San Jose Tallow

Three weeks ago, I visited the San Jose Tallow Company located on Berryessa Road for work. Before given the project, I did not know what the company actually did. It turns out that San Jose Tallow is a rendering company that takes in grease, food scraps, bone, fat, and dead stock. Rendering was a new concept to me. Rendering is taking decease animal tissue and converting it to material that can be reused such as lard and tallow. Tallow is “the harder fat of sheep, cattle, etc., separated by melting from the fibrous and membranous matter naturally mixed with it, and used to make candles, soap, etc.” (Dictionary.com). The purpose of the visit was to find a company that did cooking oil recycling for city events that will zero waste. There were not many companies in San Jose that specialized in recycling cooking oil.

The visit was something I will never forget. As we arrived, the stench stopped us from our conversation. It should not have surprised us so much but the smell was something that could not be ignored. As we drive down the path, we see on our left two dead cows. At first it seemed disgusting but was ultimately was glad to know that it was going to be used for other purpose. After touring the facility, we met a man named Richard who is the executive Director for EASI, a company that purifies cooking oil to distribute for biodiesel.

The image above are two dead cows at San Jose Tallow that will be rendered (personal image).

It was very exciting to know that the oil that we collect from city events would not be wasted and used for a good purpose. The loop has been closed for the cooking oil. It first starts from the event, secondly makes its way to San Jose Tallow, third to EASI, fourthly to Coast Oil that created the biodiesel by creating the mixture, and lastly the consumer who buys it for their biodiesel vehicles. I believe that more citizens should utilize tallow companies. It takes the burden off about what to do with used oils and puts it to good use. I am glad that San Jose has a family owned company that does well for the environment.

Garbage Patch in the Pacific Ocean

A friend of mine told me about this floating garbage patch in the Pacific and decided to find out more information about it. I never heard of the event and was very curious. I listened to the National Public Radio, a Sea Captain that first discovered the plastic garbage patch. It turns out that the patch is twice the size of Texas. The area was calm and windless. Low flying planes and ships can see the patch. The depth of the trash can be thirty feet below the surface. No one really paid too much attention to the patch because it is not a common way of travel. This Great Pacific Garbage Patch is of growing concern due to the possibility of marine animals feeding off the plastic particles in the patch.

The patch in the eastern Pacific “consists of 80% plastics and weights some 3.5 million tons” (SFGate). This accumulation is occurring because of the currents in the area. As seen in the image below, the circular motion keeps the garbage rotating in the area.

Some of the garbage is making its way onshore in the western United States. With such a large amount of garbage comes a large amount of animals trapped. According to the Greenpeace, “at least 267 different species are known to have suffered from entanglement and ingestion of marine debris including seabirds, turtles, seals, sea lions, whales and fish” (www.unep.org). Majority of the debris, 80%, are land base garbage and the remaining are ocean based. There are efforts from countries around the world to clean up the mess made by many industrialized countries. Unfortunately, it seems as though the problems will persist so long as we use synthetic materials and dispose of them inappropriately. People believe that zero waste may be the solution to the problem. The only drawback is getting people to zero waste every aspect of their lives. This would be the hardest step. The floating garbage patch is out there in the ocean waiting to be cleared but when it will happen I do not know.

References

National Public Radio. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=15713260.

SF Gate. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/10/19/SS6JS8RH0.DTL.

GreenPeace. http://www.unep.org/regionalseas/marinelitter/publications/docs/ plastic_ocean_report.pdf.

Lake Victoria and the Nile Perch

During this semester for one of my classes, we watched the movie Darwin's Nightmare. The movie was about the country of Tanzania and their biggest export: the Nile Perch. To many people, they think that Tanzania is comparatively a better country in Africa because of their export. Unfortunately, this is far from the truth of the conditions in the country. Tanzania is in fact in a famine though there are million of fish that can feed the hungry. It makes a person wonder why this is occurring. The answer the question is greed.

