In the spirit of summary, I have assembled many of my best photos onto a single page. They can also be viewed as a slideshow.
My photos are covered by a Creative Commons License.
Month: June 2008
Tomorrow’s electrical generation: distributed or concentrated?
There is an interesting debate ongoing on the Gristmill blog about whether the future of electrical generation lies primarily with big centralized power plants, like today, or with distributed systems.
Naturally, there are many factors that influence which is more attractive, many of which are regulatory rather than inherent to the physics or economics. I suspect the key dynamics will be the relative efficiency of differently sized facilities, the rate at which low-loss high voltage direct current (HVDC) transmission emerges, and the rate at which financing options for small facilities proliferate. Other important considerations will be the rate of improvement in the economics of solar photovoltaic systems, as well as the development and deployment of demand management and energy storage options for the grid.
In any event, it is doubtful whether one approach or the other will ever truly dominate. In all probability, a low-carbon society will incorporate both approaches in keeping with the strengths of different technologies and the needs of different areas.
The Botany of Desire
The Botany of Desire: A Plant’s-Eye View of the World tells the story of four plants and the desires they have gratified in people: the apple (sweetness), the tulip (beauty), marijuana (intoxication), and the potato (control). Each story is rich and fascinating; likewise, each has important lessons for appreciating the positon of humanity within nature, as well as the choices confronting us. This book has convinced me that I need to finish the business of reading Michael Pollan’s entire canon.
This book taught me quite a bit about agriculture, plant breeding, and genetics. The section on apples contains very interesting analysis on the differences between reproducing plants sexually (though seeds) or through cloning (with grafts). Similarly, the sections on tulips and marijuana say a lot about hybridization and the steady development of desirable traits. Finally, the section on potatoes confronts deep questions about the future of agriculture: most importantly, whether the monoculture can persist. Michael Pollan argues very effectively that the question “do we genetically modify plants or not?” is largely an extension of the question “do we continue to plant vast fields of clones?” The alternative – in terms of polycultures and local varieties – is especially interesting to consider in the face of a changing climate. It may be that the biotechnicians in lab coats will be able to develop new varieties that increase our resilience – enduring floods and droughts, etc. It is equally fair to suggest that a global agricultural system based around massive monocultures of just a few key species is especially vulnerable to disruption.
While this book raises deep questions, it is also charming and accessible. Pollan is especially gifted at conveying the eccentricities of some of the characters involved, as well as at inverting relatively familiar ideas into provocatively unfamiliar new forms. In particular, his discussion of intoxication accomplishes that – both in relation to the apple cider that was Johnny Appleseed‘s real gift to the American frontier and in terms of the myriad Cannabis sativa and indica hybrids that have emerged as ironic products of America’s drug war. Certainly, the book does a good job of advancing the hypothesis that domestication of plants was not a one-sided imposition. Rather, human history is deeply entwined with the history of the plants that have both nourished and manipulated us.
Fringe Festival suggestions
The Ottawa Fringe Festival is ongoing and, while I am a big fan of theatre, I was having some difficulty in picking out which plays to see. Thankfully, I was recently able to secure some suggestions from someone familiar with the festival and those performing in it:
- Totem Figures – monologue
- Boat Load – storyteller
- Wooster Sauce – P.G. Wodehouse inspired comedy
- Singing at the Edge of the World
- Without a Clue – Comedic murder mystery
- A Leave of Absinthe
Between now and when the festival ends on the 29th, I aim to see and report on at least a couple of these.
Overfishing and the EU
Long-time readers will remember the saga of the ‘fish paper’ – my research piece on the sustainability and legality of European Union fisheries policy in West Africa, eventually published in the MIT International Review.
Fisheries being an area of acute concern for me, I was gratified to see an unusually hard-hitting column in this week’s Economist about fish and the EU. It argues that EU goverments have shown “abject cowardice” in relation to their fishers for years. Meanwhile, overcapacity and unsustainable quotas have put the industry into a “suicidal spiral.” The article reports straightforwardly that: “More subsidies would reduce the already slim chance that Europe will ever have a sustainable fishing industry.”
I have argued previously that fishing should never be subsidized. There are far too many dangers of people selfishly exploiting a common good even without them. Indeed, I don’t have much hope when it comes to the long-term viability of world fisheries. That being said, if more people develop the understanding and candour displayed in this article, perhaps the madness can eventually be brought to heel.
Two bicycles built for one
Emily got a gorgeous Montreal-made hybrid bike yesterday. It’s an Opus Urbano, and should prompt much exploration of the areas in and around Ottawa.
Fellow cyclists should consider attending the June Critical Mass ride, happening in cities throughout the world. The Ottawa version starts next Friday (the 25th) at 5:30pm in Confederation Park, near City Hall.
