methane

San Francisco’s Goal to Become Our First Zero-Waste City

on February 28, 2022February 28, 2022 By Gallant Gold Media

Washington (GGM) Analysis | February 28, 2022 by Noreen Wise, Founder & CEO of Gallant Gold Media, and author; Image Credit: AdobeStock

In 2002, San Francisco set its sights on becoming the first waste-free city in the United States. Since then, the Golden City has proven itself to be a national waste management role model. Phase 1 of the city’s masterplan was to divert 75% of its waste by 2010, which it artfully achieved two years early. The speed of San Francisco’s success was likely tied to California’s Integrated Waste Management Act of 1989 which mandated that each local jurisdiction in California divert 50% of its waste materials. California fined cities $10,000 per day if they fell below 50% which led to strong compliance.

Once 75% was reached, San Francisco soon had its eye set on 100% diversion, a true circular economy. The city’s rapid positive results were achieved through a series of strong legislative measures:

Innovative three-stream citywide residential and commercial collection program
Mandatory Recycling and Composting Ordinance
Resolution Affirming the Commission’s Commitment to Racial Equity in the Department of the Environment’s Programs, Policies and Services
Climate Action Goals and Planning
Checkout Bag Charge and Recyclable or Compostable Pre-Checkout Bag Ordinance
Polystyrene Foam and the Food Service ad Packaging Waste Reduction Ordinance
Plastic, Litter, and Toxics Reduction Law
Refuse Separation Law
Disaster Debris Planning and Exercises

Three-stream Collection Program

The three-stream collection program (green bin for kitchen and yard scraps, blue bin for recyclables, and black bin for everything else which should be very little) is mainstream in most communities in Canada as well as many EU countries. If it’s not mainstream where you live, it means we have to work that much harder as individuals to create a three-stream program in our homes since composting is required if we are to stay below 1.5ºC and cut CO2e emissions 50% by 2030.

San Francisco began its journey to become waste free in 2002, 20 years ago. Despite their early start, they still rushed. We have to hurry that much faster since most US communities are very far behind.

For example, Fairfax County, Virginia, has no plan to mandate composting anytime soon, 2024 or 2025 at the earliest. But there are thousands of residents who are very green and want curbside compost pickup. Most of the schools in Fairfax County compost. The county set-up drop-off locations that are full to capacity at the end of each week, which shows how dedicated so many county residents are to green bins. Legislation would speed things up. Since those of us in Fairfax County know the county plans to wait years, and San Francisco has proven that the only thing that works is legislation that mandates composting with very steep fines, we’ll have to lobby to get the board of supervisors to move more quickly. In the meantime, we’ll have to signup for compost collection on our own.

Compost collection services are popping up in most metro areas across the country. If our towns and cities don’t have drop-off locations, and we don’t have a yard to create our own outdoor bins, we can easily signup for compost collection. Composting is an absolute necessity in saving the human species. Not only does composting cut methane, compost added to our soil boosts carbon drawdown. Putting a banana peel in a paper bag and dropping it at a compost drop-off location is not difficult. Composting is very low hanging fruit.

Methane

One third of all the food produced becomes waste, much of which in dumped into landfills. As mentioned, this rich organic material turns into methane. Landfills emit 2 billion tons of methane each year. Methane is 80 times stronger than carbon dioxide. Cutting methane from landfills is the quickest and easiest greenhouse gas to eliminate. If you’re not already composting, you can begin today. Just place all kitchen scraps in a brown paper bag and drop-off at town site each weekend. The bags can be stored in the refrigerator until you’re ready to drop-off.

Plastic Packaging

Most community waste comes from unrecyclable plastic. The vast majority of plastic is manufactured from petroleum and is toxic. The global plastic crisis that has killed millions of ocean species, and according to Sir David Attenboroughis responsible for up to one million early deaths per year, generates mountains of microplastics that are now in our food supply (we eat 100 bits of microplastics per meal, which amounts to one credit card a week, 52 credit cards per year). Recent news about nanoplastics found in the air that we breath, especially those who live and work in our cities, is that much more alarming and should motivate us to refuse plastic. Green sustainability companies have spent years inventing plastic-free alternatives for nearly every plastic-packaged product. Bar shampoo is a great example, laundry detergent sheets is another.