In the early 1970's, someone brought in the Nile perch and decided to release the fish in Lake Victoria. The Nile perch is an aggressive fish that eats all other fish. This invasive species tragically disturbed the ecosystem and killed all other living organism in the lake. It not only killed endemic species but also degraded the lake’s environment by lowering the oxygen level in the water.

Fishing is the lifeline for many of Tanzanians. The perch became an export mainly to Europe and Japan. This gave jobs to many fishermen. Millions of pounds of fillets were exported annually to these foreign countries. The demand for the fillet rose making the price of the fish expensive for locals to buy. Many of the fishermen could not afford to keep the fish for themselves in fear of being killed by white factory owners who shipped the fish. Instead, locals eat the leftovers from the factories that are no more than rotting bones.

This ecological disaster could have been prevented if government officials had laws about importation of plants and animals that was enforced. Unfortunately, in these countries, enforcing laws that take away from the economy is not priority. People in these third world countries are dying because of developed countries wanting to eat exotic food. The U.N. needs to step in to help fight for the voice of the people who are starving that do not have enough power to create a change. Restoring the lake the habitat before the perch was introduced will now be a dream that will never come true because of one idiot wanting to experiment. One person's action virtually changed a whole country.


Reference:

Hubert Sauper. Darwin's Nightmare. Homevision: DVD, 2007.

What Happened to Children Movies With an Environmental Message

I remember as a child watching movies like Fern Gully: The Last Rain Forest and Once Upon a Forest then feeling upset about the actions of people. It seems as though there are not enough full length animated films geared to the younger audience. Unfortunately, many of the shows on television are about violence and nonsense. It does not teach our kids anything about our environment. There are several movies that I grew up with that makes a younger audience wonder about the future. Fern Gully is a great example.

The main plot in the movie is the destruction of the tropical rainforest that fairies and other creatures live in. Human have come in and bulldozed the environment that all the living creatures depended on. They cut the trees down and pollute the ecosystem. The only individual who can stop the destruction is a human who has learned the ways of all the living creatures.

There are other movies that I would like to mention that are just as effective in their message: *Once Upon A Forest
*The Rescuers Down Under
*Arctic Tale
*Bambi
*Dot and Kangaroo
*Hoot
*Who Framed Roger Rabbit (Building a Freeway)

There were also television shows that had great messages about environmental issues such as:

• Captain Planet
• The Magic School Bus
• Animaniacs: Up the Crazy River Segment

I think that the entertainment industry needs to bring back these types of program to educate the youth about the environmental impact they create and what they can do to lessen the damage. Animated movies do not have strong moral stories as they once were. It is a shame that they are adding too many adult context to films aimed at the youth. I believe that if more films and television series such as Captain Planet were shown more often, children will grow up more conscious about their impact on the environment.

San Bruno Mountain Habitat Conservation Plan

In October, we had two guest speakers, Lindell and Christian Marsh talk about their work on habitat conservation. It was a wonderful discussion that Lindell believe greatly in. Every so often, Lindell Marsh would tear only making his work worthwhile. I never knew anything about the San Bruno Mountain Habitat Conservation Plan until the two guest speakers came. With their stories and hard efforts, I decided to look into the plan more.

The purpose of the conservation plan in the San Bruno Mountain is to “to provide for the indefinite perpetuation of the Mission Blue and Callippe Silverspot butterflies as well as to conserve and enhance the value of the Mountain as a whole as a remnant ecosystem or biological refuge which contains other rare or unusual species” (TRA Environmental Sciences). The plan not only wants to help save the habitat for the butterflies but help keep the natural grasslands I the mountains preserved for the wildlife. Though many of the native grass and plants are no longer there, the introduced plants still serve a purpose for many of the living organisms.

Development is causing the greatest harm in the area. The important areas for the butterflies are Twin Peaks, Radio Ridge, and Reservoir Hill. The three peaks are significant to the butterflies for survival. The butterflies rely on different food source that are on different terrains of the mountain. Mission Blue larva relies on Lupine and Callippe larva relies on violet. Lupine grows in rocky areas where grass usually is not found. Mating for both species is also very specific and depends on the terrain of the mountain.

