Happy Thanksgiving (maybe..)

My parents live in Portland. They did not consult me before moving to Portland. If they had, I would have told them that it was a horrible idea. Admittedly, my primary reason for thinking so is simply that it takes me that much longer to get home when I want a meal that consists of something more than processed starch.

Regardless, I am absolutely thrilled to climb onto a train at the crack of dawn and sit there for six hours to get to Portland, because if there is one thing my parents do better than most, it is Thanksgiving dinner. In the spirit of my impending journey, I decided to look

into the Rose City's offering of unnatural abominations that can kill me.

And the winner is..... Chromium 6! Yes, it seems that the deadly chromium 6 is the flavor of the day, and lo and behold, Portland seems to offer an abundance of it. According to this guy, chromium 6 inexplicably spikes in concentration in the hours of 9am and 1pm. In accordance with tradition, nobody knows why.

Now, as far as profound medical effects, chromium 6 has been linked to ulcers of the septum, decreased pulmonary function, and adverse respiratory effects.

Come to think of it, that sounds quite similar to the profound medical effects of any family holiday.

Green Jobs

I came across this article about the fastest growing (salary-wise, at least) jobs that pertain to sustainability. Many of these are kind of obvious.. You have your run of mill environmental engineer jobs and environmental scientist jobs, but the interesting thing was some of the more mainstream jobs that, if you think about it, really do have the potential to improve overall sustainability.

Construction managers, for example, have alot of say as far as when, where, and how to use better and more environmentally friendly materials and practices in their construction projects.

Some of the even less obvious ones include plumbers, pipe fitters, carpenters, and electricians. Just goes to show that no matter what you do, odds are you have a chance of helping the planet while you do your job.

Another perspective...

Right now, it seems to me like the majority of the sustainability movement revolves around the "Save the (insert element of the natural biosphere here)!!!" Well.. I found this randomly today, and it really put things into a different perspective.

Yeah, humans have managed to alter the ecosystem in ways that may take a very long time (as far as human history goes) to recover. But the fact of the matter is, we are a microscopic blip on the vast timescales of Earth's history.

Yeah, we may get to the point one day where the Earth has a tough, if not impossible time sustaining life as we know it. But lets face it, if scientists and geologists are correct, a giant chunk of rock slammed into the Earth and ended life as the dinosaurs knew it, but here we are.

Moral of the story being, there is very little that we as humans could do to truly end the cycle of life or do any serious permanent damage on Earth. Only catch is, at this rate, it's going to reject our ways and go on just fine without us after a quick recovery (geologically speaking) if we don't make some big changes.

As the poster suggests, maybe we need to first start worrying about our well being as a species and a civilization before we can start worrying about the planet. Maybe on some level, we need to get people more involved in their own survival and that of their descendants, and the changes necessary for the planet to recover will come.

After all, as the poster says.. "The planet is fine... The people are fucked!"

LEED for weeds

The LEED certification for sustainable architecture and buildings has been around for a while now, and ever since, huge strides have been made in the quality and sustainability of buildings both public and private.

Of course, a big part of architecture has always involved the nature and quality of the landscaping that surrounds it. With that in mind, the American Society of Landscape Architects pioneered a new standard (still in its preliminary case study phases), that could eventually enable the landscaping surrounding buildings to clean the soil, groundwater, and even clean wastewater. Could be pretty neat once they get the initial studies done!