Solar panels at 30 metres a minute
If solar photovoltaic power is going to emerge as a major source of electricity, it will be necessary to start manufacturing solar panels in a far more efficient and economical way. The model needs to shift from how glass was once made (as individual panels) to how it is now made (as a sheet being continuously produced and split at the cool end).
Nanosolar (a company mentioned here before) claims to have a process that will print solar panels onto aluminum backing at a rate of 100 feet per minute. Their hope is to eventually produce panels at a cost of $1 a watt and complete solar systems at $2 a watt – a price lower than that of coal-fired electrical capacity.
This is a goal in keeping with Google’s admirable RE < C project, which aims to displace coal with solar because the latter is cheaper, as well as far more environmentally benign.
Genetically modified potatoes
As is virtually always the case when reading Michael Pollan’s work, The Botany of Desire makes me want to share virtually every page and idea with friends. While a full review will have to wait, one thing that struck me while reading tonight is the situation with genetically engineered Bt crops, as discussed in the last section of the book.
Monsanto’s spuds
Bt is short for Bacillus thuringiensis: a soil bacteria that produces a poison that slays many crop-eating insects. Because it is naturally occurring, the bacterially derived poison is even permitted in many systems of organic agriculture. Genetically modified crops like Monsanto’s NewLeaf tomatoes have had the gene for the manufacture of the poison introduced into their own genetic material.
This is done in one of two relatively crude-seeming ways. Either the gene is inserted into a pathogen that is then allowed to infect the cells of the plant to be modified or DNA is literally shot into the target plant using a .22 caliber ‘gene gun.’ In most cases, the genes don’t end up in the right part of the target plant’s genome. In no cases do we comprehensively appreciate what kind of changes we are creating.
What we do know is this: when we create an environment where pests are exposed to a monoculture of Bt-generating plants, the pests will eventually evolve resistance. According to Pollan, Monsanto expect this to happen to Bt in about thirty years.
This is shocking when you think about it. Firstly, it reveals a kind of extreme short-termism in planning – the expectation that we can keep running on the treadmill and finding new solutions. Secondly, it reveals considerable unethical selfishness. Bt is used by many people other than Monsanto and Monsanto’s customers. The Bt-modified plants threaten to ruin the substance for everybody. Thirdly, it should be remembered that it is not only the resilience of the GM crops that may be undermined. Naturally occurring organisms defending themselves with Bt toxin and similar compounds may suddenly face invulnerable pests, with unknown consequences for nature.
Perhaps the most depressing thing about this section in Pollan’s book is the convincing argument that the above is actually an improvement over conventional potato production. To take the most egregious example, potatoes are regularly sprayed with an organophosphate pesticide called Monitor in order to kill aphids. This is because aphids carry a virus that gives potatoes brown spots inside. People don’t want to eat such potatoes, so farmers respond by spraying the plants with a substance akin to the deadliest of military nerve gasses.
The bigger picture
The more I read about energy usage, climatic science, agriculture, and fisheries, the more deeply green I become. It is pretty challenging to read something as compelling as Michael Pollan’s accounts of industrial agriculture and not begin to profoundly question the kind of soft-green liberal environmentalism that claims that there are just a few environmental externalities that we need to sort out before capitalism as practiced becomes sustainable.
P.S. Names like NewLeaf remind me instantly of Margaret Atwood’s excellent novel Oryx and Crake: essential reading for those trying to make sense of biotechnology’s brave new world.
Summer solstice 2008
Summer has officially begun in the northern hemisphere. Though the days will now be shortening, most of the heat is yet to come.
Personally, I am most curious about how the Arctic sea ice will fare between now and when it starts to re-freeze in the winter.
Stupid comment forms
The following is a short rant intended for all those who design comment forms on websites:
When you have a box that says ‘homepage’ or ‘website’ it is absurd to make people type http://www.mysite.com. The HTTP means Hypertext Transfer Protocol. Every website in the universe uses this transfer protocol, so making someone type it is always redundant.
The same goes for ‘www.’ Homepages and websites are on the world wide web. They aren’t mail servers or any other sort of networked beast.
In conclusion, I should be able to type sindark.com and your comment form should understand it.
P.S. Even more unforgivable than sites that produce errors when ‘http’ and ‘www’ are lacking are the small minority that produce absurd URLs when you enter a site name in X.com format. I have seen sites where putting that yields a link to: “http://www.siteIamcommentingon.com/X.com.” Nightmare!
P.P.S. See www is deprecated for the argument that having to say ‘www’ is unnecessary in all circumstances, not just when filling out comment forms.