If population keeps encroaching their habitat, these two wonderful butterflies will cease to exist. The conservation plan is a well-put concept that should be put in place. Their biggest obstacles are the people who do not care about loosing species of butterflies. All they want is to develop more malls, homes, and parking structure to make a profit. I believe that if we have more people like Lindell and Christian Marsh who are dedicated to saving San Bruno Mountain then there may be a chance for the butterflies and other rare species found in the area to survive.

References

TRA Environmental Sciences. http://www.traenviro.com/sanbruno/hcp/ vol_1_biological_prgm.pdf.

CCAPA Session: How Can Smart Growth Improve Water Quality

On October 1, 2007, I attended the CCAPA conference held at the Fairmont Hotel and sat in the session dealing with water quality. There were three presenters for the topic: Clark Wilson, Jack Sylvan, and Jeff Oberdorfer. It was a very interesting session and I was glad that I was there from the beginning to the end of the session. The first person o present was Clark Wilson.

Clark Wilson was a very punctual person who was very comfortable talking to a crowd. His topic dealt more on how businesses can integrate low impact development that will benefit the business as well as the environment. His PowerPoint Presentation was visual helping those who knew nothing about the products being explained. He used examples of the Gap Corporation headquarters being ahead of the game. Their buildings are friendly to the environment. They installed green roofs and have permeable pavements. He then talked about the beneficial aspects of permeable pavement. The example he gave was the city of Portland. Being a city with great precipitation, it was common sense for them to have some form of stormwater runoff control. The permeable pavements have been very useful for the city and are very eye appealing to many of the residents. He explained that it costs about the same and that cities need to look at alternatives such as green roofs and permeable pavement.

The second presenter, Jack Sylvan, talked about the development of Treasure Island in the San Francisco Bay. There is a plan to turn the artificial island into an environmentally friendly development for residential and commercial. They are still at the planning stage. I had concerns about the project. The island was artificially made and does not have high ground level making it more susceptible to flooding due to the rising sea level. Though they have plans to deal with the issue, I do not believe that it will solve the problem. In time, it will cost a lot of money for people who will live in this development. The last presenter was Jeff Oberdorfer who presented development in San Jose that was more sustainable. He explained how their future development would be required to go through the LEED certification. Jeff seems like he truly is dedicated to his work.

Overall, I enjoyed my day at the conference. Unfortunately, I was only able to attend this session because of my prior commitment to green an event for the City of San Jose. The speakers were great. I would love to go to the conference again if given the chance.

Hawaii's Attempt for a Light Rail System

Hawaii has been testing the waters for a new public transportation using ferries. Though the idea is great, I do not think it will be the success they are hoping. As a former resident of Oahu and not having my own transportation, riding the bus was my means to get around. In my opinion, Hawaii has one of the best bus systems in the nation. Many Hawaiian residents rely on “The Bus,” the systems name, is the most convenient and cost effective way of getting around the island, but, as more people move from outer islands to Oahu, they need other means of public transportation.

At the time I lived in Hawaii, there were talks of building a light rail transit (LRT) on Oahu. I was very excited when the news came out. At the time, the project was estimated to cost at $2.64 billion. Governor Linda Lingle was very adamant in improving the islands ever congested traffic. The original plan was to create an LRT and an elevated highway. The proposed plan was to start from Kapolei to Iwilei stretching some 22 miles. It seems as though the plans have not gone far. Funds for the project are the biggest concern. Many residents of Kapolei and neighboring cities are all for the system, but the longer they wait the higher the cost will be.

Today, the plan for an LRT on Oahu is at a stand still. They are trying other forms of transportation like the ferry but I believe that an LRT is the most effective way the island can go for their transportation fleet. They would not only lower emission like their green buses but also increase the ridership on all public transportation. With a majority of people living on the west and south side of the island, it seems only logical for them to create the LRT. I am very excited with the idea of such a plan being put into action. The only thing that can truly shut down the project is the money. It is all up to the people deciding whether they are willing to have a tax increase or not to support the LRT plan.

Reference:

Honolulu Star Bulletin. http://starbulletin.com/2006/06/25/news/story02.html