The Sequel to the Last Blog

If you're curious about a scenario of the earth without humanity, check out "Earth Without People", an essay by Alan Weisman in the February 6, 2007 issue of Discover magazine. Weisman describes some possible scenarios. His article includes the the chart shown here, which lays this out on a timeline.

Think Before You Stomp

Jonas Salk, the man who developed the polio vaccine, once said "If all the insects on earth disappeared, within 50 years all life on earth would disappear. If all humans disappeared, within 50 years all species would flourish as never before." There would be some debate as to the precise figures and outcomes here but the point is well taken in my opinion. I'd like for anyone who reads this post to leave a comment, big or small, on a few ideas for the future that could change the figures of that comment.

Codrin...You Eat Alot of Carrots

Codrin consumes about 200 baby carrots per day. According to the nutrition data website 15 grams of baby carrots will give you 41% of your daily recommended dose of vitamin A, 1% vitamin C, 2% dietary fiber, 1 gram of sugar and all with just five calories. 15 grams is about the weight of one baby carrot

So if all of the above is accurate then Codrin gets 200%(twice the amount) of his daily recommended dose of vitamin C, 400%(four times the amount) of daily recommended fiber, 200 grams of sugar and 8200%(82 times the amount) of daily recommended dose of vitamin A. All that within 1000 calories (that's half the amount of calories an average person consumes in one day).

Vitamin A is a fat-soluble vitamin required for vision, growth, reproduction, cell growth and differentiation, and a healthy immune system. Sounds pretty good to me. But the recommended dietary allowance (RDA) of vitamin A for men over 18 is 900 mcg [micrograms](3000 IU) and for women it's 700 mcg (2,310 IU). Excessive vitamin A intake is associated with an increased risk of fracture due to low bone density.

Too much of a very good thing. I'd say cut down from 200 to about 50-100 per day before you get type 2 diabetes and you break your hip trying to stand...oh yeah, and I'm pretty sure you don't want to look like these guys.

My artist statement for my senior show is related somewhat to our 21st century challenges class so I added it.

We waste the space that we have. Old, abandoned buildings are left unused and left to crumble as we expand around them. The chaotic nature of my work represents destruction. Statues are often perceived as symbols of permanence; however, they have been fragmented and distorted in my work to give a sense of the temporal. Art—like buildings, like lives—breaks down, as do the subjects of my work.

—Michael W. Shore

The Human Machine

Turns out that running the human machine for 45 years on food-calories uses just about the same amount of energy as contained in four barrels of oil, each of which has a whopping 5.8 million BTUs of energy.

I’d say we get pretty decent mileage and we run off of biofuels. (yeah I made that picture)

Just Multiply That by About 300,000,000

Since I have to transport art back and forth to school during the 2008 – 2009 school year. I need to use a truck. I drive a Ford F-150 v8 that gets about 18 miles per gallon. I live approximately 26 miles away from Birmingham so double that because it is a forward and back trip. 52 miles per school day. Multiply that by the five days a week I go to school. 260 miles per week. Multiply that number by 36 school weeks. 9360 miles per year. Divide that number by my miles per gallon and you get 520. I used 520 gallons of gasoline this year just going to school. If the average price of gas in Alabama is $2.14 per gallon then I spent $1,112.80 on gas…I think it’s time to get a hybrid. At least next year at the Citadel I will not have a car.

Clean Coal?

Coal is the dirtiest of all fossil fuels. When burned, it produces emissions that contribute to global warming, create acid rain and pollute water. With all of the hype surrounding, biofuels, hydropower, and nuclear energy you might be forgiven for thinking that grimy coal is finally on its way out. But coal is no sooty remnant of the Industrial Revolution -- it generates half of the electricity in the United States and will likely continue to do so as long as it's cheap and plentiful [source: Energy Information Administration]. Clean coal technology seeks to reduce harsh environmental effects by using multiple technologies to clean coal and contain its emissions.

­Coal is a fossil fuel composed primarily of carbons and hydrocarbons. Its ingredients help make plastics, tar and fertilizers. A coal derivative, a solidified carbon called coke, melts iron ore and reduces it to create steel. But most coal -- 92 percent of the U.S. supply -- goes into power production [source: Energy Information Administration]. Electric companies and businesses with power plants burn coal to make the steam that turns turbines and generates electricity.

“When coal burns, it releases carbon dioxide and other emissions in flue gas, the billowing clouds you see pouring out of smoke stacks. Some clean coal technologies purify the coal before it burns. One type of coal preparation, coal washing, removes unwanted minerals by mixing crushed coal with a liquid and allowing the impurities to separate and settle.”

“Other systems control the coal burn to minimize emissions of sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides and particulates. Wet scrubbers, or flue gas desulfurization systems, remove sulfur dioxide, a major cause of acid rain, by spraying flue gas with limestone and water. The mixture reacts with the sulfur dioxide to form synthetic gypsum, a component of drywall.
Low-NOx (nitrogen oxide) burners reduce the creation of nitrogen oxides, a cause of ground-level ozone, by restricting oxygen and manipulating the combustion process. Electrostatic precipitators remove particulates that aggravate asthma and cause respiratory ailments by charging particles with an electrical field and then capturing them on collection plates.”
­­“Gasification avoids burning coal altogether. With integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) systems, steam and hot pressurized air or oxygen combine with coal in a reaction that forces carbon molecules apart. The resulting syngas, a mixture of carbon monoxide and hydrogen, is then cleaned and burned in a gas turbine to make electricity. The heat energy from the gas turbine also powers a steam turbine. Since IGCC power plants create two forms of energy, they have the potential to reach a fuel efficiency of 50 percent [source: U.S. Department of Energy].”