Senators see the impact of Global Warming

A group of US Senators, including Maine Republican Susan Collins, recently toured Alaska and saw first-hand the impact of the warming environment on that state.

"Collins said Friday that she witnessed coastal erosion that threatens Eskimo villages in Alaska, devastation in forests in Alaska and the Yukon, and evidence of melting permafrost that caused utility poles to topple over."

Collins has increased her resolve to promote legislation that limits greenhouse gasses. With more and more republicans (not the President, of course) acknowledging that greenhouse gasses (mostly the result of industrial and utilities emissions) do contribute to global warming, it appears likely that laws will be enacted in the coming years. We are certain to see resistance from the kings of industry during the process. It is my continuing mantra that corporate profits must not come at the expense of the environment. With this in mind, I applaud Senator Collins and her colleagues.

My Garden

The summary description of this Blog metions the environment, land preservation, and my own gardens. Today, I would like to take a moment to talk about my own gardening experience.

First of all I would like to explain that I have very little formal knowlege in how to grow things. I have a few books that I take snippets from, I read some stuff in the newspaper, and I pick up hints here and there from family, friends and co-workers. Much of what I have learned is the result of trial-and-error. It's quite gratifying to put a seed or a seedling in the ground and have it eventually grow and creates flowers and/or food for my enjoyment.

Currently I have three "gardens" at my home, a vegetable garden, an herb garden and a "shade" flower garden. I also have a few things planted here and there that may develop into a garden, or may get moved elsewhere. We have long-range plans to add a porch and a garage to the house, so there's not a lot of "around the house" lanscaping going on at the moment.

Today I want to talk about my vegetable garden. It's quite small, something like 15'x20', depending on how aggressive the crab grass and clover are. This year I planted tomatoes, peppers, pumkins, cucumbers, gourds, broccoli, onions (scallions) and carrots, with sunflowers, marigolds and basil thrown in for color and pest control. It's kind of crowded, and it would have been moreso had I got my pole beans planted. Alas, the spring was just too wet and I was unable to find the time to prepare extra space for the beans.

Some results thus far:

• Carrots and onions are coming along nicely, it would appear. 'Course, you never know with the carrots until you pull them out of the ground. My soil has a high clay content and is far from fluffy, especially given all the rain we had in the spring. The onions grow well, but came up fairly sparsely this year.
• I start the broccoli inside, always later than I should. I started about 10 plants, only four of which survived the transplanting process. The foliage has been chewed on a lot, and no florettes have appeared yet, but I think I'm OK. I've never treated broccoli for pests before, so I'm thinking that I don't need to. Experience has shown that the broccoli likes to have room to develop its flowers, and I am afraid that they might be feeling a little cramped. No moving them now, however.
• Cukes didn't come up on the first planting, so I replanted them in mid June. They popped up nicely and are now starting to flourish. We harvested the first cuke of the season on Saturday. It got big real fast, but it was tasty. We got a lot of cukes last year, but it doesn't yet look like we'll get that kind of bounty this year. Hopefully we'll have enough to make a couple batches of pickles, however.
• We did gourds for the first time this year, for decoration purposes. They've really taken off and I already have one that is the size of my fist. Our pumpkins, however, are another story. They've always grown like crazy in our garden, but this year they just haven't done anything. The vines aren't growing and the leaves are very small. I don't have any idea what the problem is, unless I wasn't supposed to plant them in the same spot as last year. Another possible issue is that I haven't, ahem, been real good at the weeding this year.
• Peppers were planted from organic seedlings purchased at the Maine Organic Gardening Supply store in Topsham (can't find a web site). I've had spotty success with peppers in the past, with the exception that I got way more superchilis than I could possibly use last summer. Green/red bell peppers, however? Only a few. I've got a couple of baby ones started this year, but it seems kind of late. Hopefully they will have time to grow to maturity.
• As with many people, tomatoes are my favorite vegetable to grow. There just is no comparison to the taste of a ripe red tomato taken directly off the vine. Last year my tomatoes came down with a fungus that I couldn't get rid of, and my yields were very poor, with poor quality. This year I put them in a different part of the garden (and used a different variety - Early Girl), and the results have been much better. Some of the plants are suffering a bit from the fungus, but they are much stronger than last year and already have a lot of fruit on the vines. In fact, we also harvested the first tomato the other day, which was delicious. I think that the plants are a little more snug than they ought to be, but they are doing pretty well nevertheless. Not a grade A performance this year, but much better than last year's D-. I have also planted some basil between the plants to keep the worms away, but the basil is overshadowed by the tomatoes and might not get big enough to make a difference. I haven't noticed any pests on the tomatoes yet however.
• Finally, the sunflowers are just beginning to develop flower buds, and the marigolds are also slow to blossom. I saw a couple of buds on the marigolds a couple of weeks ago, but no flowers yet. Not sure what the problem is there.

So there's a nutshell summary of the vegetable garden. I haven't tended to it the way that I normally do because I've been so busy and because there has been so much rain. I would prefer to spend some time every day/evening tending to weeds and making sure things are going OK, but that hasn't been the case this year. I feel lucky that things are going as well as they are, given the circumstances. I'll give another progress report in another couple of weeks.

Bio Oil

According to this story from the Yahoo headlines today, a University of Idaho grad student is working on technology to convert wood into "Bio Oil". "Juan Andres Soria says he has developed a process that turns wood into bio-oil, a substance similar to crude oil."

"The process — in which sawdust and methanol are heated to 900 degrees Fahrenheit to create the bio-oil — is already drawing some interest from energy and wood product companies, Soria said.

So far, Soria's research has focused on sawdust from Ponderosa pine trees, although he said any variety of tree could be used, including fast-growing varieties like those being cultivated for wood pulp. "

I have questions that aren't answered by this story, such as:

• What is the environmental impact of the manufacturing process? Is it a "clean" process?
• How efficient is the manufacturing process, with regard to energy consumed vs. usable energy produced?
• How efficient is the final product, in comparison to other fuel sources?
• Can trees be grown fast enough to sustain production? (After all, we don't want this to result in clear cut forests and, therefore, another "non-renewable" source).

I'm not being skeptical by asking these questions, mind you, just curious. Any renewable source of fuel that reduces or replaces or reduces our current utilization of the Earth's finite petroleum reserves is a good thing. I would like to know how good a thing this is.

Another question is, why is this news? According to the Natural Resources Canada web site, Bio Oil is currently in production. (This web site is fantastic, by the way. It's easy to navigate and has lots of information about alternative energy sources that are currently being used or studied). The Yahoo story (from AP, I believe) makes no mention of this, which seems to be slipshod reporting. A couple quick Google searches came up with many references to existing technology, including this paper from Ensyn that appears to answer some of my technical questions, at least as they relate to Ensyn's own Bio Oil production process. Sadly, but not surprisingly, most of the hits reference Bio Oil produced and consumed outside the US.

I don't know if the technology or the process or the resultant products in the Universtity of Idaho research are significantly different or improved from existing technology. If so, it is definitely an angle worth pursuing.

I hope that people continue to find new renewable ways to create energy to fulfill our ever-growing needs. (I also hope that we can somehow curb that need, but that's another post.) As an added benefit, if Bio Oil can be produced while sustaining the forests and Bio Diesel can be produced from soybeans, then it may remain economically beneficial for owners of forests and farms to continue to use their lands for forestry and agricultural purposes, rather than housing or retail development. This will help contain urban sprawl and maintain the natural beauty of our land. And maintaining the natural beauty of the land is my number one goal for the environment.