• One e-reader requires 33 pounds of minerals and 79 gallons of water. A regular book requires about 0.6 pounds of minerals and 2 gallons of water.
• Making an e-reader requires around 100 kw/h of energy (around 66 pounds of co2). A normal book needs 2 kw/h.
• If you buy a book online and have it shipped 500 miles (by air), the transportation creates about the same pollution and waste and actually making the book. Driving 5 miles to the bookstore (and back) causes 10 times the pollution and waste!! If you use your e-reader to read lot’s of books, it’s quite a difference…
• If you read a book at night for an hour or two, the light bulb will use more energy than it takes to charge your e-reader.

More over at e-reader-info.com

The main thesis of this book is that the markets today are not efficient, because we are externalizing costs: health costs, cleaning costs, etc.  Anything that is paid by someone else and not the company that makes the product. In fact our markets today are optimized for companies that are good at externalizing costs. For example: let’s say we both make a TV. My TV plant uses a lot of bad chemicals that I throw in the garbage. These create health problems and need to be cleaned up, but I’m not the one paying for the cleaning or the health bills- the local authority and your health insurance is the one that has to pay. So in fact we are all subsidizing the wasteful plant.

He compares Organic food to “normal” food. He says that actually Organic is cheaper to make, because it does not destroy the soil with chemicals which gets to our water and food (not to mention Organic is healthier, and can actually produce more food per acre eventually). He also says the same about cigarettes. Did you know for example, the 1/3 of the fires caused in US homes are because of cigarettes? and you know why? because they contain special chemicals that keeps them burning. He claims that the cigarettes makers should pay for this, not all of us who do not smoke. Obviously the same goes for health issues – we are all paying more because of the smokers, and because the companies deliberately use dangerous and addictive chemicals.

He raises some nice ideas on how to advance towards a “sustainable economy”. He is in favor of Cradle-to-cradle which is rather a hot topic today. Another idea is to raise high green taxes and use the money to lower income tax. That’s a great idea. Think about it – we can raise electricity prices by 1000%, and then give the money back by lowering taxes. So eventually you’re not worse-off (at least not in average), but you have a HUGE incentive to cut your electricity usage. The same can be used for water, gas, etc.

The book is a bit depressing in parts, as all environmental books tend to be… but go ahead and read it. Like some reviewer said : “the book is a must read for anyone who cares about living”…

Come on guys – stop drinking and eating this stuff!

I also try to limit the stuff I buy. For example I try not to buy a lot of presents for all my nephews – I’m sure I’m less popular because of it, but it’s for the greater good.  Actually this year my sister and I decided that instead of buying birthday presents – we’ll give a donation in each other’s behalf. Cool!

I need to stop wanting new gadgets (I really need a new camera… damn). And to stop buying stuff I don’t need (which I’m getting better at). It also saves money, which is a good thing when we’re both almost not earning anything

I really got annoyed. This is a huge waste – I’m sure thousands in Israel got this junk (I never actually had anything to do with Microsoft Israel – beside buying my copy of Windows XP). Probably 90% of it was thrown right away. And it’s probably really damaging to our environment – a can of paint!

Obviously I only had one option – to phone Microsoft and tell them they are annoying, they kill our planet, and should be ashamed. The phone number on the box lead me straight to the delivery company, who was as annoyed as I was, and said he doesn’t know why everyone phones him and asks whether his is Microsoft (which he is not).

So I opened the small leaflet, and found another phone number. I phoned, pressed 3 like was told to do in th leaflet, and I got a nice many with an Indian accent explaining to me that I got to the Calcuta technical support. I love india – but this guy didn’t really help me out.

At this stage I got even more annoyed, and e-mailed YNet and NRG which I hope will publish this in the ‘eco’ sections (YNet phoned me, so I hope they will indeed do something).

I then phoned microsoft again, but didn’t press the ’3=Calcuta’, and then I got to a hebrew speaking microsoft-lady. She was nice, and later they phoned again and listened to my complains. I hope someone got my message.

So now I have this stupid can of spray on my desk (colour royal blue, or azul real). Anyone wants it?

Anyway it’s a good read – if only for the health relating argument which is fascination. I never considered ‘light’ to be so interesting!

