True Progress

One of the real driving forces in any human exploration has been intense need. In the initial human migrations around the globe, people explored out of a need for food, and a need to be safe from other potentially hostile bands–there is safety in distance. During the European colonization period the nations and kingdoms of Europe felt an intense need for hard currency (gold) and other physical wealth (spices, gems, etc.) to support their mercantilist economic systems. In today’s world, many hope for human exploration of space in a noble adventure to make our mark in the galaxy, but what will really pull us off the planet will be our needs. Read the rest of this entry »

Sustainable technology is an idea that may produce a new level of real progress around the world. But often today, the term is more of a marketing badge that may or may not prove to be true when put to the test. I have written before about sustainable technology and some of the problems with realizing that idea. In this article, let’s consider a set of objectives that we can use to actually measure whether something is sustainable. Read the rest of this entry »

In honor of Earth Day on 4/22 (a little late, I know), let’s consider the relationship between “green” production and conservation.

Our question is does conservation or “green” production result a greater positive impact regarding our use of resources. I am going to take the case of paper, as it is relatively simple product to manufacture, is a major waste product, and can be easily recycled.

As of 2000, paper consumption in the United States was approximately 324 kg per person. Americans recycle approxmately 38% of that total, and of the remainder that is thrown away, it makes up nearly 40% of the municipal waste stream eventually being incenerated or deposited in a landfill. Recycling has been growing slowly, however, only growing from 20% in 1921 to 38% today. Consumption has grown faster increasing more than 1% compounded annually or over 23% since 1990. Read the rest of this entry »

Some would say progress is continually achieving a higher and higher level of capability as individuals and collectively as a society. For example, we can buy improved cell phones, computers, and automobiles each year. Others would say that progress involves reaching a state of balance such that we are not destroying any nonrenewable resources and not using any more renewable resources than we produce. But, perhaps either of those cannot be achieved consistently without the other.

Recently, an initiative launched in Japan seeks to
increase the average lifespan of homes to 200 years. That would conserve resources as fewer home building materials would be needed over the long term. Homes would serve several generations before replacement and include flexibility in arrangement to meet the needs of a variety of families.

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So, how long will it be before our trash is more valuable than existing iron mines?

The municipal waste collection system in the United States is very efficient at removing whatever materials we place in our trash bag. So much so, that we normally find it difficult to imagine the scale of the operation, and especially the scale of the mountain of material that is buried in our landfills each year. I wonder how long it will be before the sources of metals in our landfills is more valuable than our sources of metal ore. Read the rest of this entry »