershed has been a concern. The US Senate has authorized the US Department of Energy to begin cleanup of these tailings with a budget of $22.8 million. In 2007 the uranium tailings will begin to be moved 15-20 miles away from the river. The project is expected to be completed by 2017.


Uranium Waste Pile Makes Colorado River Most Endangered

WASHINGTON, DC, April 14, 2004 (ENS) - "The Colorado River is not yet the most polluted river in the country, but it could become so if the current problems are allowed to fester," said Rebecca Wodder, president of American Rivers, announcing that the Colorado tops the organization's annual Most Endangered Rivers list. "A concerted national solution is necessary to problems that reach far beyond the banks of the river."

The most dangerous situation on the Colorado River is the Atlas uranium milling site across the Colorado River from Moab, Utah. There an estimated 110,000 gallons of radioactive groundwater seeps into the river each day from an unlined riverbank impoundment where some 10.5 million tons of radioactive waste is stored. Ammonia is also leaching into the waters of the Colorado River from the tailings pile.

Radioactive dust from the piles, dispersed by the persistent local winds, settles far from the sites. The piles produce radon gas, a deadly substance that has caused a five-fold increase in lung cancer among uranium miners.

American Rivers and its partners would like to see the waste moved away from the river, which supplies drinking water for 25 million people, including residents of Los Angeles and Las Vegas.

SOURCE: http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/apr2004/2004-04-14-01.asp

RMD Operations, LLC, a sister company to Water Remediation Technology, LLC (WRT)

April 27, 2006

Arvada, Colorado – RMD Operations, LLC, a sister company to Water Remediation Technology, LLC (WRT), has been issued a Radioactive Materials License by the State of California for the storage, removal and handling of natural uranium from
drinking water.

RMD Operations is the first company to obtain this license in California, a requirement for systems removing uranium from drinking water. WRT provides cost-efficient processes for the removal of radium, uranium and other contaminants
from water in conjunction with the safe disposal of
the treatment residuals by RMD. The license format
is an innovative multi-site approach that will apply
to all of WRT/RMD’s water treatment operations in
California.

No chemicals are added and no liquid
waste is generated, the radioactive residuals will be
transported to a licensed facility outside the State of
California. WRT’s complete solutions represent the
simplest and most effective processes for meeting
regulatory compliance. Available on a cost-pergallons
treated, long-term contract basis. For more
information, visit our website at www.wrtnet.com, or
call us at (303) 424-5355

Children clean up their school pollution problems

Green Squad
http://www.nrdc.org/greensquad

A website co-developed by Natural Resources Defense Council and Healthy Schools Network for middle-schoolers to help them investigate the school environment. Find the environmental problems, compare them to your school, and use the fact sheets to improve the environment at your school. There is also a Parent-Teacher Room and virtual library to help with the investigation.

www.nrdc.org/greensquad/ptr/intro.asp

http://www.healthyschools.org/www.nrdc.org/greensquad/ptr/intro.asp

Kids Against Pollution
http://www.kidsagainstpollution.org/index.html

Kids Against Pollution (KAP) is a multinational network of active youth dedicated to solving and preventing pollution problems through interactive educational projects and events in order to protect children's health and the planet. Poverty and prejudice are interconnected with pollution issues and therefore are part of KAP's mission.


Kids for Saving Earth
http://www.kidsforsavingearth.org

A website to help students and teachers learn about toxics that harm children and the environment.

Children's Health Protection
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
http://yosemite.epa.gov/ochp/ochpweb.nsf/content/homepage.htm

Provides the latest information on children's health and environmental hazards, including research, publications, health programs, news items, and links to over 50 other organizations. Go to Children, IAQ, Asthma, Molds, Radon, or Schools for more detailed information.

SOURCE: WRPPN P2 Listserv: siegel@ittn.org

What is sustainable fashion: Polyester vs Cotton vs Fast Fashion?

A very interesting article from the New York Times….
January 25, 2007

Can Polyester Save the World?

Sweaters and T-shirts that often cost less than a sandwich are found in stores like Primark who are leaders in the fast-growing “fast fashion” industry, selling cheap garments that can be used and discarded without a second thought. Teenagers love the concept. Old Navy and Target started the trend in the US since it allows them to economically update styles with speed.

But clothes — and fast clothes in particular — contribute carbon emissions that cause global warming. Both production and upkeep contribute to those emissions, says a report from Cambridge University, "Well Dressed?"

The report explores how to develop a more "sustainable clothing" industry — a seeming contradiction in an industry where fashions change every few months.

Suggestions: that people lease clothes and return them at the end of a month or a season, so the garments can be lent again to someone else and supplement that source with more durable clothing that can be worn for years.

Consumers looking for green products tend to focus on packaging and chemicals, issues that do not fit with fashion marketing.

"Natural" fibers like cotton, are seen as environmentally green. While organic cotton production is exemplary in the way it avoids pesticides, cotton garments waste energy because they must be washed frequently, use high temperature water, and generally require tumble-drying and ironing. Sixty percent of the carbon emissions generated by a simple cotton T-shirt comes from the 25 washes and machine dryings it will require, the Cambridge study found.

In contrast, a polyester garment takes more energy to make, since synthetic fabric comes from materials like wood and oil. But upkeep is far more fuel-efficient, since polyester cleans more easily and dries faster. Over its lifetime, a polyester garment uses less energy than a cotton T-shirt.

Treating cotton so that it does not absorb odors, reducing washing temperature from 122 degree F to 105 or below 98 degrees would save energy, but will require changes in washing machines and detergents.

Retailers could lease clothes for a season (just as wedding stores rent tuxedos) or buy back clothes for recycling. This would call for more enduring designs, fabrics and attitudes.

To cut back the use of carbons and make fashion sustainable, consumers will have to own less...and that is a difficult attitudinal shift.

Consumers have shown a willingness to pay more for clothes and jewels produced with social equality, the challenge now is to transfer that consumer strategy into the fashion world.

Remedy for Delta salt that affects SoCal drinking water

Salt has been a problem for years in the California Delta, and state officials are embarking on what could be a decades-long mission for a low-salt south estuary that will help farmers whose crops suffer as well as Californians who rely on drinking water pumped from the region.

UPDATE: Jan 23, 2007
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2007/01/23/18350955.php

"In Senator Simitian’s proposed SB27, a peripheral canal bill, would finish off the California Delta as we know it...water would be diverted directly from the Sacramento River through pumps to contractors and municipal users in Southern California without passing through and refreshing the Delta first. These fresh water flows, set at 2006 water export levels, would be diverted from ever entering the California Delta, thereby permanently altering Delta water quality in ways that would finish off our fragile pelagic fisheries and that would also bring great harm to Delta area agriculture.

And if freshwater is diverted from the Delta for direct delivery to Southern California, Delta area needs such as an ongoing and sustained levee maintenance program, emergency preparedness for catastrophic events, protection of local agriculture, wildlife, and habitat, and planning for sea level rise all become secondary in importance. Why? Because water reliability will be secured for the more populated portions of the state at the expense of local Delta stakeholders.

CONTACT:
Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla
Campaign Director
Restore the Delta
Making the Delta fishable, swimmable, drinkable, and farmable by 2010!
Barbara [at] restorethedelta.org
http://www.restorethedelta.org
ph: 209-479-2053
PO Box 691088
Stockton, CA 95269