Think Blue? Volkswagen Takes Environmental Aim

For years, the green movement has always been directed by the smaller people, the farmers, the hippies, the environmentalists, people who were fractured, not whole companies like Volkswagen. Volkswagen is seeking to change this though, and is hoping to orchestrate some environmental change by implementing its "Think Blue" program. The Director of Sales and Marketing at Volkswagen South Africa, Mike Glendinning, says that ,"ecological sustainability is imperative, especially in a place such as South Africa." Through its three pronged process of BlueFactory, BlueMotion, and BlueEnvironment, Volkswagen hopes to set high sustainability standards with attainable goals of lower CO2 emissions then it already has, reduced electricity consumption, their patented BlueMotion technology which determines best fuel efficiency for the car, and has partnered with several environmental organizations.
http://3d-car-shows.com/2011/environmental-protection-is-the-top-priority-for-volkswagen/

It seems that environmental programs are showing up more and more often lately, and that it is a trending topic for big corporate businesses. I'm currently struggling to see whether this is for better publicity, or whether these companies are going to truly live up to their claims. With the on and (currently) off status of the Cap and Trade system, which apparently overtaxed some companies and was done away with, I have no idea where to put my faith in environmental sustainability and big companies.

From Brainwashing to Greenwashing

Whenever you go to the store, you always check the labels, the brightly colored stickers, the things that make a product stand out. These kinds of things drive corporate public relations offices to embellish and exaggerate certain claims made on certain products. Recently, more and more products have been shifting over to what has now been dubbed 'Greenwashing', brainwashing of a sort in which big time suppliers of food, cleaning products, and almost everything else are misleadingly trying to appeal to the consumers soft spot for the environment. As much as governmental committees like the Advertising Standards Authority and the Commerce Commission regulate what goes into the market, they can't always catch every mis-claim a company makes about its product, be it accidental or purposefully. It is with activist groups such as the Green Party, the World Wildlife Foundation, and Greenpeace that these mis-claims can be caught, but it is with the power of these governmental committees that the companies can be punished.
 http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/industries/5917931/Greenwashing-Consumers-beware

In order to make a difference, you have to do your research, and while this may take time and effort, the hope is that all the reports of mis-claims from these companies will add up, and that action will be taken.

Back to the Future Made Real? Refuse for Reuse

If you've never seen Back to the Future featuring Michael J. Fox in his early years alongside Chrisopher Lloyd, then you missed Marty (Michael J. Fox's character) working with crazed scientist Doc Brown (Chrisopher Lloyd) on his Delorean time machine containing the famed 'Flux Capacitor'. You may be wondering how this ties into an environmental article about wastes being turned into fuels, well you see, at the end of the first movie, Doc Brown flies in with a newly modified Delorean, which converts anything (he throws in a banana peel, a coke can, and an empty egg carton) into fuel. Well, that was 2015 in the movies, but here in 2011, I think we have managed to do something of the sort. The Chicago Tribune reported that in nearby Naperville, a new device is able to convert any day yard waste into three types of fuels: electricity, ethanol, and hydrogen. It may not QUITE do what Doc Brown's machine did, but it shows that our technology is going as far as the imagination without sacrificing the world around us.

Green Gasoline Heads to Louisiana

Biofuel, a gasoline formulated from various natural products with the addition of natural gas and/or other gas products, is quickly rising to become the bridge between current fuel for power sources and future fuel products. While not quite as environmentally friendly as COMPLETELY giving up natural gas, petroleum, and other natural, non-reusable resources, it certainly provides a much less harmful alternative. A major leader in the biofuels area is Sundrop Fuels Inc., which is based in Colorado, is hoping to expand its current operations into the Louisiana's Rapides Parish due to the abundance of natural gas and wood byproduct necessary for their biofuel operations. There is a lot of local support for Sundrop Fuels Inc.'s decision to move to Louisiana, because of the 170+ total jobs (direct and indirect) that will be created as a result of the companies 450 million dollar plant. Another reason for support is the hope current Louisiana residents will continue to stay in Louisiana, and also that this plant may provide an influx of people looking for jobs, rather than the large exodus that Louisiana has been experiencing recently.

