Sustaining Us

Like the Energizer Bunny, a very cool idea about using our natural movements to create  energy. Turns out every step you take, every move you make, can be turned into electricity. Now this is nothing new, watches have benefited from this idea for some time. But, now, our movements may power a lot more.

In fact, in its current form, the technology can produce around seven watts, enough to power almost a dozen cell phones. The same way a hybrid car produces energy while stopping, these knee pads (with hydraulic technology) use the bending of our joints. When we walk our body performs a delicate balancing act. Quads and hamstrings work together to stabilize the leg. Now imagine that there’s an “air pump” type contraption that aids the knee in slowing, the final kick in our step.

In this scenario, producing energy doesn’t need to burn extra calories, it “parasites” the energy we’d normally lose walking. The article appeared in this week’s Economist, citing the journal Science. Imagine walking to work and recharging your phone at the same time, maybe you can power a fan on a hot summer day, or convert that electricity to heated gloves during the winter? Whatever you choose, this version of going green keeps going and going and going.

I’ve maintained a long radio silence while reading Michael Pollan’s, Omnivore’s Dilemma, probably because I dedicate so much more thought to what I read then to what I would like to write.

The book is profound in its application. The best part of his writing by far is the appreciation he has for our animalistic tendency. We are part of a massive chain of events in nature, and the way we behave and experience the world is in large part a manifestation of our evolution. No matter how much we’ve civilized ourselves over the past millennia, we cannot escape some of the hardwiring we already have. Imagine trying to run Windows XP on a PC from ’93. Our civilized software can only run on our hardwired circuitry. The analogy is supposed to imply that we reach for a higher moral order from a ladder built on survival in a larger food chain.

Removing ourselves from the animal world without recognizing how the two area inextricably related isn’t right.

Pollan’s book is largely about the choices we must make as people everyday. Do we opt out of the industrial food chain? Do we choose organic, or do we choose sustainable? The latter in the last question is a harder more cumbersome question, because it seems near impossible to sustainably feed 6 billion people. Have we passed the point of no return or do we have to start looking at the human population as we would a population of wild animal? Can the ecosystem support an overabundance of lion? Will they thin the gazelle population to a point where lion begin to die of hunger? Human beings are remarkably adaptable and can show to be unforgiving in their survival. When does the ecosystem reject us?

The questions and insights posed by the book are more than moral, they appeal to our survival and deep seeded tendencies.

I can’t help but keep thinking that our mind works on a different plane than our hard wired unconscious. We as the “civilized and superior” are predisposed to certain self-damaging behavior that the “natural and inferior” world cannot keep in check.

Can we really be sustainable?

What could a Guppie (Green Yuppie) write about from Cabo San Lucas??? Well although I’m not on a green stamped vacation, I can at least offer some color commentary and practices that I will bring back to the states perhaps. With my parents footing the bill I must say the vacation is absolutely beautiful. The hotel is new and in pheonomenal shape. Considering energy efficiency, they definitely do their best. Much like their Euro counterparts, the Riu Palace, has a master switch in the hotel room to turn all electronics on or off in their hotel rooms. I noticed that this can be quite annoying for the person who likes to keep an alarm clock. But do we really need alarm clocks, hotels offer wake up calls, and furthermore, who doesn’t have a cell phone these days to tell the time or set an alarm (supposedly 171 million Americans do use one)?  The hotel utilizes other standard practices such as allowing guests to choose to reuse towels.

So while I was basking in the sun, of course protected with Aveeno SPF, courtesy of someone special, I figured the most interesting to write about would be “Green Vacationing.” With my parents offering a tropical getaway the only input I had was, yes or no. But, green options do exist, just go and find em!