Hello, I am a Greek refugee who came to America in 1975 after the military dictatorship destroyed my home. I like cats, Apple computers, electric cars, vegan doughnuts, and Harry Potter cosplay.
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What Gives!?
Steve Simitzis 33, San Francisco, CA
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stevedesantis.com
Can Flying Be Green? March 24 2008 at 4:51 PM
Answer: No.
Okay, that was too easy. The Stockholm Environment Institute and the Tufts Climate Initiative have a handout with travel tips for cutting your air travel carbon footprint, and fortunately it's a bit longer than a single page with DON'T printed in giant letters. (Though, "If you have a choice, donât travel" is their first tip.)
They also include a decent guide for choosing who to buy carbon offsets from. Some airlines, like EasyJet, allow you to buy offsets online at the same time... More
Is Eating Out More Eco-friendly? March 24 2008 at 4:33 PM
Crunchy Chicken makes the case that eating out may be more eco-friendly than cooking at home. It's a counter-intuitive argument to be sure, but it comes down to the idea that taking advantage of economies of scale can save energy. Much like how sharing a giant diesel smoking bus with dozens of other people reduces your carbon footprint compared to driving separate clean burning cars over the same distance.
Another example that comes to mind is computing power. Does your average email and web user... More
Looking For Replacements: Electricity Vs Oil March 24 2008 at 4:05 PM
One of the major criticisms of John McCain's recent Financial Times op-ed that's been flying around has been his call to "reduce our dependence on foreign energy sources" with nuclear energy. "Foreign energy sources", of course, is just another way of saying oil, and only about 2% of our electricity is generated by oil. So more nuclear doesn't really help us replace oil. Right?
Well, maybe not. There is a kernel of unintentional truth here. While there are definitely problems with nuclear (cost,... More
Why Is Al Gore Backing A Carbon Tax? March 21 2008 at 5:30 PM
I'm just not seeing it. Al Gore recently came out in favor of a carbon tax, presumably over cap-and-trade. The two schemes are essentially in competition with each other, so supporting one often means opposing the other. And while I'm sure Al Gore would be happy to see any solution get implemented, I'm left wondering why he chose to throw his weight behind the lesser of the two.
At this point it's pretty clear that we're going to get one or the other, and which one we should end up with is the subject... More
Memo To Hillary Clinton: There's No "Undo" Command For Mountain Top Removal March 20 2008 at 4:33 PM
Hillary Clinton talks about coal on a West Virginia Public Radio interview yesterday. I wish I were making this up:You know, maybe there is a way to recover those mountaintops once they have been stripped of the coal. You know, I think weâve got to look at this from a practical perspective.The underlying attitude here is deeply disturbing. Either she really believes that you really can "undo" environmental destruction (essentially thinking you can uncrack an egg by wishing it so), or she knows... More
My Comments
Posted 7 months ago to Style, Charity, Gin ...you can count me in?
"Casual caring" is an excellent turn of phrase, I like it.
Anyway, I'm fine with casual caring, in the sense that it's a gauge of the public's values and priorities. Ideally, legislators and policy makers would see what people care about and act accordingly. So it's not so much that buying a trinket... More
Posted 8 months ago to Tanqueray - Ready To Tanqueray? Always In Moderation
Minimalism at its finest. Enough said indeed.