The Better Show
Good Reasons to Go Green
Episode Summary
Why going green is the best thing for you and the planet. We'll explore how to reduce your carbon footprint, use less water and waste less food.
Episode Notes
We discuss why going green is the best thing for you and the planet. We'll explore how to reduce your carbon footprint, use less water and waste less food.
Show Notes
- 1:49—March shares a stat from the UN that water demand will increase by 55% between 2000 and 2050.
- 3:03— Ian wonders whether it’s possible for us to manufacture the water we will need in the future.
- 5:12— March notes that 3 million people annually die from the affects of pollution.
- 5:54— We discuss the non-local aspects of pollution and how generation of pollution in one area can negatively affect a location far away due to wind and ocean currents.
- 7:49— March notes the trend that as people become more affluent, they tend to have fewer children.
- 8:37 —An study from 2008 estimated economic losses due to deforestation and poor land management are estimated to be between 2–4.5 trillion dollars.
- 9:19— We discuss the fairly recent trend of bee colony collapse and why healthy bees are necessary for food production across the globe.
- 9:51— Darren shares that California almonds are particularly dependent upon transient bees that are trucked in from as far away as Louisiana every year to pollinate the almond trees.
- 10:39— March introduces the term Anthropocene and explains what it means about the effects that the human species can have on a planetary scale.
- 11:42— March reflects on wisdom from the comic Spiderman that “with great power comes great responsibility.”
- 12:22— Darren and March explain the economic concept of “the tragedy of the commons” that creates challenges when attempting to tackle large-scale non-local challenges like environmental protection.
- 13:38— March quizzes Darren and Ian on their favorite animals.
- 13:51— Darren shares a little about his favorite animal, the moon jellyfish 🌑♓, and notes that he is fascinated by it’s completely transparent body and their seemingly perpetual state of bliss.
- 14:57— Ian drops some knowledge on the crew with the Latin species name for the moon jelly.
- 15:04— Ian shares that his favorite animal is the tall (and friendly) giraffe. 🦒
- 15:09— March’s favorite animal is the frog 🐸, with its transformative lifecycle and wide variety of appearances.
- 16:08— March begins to reveal the data on the current effects that pollution and environmental decay are having on each of our favorite species.
- 15:59— Good news for Darren! The moon jelly is not currently an endangered species. 👍 Not-so-fast, though. Rising ocean temperatures are causing them to migrate north affecting other species that rely on them. So fewer “tasty jelly snacks” for the tuna and the sea turtles.👎
- 17:44— Bad news for Ian. The giraffe just got added to the list of vulnerable species as their numbers have dropped 40% in the past 15 years and there are only 80,000 of them left in the wild. 👎
- 19:12— Good news for Ian, though. Turns out that it is legal to OWN a giraffe in Washington state so maybe he can keep one as a pet. 👍 March shares what it will take to properly maintain Ian’s potential new pet giraffe.
- 21:40— Darren suggests maybe just getting a membership to the zoo instead of owning a giraffe but we learn that won’t accommodate Ian’s desire to ride his giraffe and start a side hustle called Uber Giraffe tohelp pay for the giraffe maintenance.
- 23:35— Darren shares a story about his early interest in environmental issues and describes an idea he had for a portable desalination device.
- 26:01— Darren describes aGreener.com— a business idea he had for measuring the carbon output of Internet activity.
- 28:12— Ian notes how, in many cases, there are incentives for people to keep their own communities clean since it makes them more desirable places to live.
- 29:32— March shares his personal experience and interest in environmental issues and describes being overwhelmed at the scale of the problem.
- 30:58— March describes his recent experience with the air quality on a trip to Beijing and Shanghai.
- 32:29— Ian shares his perspective and optimism about making an impact on a global scale problem by leveraging the power of community.
- 35:29— Leveraging the power of economics and voting with one’s dollars.
- 36:11— Ian’s share his experience at Rochester Institute of Technology in New York and describes how he and a friend pioneered a program to reduce the energy efficiency of the campus and save the university tens of thousands of dollars per year on electricity.
- 38:00— Ian’s effort at RIT eliminated over 186 metric tons of CO2 emissions — the rough equivalent of burning 20,000 gallons of gasoline!! 😮🎉🌎
- 39:40— Not stopping there, Ian went on to another macro-scale effort where he identified an unused piece of property that could be sold to a conservation group and the proceeds of the sale used to create a fund for the city of Gonzalez, New York.
- 41:11— We transition to providing tips on how to make your own individual contribution to the environment, starting with reducing water usage.
- 42:31— Ian wants to prep his car with a “pre-cleaner” before a big rainstorm and let the rain clean it for him.
- 43:03— We share an idea about planting climate-appropriate plants and considering planting a rain garden to increase the permeable amount of land.
- 46:05— We measure our individual carbon output. Darren is the carbon hog 🐷 of the group. March and Darren’s footprint is bigger due to a lot of air travel and Ian absolutely crushes it by driving an electric car.
- 47:13— We compare our footprints against the averages for people in other countries.
- 48:54— March discusses how transportation is a big portion of our carbon output and offers some tips on how to reduce your transportation impact.
- 51:26— Ian shares his idea about the power of awareness in affecting change noting that just talking about new, more efficient technologies like the Hyperloop adds them to our vernacular and makes them seem more real.
- 52:33— March suggests considering Skype as a very viable alternative to flying for a business meeting.
- 52:27— We talk about some easy changes to make around the home to improve efficiency.
- 53:04— Darren is a fan of LED bulbs due to their high efficiency and super-long life. He jokingly suggests including them in your will since they likely will outlive you. 😆
- 53:55— March talks about the benefits of insulation both for heating and cooling efficiency and how easy it is to add blown-in insulation in the attic.
- 54:55— March experienced a massive 80% reduction in his heating bill after adding insulation to his attic. ❄️🤯💯
- 55:23— Ian suggests getting a programmable thermostat for your home and March notes that doing that is very similar to what Ian and his classmate did in college to improve the efficiency of the school’s computer lab.
- 56:43— We learn that glass is an excellent material to recycle and Darren shows his GenX age by making a Seinfeld reference. 👴
- 57:08— March notes that a big part of the savings that comes from recycling is in the provision of goods — all the energy needed to source and transport new raw materials for new products.
- 58:25— We move to exploring the environmental effects of the food we eat and learn that food production alone accounts for 19% of all greenhouse gases.
- 59:11— Do you love asparagus? We do too, but unfortunately it is one of the most carbon-heavy vegetables available because of the costs to transport it from South America. 🛬💨
- 59:40— We discuss the huge benefits to the environment of eating locally as much as you are able.
- 1:01:44— March provides his #1 tip for improving one’s environmental impact: reduce the amount of wasted food.
- 1:03:49— Darren shares an easy way to remember how best to store your food at home.
- 1:04:00— March explains what carbon offsets are and where you can buy your own to offset your own carbon footprint and he commits to buying a few credits to offset his own footprint.
- 1:06:22— Ian shares his discovery of Beyond Burger: a veggie burger that looks, tastes, and bleeds like a regular beef patty.
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