found_drama

The above image will not be appearing in this NowPublic.com story. When I first saw the request, I was a bit flattered. Neat, I thought. Then I read the story and thought Hmm… seems to miss the point.

In the spirit of the Creative Commons license that I use for my Flickr’d photos however¹ I figured that it would be okay anyway as long as they gave the due attribution. And I followed that up with my rebuttal.

The photo will not appear on the site however because they require folks to register as users first.

Did I hear someone say Totally Weaksauce?

In any event, my rebuttal would go something along these lines:

Regardless of how many resources it takes to produce either vehicle, the H2 (on the road) produces far more CO tonnage than the Prius. The argument that you’re going to drive a mile-for-mile more environmentall-friendly vehicle in the H2 is a garbage argument. Especially when they start adding the “miles to the life of the vehicle” aspect in there. 300,000 mile life expectancy on the H2? Highly doubtful when driving habits are factored in.

That being said, my rebuttal should scarcely be taken as a pro-Prius argument. Between the Sudbury-mined nickel, the on-going debates about battery disposal², and the not-quite-resolved high-voltage hazards posed to first responders, it seems silly for me to bother mentioning drivers’ habits again. Those Priuses trucking along on the highway at 85mph with a single occupant? Yeah, those guys are getting their fuel economy returns in a big hurry.

As usual: walk if you’re close enough, public transport if you’re not, and ask your friends and co-workers about rideshare options.

1. Attribution-NonCommercial -ShareAlike 2.0.[↩]
2. Sorry, no citation here. Had one at one point but the link is long-gone and the only things I’m finding in the Google are pro-hybrid “battery bounty” stroke-fests.[↩]

• Chernobyl-based birds avoid radioactive nests

  earth - 28 March 2007 - New Scientist Environment

  (tags: chernobyl science biology research environment evolution todo)

• Interstellar Ark :: Strange Paths

  (tags: blog future science scifi essay todo)

• Cocoa Dev Central: Learn Cocoa II

  via TUAW

  (tags: Cocoa dev tutorial Objective-C Mac OSX todo)

• The cost of leaving your PC on

  via Coding Horror (via LifeHacker): calculate the cost of running your computer ’round the clock (and determine how to reduce those costs); PC-centric (can we adapt for the Mac?)

  (tags: energy environment geek hardware tech todo)

Via the Wrangle: Vegetarian is the New Prius on The Huffington Post. *ahem* Let’s quote:

They noted that feeding animals for meat, dairy, and egg production requires growing some ten times as much crops as we’d need if we just ate pasta primavera, faux chicken nuggets, and other plant foods. On top of that, we have to transport the animals to slaughterhouses, slaughter them, refrigerate their carcasses, and distribute their flesh all across the country. Producing a calorie of meat protein means burning more than ten times as much fossil fuels–and spewing more than ten times as much heat-trapping carbon dioxide–as does a calorie of plant protein. The researchers found that, when it’s all added up, the average American does more to reduce global warming emissions by going vegetarian than by switching to a Prius.

This is bullshit.  Anytime I’ve seen figures like the ones that they mention above, those figures are always in reference to the large-scale commercial livestock industry.

Just like the Prius argument is riddled with its own set of special problems (e.g., you still need regular oil changes, still contribute to road congestion problems as a driver, your tires are still petrol-based, etc.), saying that “vegetarian is the new Prius” is not an environmental argument — it’s an anti-meat argument.  On its own, “switching” to vegetarianism doesn’t solve the problem.  Much of the same arguments raised here (e.g., the harvesting & distribution questions) can just as easily be applied to your out-of-season fresh fruit and vegetables.  The only real solution to that question is to go macrobiotic and buy local (if you buy at all).

I’m certainly no saint in this regard but I also don’t think that you have any business making an anti-meat argument like this if you’re not prepared to go all the way.

• Free to choose?
  via Economist.com (via /.): “Liberalism and neurology” - - what does neuroscience tell us about free will?
  (tags: essay neuroscience todo research)
• Federal Subsidies Turn Farms Into Big Business
  (tags: environment food todo)

• What the Democrats’ win means for the sustainable-food movement
  by Tom Philpott (in Grist): Victual Reality column (15 Nov 2006)
  (tags: food environment productivity essay todo)
• Take better cameraphone photos
  via Lifehacker
  (tags: photography tutorial)

• Project Orion: unpublished documents
  (a photoset on Flickr by Xeni)
  (tags: future history news surreal research)
• Please Standby
  Ars Technica article (via /.) about “standby” power consumption, energy and cost savings, and the “1W” initiative - - a “MUST READ”
  (tags: essay environment energy tech hardware future todo)