Exactly what is motivating protests over the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline?

This proposed pipeline would run from Canada to the U.S. Gulf Coast. It’s not carrying common crude oil though. This is thick, toxic bitumen that will not be refined until it reaches its destination – nearly 2,000 miles across the country, underground.

Specifically, the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline would be:

• 1,702 miles long
• 36 inches wide
• Capable of transporting 900,000 barrels per day (bpd)
• Running from Hardisty, Alberta to Nederland, Texas
• Transversing Montana, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas
• Expected to be operational by 2012

As of this writing, the pipeline is only a proposal, thus the protests urging President Obama not to give it his okay. Unfortunately, the State Department has just issued its last environmental impact report, essentially saying we have nothing to fear.

Here’s the problem. As outlined by the NRDC, the State Department’s reports do not address critics’ biggest concerns:

• Threats to the Ogallala Aquifer and the the Sandhills of South Dakota
• Effects of toxic pollution from corrosive tar sands refineries on the residents of Houston and other communities
• No existing federal safeguards for the safe transport of tar sands crude oil, one of the dirtiest and most dangerous forms of oil on Earth

Bottom line: The proposed Keystone XL tar sands pipeline is a toxic plan not worth the risk. We will all be much better served focusing our efforts on the six renewable energies the U.N.’s IPCC predicts will provide 77 percent of the world’s power by 2050.

Meredith Simonds Oil Alberta, bitumen, Canada, crude oil, Houston, Keystone XL, Keystone XL tar sands pipeline, Ogallala Aquifer, South Dakota, tar sands pipeline, Texas, toxic, U.S. Gulf Coast

Considering what we know of population growth over the next four decades, it seems the 2011 focus of World Water Week in Stockholm August 21 through 27 is right on target – Water in an Urbanizing World.

Between now and the year 2050, 95 percent of the world’s population growth is projected to be concentrated in urban areas. And we can expect a rate of growth so significant that population in urban areas alone will skyrocket to the same population of people on the entire planet today!

The Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI) hosts and organizes World Water Week, a global gathering established in 1991. The focus is different each time, though fitting within an over-arching theme that spans a number of years. For instance, the 2011 focus – “Water in an Urbanizing World” – fits within the wider theme of “Responding to Global Changes” that spans 2009 through 2012.

There are well over a hundred workshops, seminars and events going on this week, a number of which touch on the most timely and/or controversial of water issues, such as:

• Recovering Nutrients, Water and Energy from Waste: A Business Perspective
• Water and Climate in Focus: Raising the Profile of Water in the Global Climate Discourse
• Making Sure That Dams Don’t Create More Problems Than They Solve
• Challenges in Access to Drinking-Water: Equity, Safety and Sustainability
• Living on the Edge: Management in Coastal Cities
• Which Water Quality for Which Uses? A Regulators’ and Practitioners’ Perspective
• Forum on Water Stewardship in the Forest Products Industry
• Urban Water Reuse for Food Production: City to the Field
• Creating a Sustainable City – The Stockholm Experience

What seems to be missing from the lengthy list (that goes on for three web pages) is any reference to the use of water for energy. 

Water plays a significant role in the six renewable energies the U.N.’s IPCC predicts will provide 77 percent of the world’s power by 2050. Though this may be the focus of future World Water Weeks, it seems a fitting topic for “Water in an Urbanizing World.” Perhaps this is covered in “Living on the Edge: Management in Coastal Cities” or “Making Sure That Dams Don’t Create More Problems Than They Solve.” But wave power, ocean thermal energy conversion, hydropower and geothermal power seem topics broad and important enough to warrant a separate workshop, seminar or event, a la “Sustainably Harnessing Water to Power Urban Areas.”

Hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking,” also seems a topic worthy of exploration, as this process for natural gas extraction has so much potential for the chemical contamination of ground water systems.

Meredith Simonds Water cities, SIWI, Stockholm, Stockholm International Water Institute, urban, water, water power, World Water Week

What makes our slow conversion to a solar-powered world so frustrating is this: The sun provides enough solar energy in a single day to power the entire energy needs of the planet for a full year! The challenge to us is making the manufacturing process affordable compared to fossil fuel alternatives. So recent research on the immediate future of solar certainly seems welcome news, and from the unlikeliest of places – China.

As reported by Treehugger, Chinese researchers believe the cost of solar power will be on par with that of coal by 2015. Evidently, this is news China is taking to heart, as they recently announced plans to double their solar capacity by the end of the 2012. Doing so will move them from 7th place for installed solar capacity up to number five.