Reduce-Reuse-Refuse-Upcycle

We have to be strong and refuse to buy products if there are no non-plastic alternative. Initially, this wasn’t easy for me. But, I soon found that it becomes easier with practice. Three years ago I took my first step at refusing when I refused to buy ketchup because I couldn’t find an alternative brand packaged in glass. Heinz sells ketchup in glass bottles in Canada, but not the US. So, I switched to barbecue sauce, and haven’t looked back. I also refuse to buy organic margarine because it’s only packaged in plastic. Just this past weekend, I added refusing to buy my absolute favorite salad dressing when the manufacturer switched from a glass bottle to plastic. I had to find a new favorite brand.

Reusable containers or bags instead of single-use plastic is another way to reduce waste. Upcycling is fun and creative and is an excellent way to reduce waste as well. Children love upcycling projects where they can create something new from old scraps, especially gifts for family and friends. The goal is to create a circular economy where nothing is ever thrown away.

Pay-as-you-throw

Many communities in multiple states are beginning to charge households for the amount of black bin trash they have each month. Blue recycle bins are free. But black bin is pay by quantity. “Pay-as-you-thow” (PAYT) is the common nickname cities give their black bin programs, although it’s typically a purple bag that can be purchased in stores, either a 15 gallon size or 30 gallon. Across the country, cities are finding that once households have to pay for the quantity of landfill trash they have, they drastically cut the amount without any hesitation.

Coalitions

San Francisco is a member of various zero waste and climate action coalitions whose members share ideas and brainstorm solutions:

Being part of a coalition of like-mined, green-action individuals and/or organizations is a very effective way to build momentum within a community to transition to a green lifestyle. Churches are often an effective driver of climate action, especially when they connect with the other faiths in town and form a united force.

CLIMATE CHANGE & ENVIRONMENTAL HAZARDS:
Plastic Bank and Ocean Bound Social Plastic, Really?
Alarming Findings | Are We Inhaling Nanoplastics?
Golf Courses and the “Good Life” May Kill You

The vast majority of initiatives that drove quick change in San Francisco were mandatory with painful consequences for anyone who failed to comply. Voting for climate candidates who truly believe that the best time to act on climate was yesterday will be what makes the difference in getting legislation passed.

Today, the IPCC held a press conference when it released its 2022 findings on the climate crisis. The UN Secretary General, António Guterres spoke first, and very passionately stressed the urgency of action. “Now is the time to turn rage into action. Every fraction of a degree matters. Every voice can make a difference. And every second counts.”

All of us who care must be the voices in our communities that drive our leaders to act immediately and pass the much needed green legislation. If San Francisco can do it, we can all do it.

Making Products by Capturing Factory Carbon Emissions

on January 6, 2022January 9, 2022 By Gallant Gold Media

Washington (GGM) Analysis | January 6, 2022, by Noreen Wise, Founder & CEO of Gallant Gold Media, and author

Converting industry greenhouse gases into valuable commercial products before the carbon dioxide reaches the air is the type of innovation that global leaders and green venture capitalists have been longing for.

Twenty percent of annual carbon emissions in the US come from American industry. In order to reach our goal of cutting carbon dioxide 50 percent by 2030, we have to cut the current 12 GtC emitted by American industry to 6 GtC in the next nine years. This breaks down to 666 million tons of carbon per year.

A scientific collaboration led by an OSU College of Science researcher, Kyriakos Stylianou, discovered a novel way to pull CO2 from smokestacks and use it to manufacture valuable chemicals that can be sold commercially.

The newly discovered metal organic framework (MOF) can also catalyze the production of cyclic carbonates from the mix of methane, CO2 and other gases emitted from decomposing organic material.

“We’ve taken a big step toward solving a crucial challenge associated with the hoped-for circular carbon economy by developing an effective catalyst,” said Stylianou. “A key to that is understanding the molecular interactions between the active sites in MOFs with potentially reactive molecules.”

A catalyst is a medium that boosts the rate of a chemical reaction without itself changing its chemical structure. Lanthanides are malleable light metals that are used to make products such as:

night vision goggles
flints for cigarette lighters

Carbon dioxide fixates into the propylene oxide’s epoxy ring to produce cyclic carbonates. Cyclic carbonates have a wide range of applications for global industries:

polar solvents
precursors for polycarbonate materials (ie eyeglass lenses and digital discs)
electrolytes in lithium batteries
precursors for pharmaceuticals

“These are very exciting findings,” Stylianou said. “And being able to directly use carbon dioxide from impure sources saves the cost and energy of separating it before it can be used to make cyclic carbonates, which will be a boon for the green economy.”