For more information, here's a link to the article ---------> http://www.thetowntalk.com/article/20111123/NEWS01/111230327/-450-million-biofuel-plant-Rapides-Parish-will-make-green-gasoline-?odyssey=nav|head

While my aspirations for solely electric cars are coming to fruition with models such as the Chevrolet Volt, which is a hybrid, but can be solely electric for local travel, cars using biofuels rather than petroleum based fuels like now is the next best thing.  The fact that Sundrop Fuels Inc.'s biofuel requires no engine modification whatsoever and allows for it to be put directly into current gasoline tanks provides alot of incentive to switch over to this new fuel. While current fuel output will be relatively low at first (50million gallons of fuel per year, low compared to BP, Exxon-Mobile, or other gasoline giants), Sundrop Fuels Inc. hopes to put out about 200 million gallons of gasoline by 2016.

Environmental Education in the Truest Sense

Throughout the semester, environmental education has permeated many a conversation, and has sneaked into many more unrelated ones. I believe environmental education important because humanity, as self-deemed stewards of the Earth, should value their surroundings, and learn to understand these surroundings as much as possible. While North Carolina State University continues to do its part in both educating its students in environmental sustainability as well as participating in environmentally sustainable practices, it pails in comparison to the Green Mountain College in Poultney, Vermont. Much like NC State, Green Mountain College weaves environmental sustainability into all aspects of its courses, but to a much higher degree, because the college classifies itself as an "Environmental Liberal Arts" school. In an effort to practice sustainability on campus, which the school does prolifically, part of student fees goes into environmental projects and research. If that weren't enough, much of the food provided on campus is grown directly from the campus's oxen-tilled fields. Through its many iterations as a school, Green Mountain College has become a leading school in the environmental sustainability movement.


http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/article/20111120/GREEN01/111118024/Green-Mountain-College-evolves-toward-environmentalism?odyssey=mod|newswell|text|FRONTPAGE|p

Economy Mixing with Environment, a Question of Compatability

Just recently, we discussed in class the possibility that Capitalism, the economic system under which America has thrived off of over the short time we have existed, may be failing. It seems to be a trending topic, because of the fact that I stumbled upon someone who was asking a very similar question, whether or not capitalism could accommodate environmental sustainability? I unearthed this question on the global forum site YahooAnswers, and the responses vary from stalwart "no's" to hopeful "yes's", and everything in between.

In my personal opinion, I believe that if capitalism were tweaked just a bit, the possibility of a capitalist system coexisting with an environmentally sustainable system is highly likely. One way we could tweak the system is by offering incentives in order to drive sustainability rates up. This has already been tested through the 'Cap and Trade' process that corporate companies practiced just recently. It allowed for the companies to be slightly more sustainable, while still benefiting from the capitalist system. While support for this program has been on and off, leading to it currently being under suspension, I believe that this is the right direction that should be taken to make a capitalist system compatible with environmental sustainability.

A day in the life of Brady Crawford

My day wasn't very different from any normal Thursday, nor will it be after I post this. I woke up at around 10:30-11:00 after going to bed at 1:00, normal/early for a weekday, because it had been a busy Wednesday. Wednesday, my busiest day, begins with a 9:00 Chemistry Lab, from there, I usually grab something to eat at the Atrium, and proceeds to not end until 3:00, but on top of my usual schedule, I needed to meet up with my engineering design team. After meeting for 2-2 and a half hours, we accomplished a little more design and building on our project, which is due in two weeks (our aspirations for a pinball machine are coming to fruition slowly but surely). From there, I headed to eat, then proceeded to do homework afterwards until midnight. Deciding I was about to pass into the realm of sorely needed sleep, I watched television for an hour or so, and didn't open my eyes until 9:00, where my pillow was stained with a dabble of drool, signifying a good sleep had occurred, and then I proceeded to go back to sleep. To resume my current day, between 1:30 and now, I have done homework, my calculus class, and am now here, in English. The highlight of my day was going to Case dining hall for the first time, which astonished me, because it is approximately 10 BILLION times greater than the food at Fountain, and I hate myself for not trying it out sooner. My day will be finished most likely with dinner with some of my friends, then back to the place I call home to do some homework and then maybe play some video games, who knows, it all depends on how the night progresses from here on. And so concludes the insight into my FANTASTIC and STUPENDOUS life, I hope you enjoyed the monotony of my day to day schedule, seeing as it is quite tedious, and far from varied.