In the past, I’ve been critical of solar as it relates to China – not for a lack of their emphasis on solar energy, though clearly it could be better, but for the U.S. dependence on China for own solar panels.

As I blogged in July of last year:

What’s the point of investing in clean American energy only to inflate our carbon footprint by transporting the necessary parts from thousands of miles away?

But we’re dependent on China for solar panels, and countless other goods, for a reason – they make them cheaper than we do. How? Cheap labor, of course, which makes China’s news of more “affordable” solar bittersweet, if not just plain bitter.  Yes, The New York Times reports Chinese cities raising the wages of workers 20 percent, but that’s not saying much when factory workers in Southern China make only about 75 cents an hour!

What sort of trade-off are we making, sacrificing truly fair wages for Chinese workers in exchange for increased solar capacity?

Meredith Simonds Solar China, Solar, solar capacity, Solar Panels, solar power

In the first quarter of 2011, coal’s share of U.S.-generated electricity dropped to its lowest level in more than 30 years. Sounds like a pretty impressive eco-friendly soundbite, right? All that’s missing is this all-important follow-up fact. It’s not alternative fuels that are making up the difference, but an increase in electricity generated by natural gas – a fossil fuel the acquisition of which requires a hydraulic fracturing process that is anything by earth-friendly.

Unfortunately, that’s not the worst of fossil fuel news this week. The Obama administration has given formal approval for Shell to start exploratory drilling off the Arctic Coast. Specifically, Shell will be drilling in the Beaufort Sea, which is home to an abundance of marine wildlife – from whales and seals, to walruses and polar bears.

Shell, of course, claims to have the most impressive safety contingency plan in the world. But according to the top official of the U.S. Coast Guard, the Coast Guard is completely unprepared to respond to an oil spill in that area off the Arctic Coast.

Couple this disturbing fossil fuel news with developments on the nuclear energy front, and it’s clear where U.S. loyalties lie.

The Department of Energy has just announced its awarding of $39 million in grants for nuclear research to more than 30 institutions of higher learning in more than 20 states. Specifically, the DOE reports that the grants are designated as follows:

• $12.4 million for Fuel Cycle Research and Development
• $11.9 million for Reactor Concepts Research, Development, and Demonstration
• $4.9 million for Nuclear Energy Advanced Modeling and Simulation
• $9.8 million for Transformative Research

This emphasis on nuclear energy research is being attributed to the need for greater nuclear safety measures made evident in the wake of Japan’s Fukushima disaster. Too bad these same resources aren’t being put toward truly clean alternative energies that pose no safety threat at all. The same may be said of the emphasis on natural gas and oil.

Where is the love for alternative fuels?

Meredith Simonds Solar

If you want to green your child’s school supplies this year, it’s a good idea to start shopping at least two or three weeks in advance. Though you can probably find recycled paper, pen and pencil options in brick-and-mortar stores close to home, most of your shopping will need to be done online, meaning you need to allow for delivery time. Otherwise you’ll be missing out on an abundance of opportunities to take the greening of your child’s school supplies to the next level.

There may be a number of online retailers to which you may turn, but the “Kids” and/or “Teens + Dorm” sections at TheUltimateGreenStore.com are a great place to start. GreenOffice.com also has some respectable offerings, but not with the fun, kid-friendly flair of The Ultimate Green Store, which lives up to the name.

Look for:

1. Recycled folders and binders

2. Recycled, chlorine-free paper and notepads

3. Biodegradable, refillable pens

4. Recycled newspaper pencils and colored pencils

5. Biodegradable mechanical pencils

6. Soy crayons

7. Recycled, biodegradable markers and highlighters

8. Recycled staplers, staples and paper clips

9. Recycled scissors

10. Recycled rulers

11. Non-toxic glue and glue sticks

12. Eco-friendly backpacks

13. Eco-friendly lunch box systems

14. Organic cloth lunch bags

15. Reusable sandwich bags

16. Organic cloth napkins

17. Reusable water bottles

For double eco-friendly impact, include your child in the school supply shopping process.

Products from The Ultimate Green Store are hip and fun. The more your child knows about where their school supplies came from – and why they’re so cool (beyond the aesthetic factor) – the better environmental ambassadors they’ll be in helping to spread the green word.

Meredith Simonds Green Living biodegradable, Eco-Friendly, green, green school supplies, green store, non-toxic, organic, recycled, school supplies, The Ultimate Green Store