I was really annoyed with him sometimes. He likes to take some forecasts and claim they are just “forecasts” and shows how they will not come true. But some he likes and state as “facts”. The book is from 2000-1, and he believes that oil prices will not go above 20-25$ a barrel, and backs his claims with some analysts forecasts. Ha! it’s funny to read that now, with oil price hovering over 70$.
He agrees that global warming is a problem, but he believes it will be too expensive to change to renewable energies. He doesn’t really mention the “positive” feedback theories I read in the “carbon war” book, and he claims that even if catastrophe happens, we should not buy an “insurance” now because, again, it is too expensive. He cliams that the move to renewable energies will cost us a lot of money. When he talks about the Ozone layer, he is happy to say we have solved the problem, and moving away from CFC “did not cost anything”. So maybe this will be the case with solar and wind?

The funniest part for me is that he cliams our rivers and beaches are “cleaner than ever”. I think he should come to israel, and swim in the Yarkon river, it might change his mind (if he survives).

The troubling part is that Jeremy (and obviously he is not alone in this) believes that the environment will exhibit “positive feedback” to the greenhouse effect. What it basically means, is that once we heat the planet to a certain degree, it will start to heat itself more and more, even if we stop emitting greenhouse gases. There are a lot of possible reasons: Methane gases that are trapped beneath the ocean today, and might get loose, trees that will start to release their CO2 gas at a certain temperature, and many more reasons. Read the book if you want to find out more.
The Kyoto agreement was a step in the right direction, but obviously it is not enough, and many countries (including the US) will not even do what is required of them in that agreement.

If what he’s saying is true, then in about 10-15 years (or even less), we might reach the ‘no-turning-back’ point. It might mean the extrinction of most life on earth. Including humans, of course. Even without this positive feedback and ultimate death things, things are grim. Corals are dying all the time (Around 80% of corals in Syachelles, for example, have died in the last few years), ocean life is effected (for example, the Cod population in england is virtually non-existant today), etc.
So is there some issue that is more important than Global Warming? I guess not. While I’m not 100% sure Jeremy is correct, most evidance today seem to point in this direction, and we simply can’t efford to take that chance, can we? it is quite simple. It means that we must take action today, because in a few years it will simply be too late.

So what can we do? As individuals, we must first learn a bit more… I strongly suggest reading this book. The next book I am going to read is “The Skeptical Environmentalist”, which might give some opposing views, we’ll see. After we educate ourselves, we can educate others, and convince them to help too.
Then we can start saving some energy ourselves. Drive more efficient cars, use energy efficient appliances (lamps, fridges, etc.), eat organic food, try to lower your meat consumption, etc. It’s a small effect, and it only “delays”, but it helps.

We must make this our top issue, and it might effect those in goverment and business companies. There are a lot of companies that are on the right track. Whole Foods, for example, the biggest US organic store, is now a “zero-emmision” company – all their energy comes from renewable sources. We ourselves try to use only EcoVer products (For cleaning, laundery) who are also friendly to the environment. The more we buy from those companies, the more companies that will understand that this is the way to go.
We can invest some of our money in clean-energy companies. There are funds and ETFs that track those companies (even in israel there is a clean-energy fund, and an index-tracking stock, as well). If we can make solar or wind cost-competitive with coal, gas and oil than we might have a chance. Obviously we should not invest or help companies that pollute our planet. After all, what good is a good investment if you are not alive to enjoy it?

An interesting site I just found is Carbon Fund. This is a US non-profit organization, that fights global warming. The idea is that Carbon fund helps you to reduce or eliminate your carbon “footprint”. You can donate money, which goes to build solar or wind farms, or to “buy” carbon and “retire” it. They also do education and other stuff. The basic idea is that global warming effects us all. So if you help build a solar farm in the US, it helps you in Israel or wherever you are. They can help you calculate how much carbon you emit every year, and then they tell you how much money you need to give in order to offest this. It turns out that an average person needs about 100$ a year, which is not a lot of money when you consider the alternative.

In the last years or so, I’ve become more aware and more concerned about the environment. I hope to write a bit more about this issue, once I can get my own thoughts fixed about it. Obviously there is no time to lose.