*David Le, Ryan Loughran and Isabelle Brooks of the College of Science collaborated on this research, as did scientists from Columbia University and the University of Cambridge.

**The College of Science and the OSU Honors College funded the study.

Check back each week for new climate optimism articles featuring innovative solutions that will help solve the climate crisis.

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is gallant-secrettortoisenew-800.png — No rose without thorns. —French Proverb.
Groundbreaking YA book series for all ages. Gripping modern day nail-biter with Machiavellian villains, but also a tale that opens our eyes to the brutal war going on beneath our feet that controls our destiny, despite our obliviousness to this potentially civilization-destroying threat.

Subscribe to Force of Nature to stay connected to the insights we provide in our effort to accelerate the transition to a sustainable, eco-friendly, carbon neutral global community. Click here to subscribe.

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is gallantarcher_3d_socialmedia.jpg

The Footprint of Your Food

on July 9, 2020August 14, 2020 By Gallant Gold Media

Washington (GGM) Analysis | July 9, 2020 by Sarah J. Kings

Many of us know about the widely successful climate campaign #Change1Thing. The idea is fantastic. People need to feel empowered; we need to feel like there is something we can do to combat the massive problem we are facing. #Change1Thing does that! With each metal straw and every reusable bag, consumers feel like they are slowly turning the wheels in the right direction. Still, if you are looking at your latest zero waste purchase, and wondering if this is enough to reduce your carbon footprint, then you’re in the right place.

Let’s think about plastic bags. These single-use shopping bags produce 6 kg of CO2 per kg of plastic used to create them. When you swap out plastic with your favorite reusable tote at the grocery store, you make an impact. However, you could quadruple that impact, only by switching up what goes in that tote as well—according to the Environmental Working Group, EWG, lamb and beef combined produce nearly 67kg of CO2 per kg consumed. In contrast, foods like tofu and broccoli produce only 2 kg of CO2per kg consumed. Foods like lentils are even more environmentally friendly, coming in at only .9 kilograms.

Switching to a plant-based, vegan, or vegetarian diet is one of the most powerful changes you can personally make to combat the climate crisis. If this all sounds lovely to you, but you can’t quite see yourself being vegan just yet, that’s okay. Making one plant-based change to your daily routine can still have a significant impact. After all, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, EPA, has reported that the greenhouse gas emissions from animal agriculture are comparable to those produced by residential and commercial activities. That means, if everyone ditched meat and dairy for the year, it would be like we all turned the gas and electric off in our homes and businesses for that year too!

Come back every Thursday to learn more about the role veganism plays in combating climate change!

Cows & Climate Crisis | What We Eat

on July 15, 2019January 14, 2020 By Gallant Gold Media

Washington (GGM) Analysis
by Noreen Wise

Holy cow! Who knew that eating such healthy, wholesome meat and dairy would one day threaten humankind’s existence?

It’s shocking to learn the huge impact cows have on global warming. It’s all about the methane and the significant amount of methane that cows emit. Surprisingly, methane causes 23 times more global warming than CO2, which requires us to pause and take note as we begin to analyze our individual global footprint, so we can each do our part in reducing carbon emissions.

A critical factor into why our dietary choices need to be modified is global population. Back in 1985, when we were a huge red meat and dairy consuming populace, the global population was 4.85 billion, and the US population was 237.9 million. But today in 2019, the global population has increased 59% and is now 7.7 billion, and the US is 329.1 million. Each individual has a carbon footprint that we’re obligated to manage. As responsible, global citizens we’re supposed to be mindful that one person/family’s excess will threaten another’s existence.

Some people love red meat and will never stop eating it. This is understandable. So then red meat lovers can simply offset somewhere else, ie switch to solar energy ASAP, or live in a smaller home, drive a Hybrid or EV car. There are many ways we can level our individual carbon emissions once we becomes aware of our personal impact on the climate crisis.

Sadly, cows are a now a big part of the climate crisis calculus due to methane being a critical lynchpin in global warming.