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These kinds of things will start popping up more and more and the fact that they are, to me at least, is testament to the idea that we are going to start seeing EVs in earnest soon. It's a well made piece, perhaps a bit over reaching (I don't know how comfortable I am with the idea that mass producing anything is going to help the climate) but I think its meant to engage and make us think, which is always a good thing.
My friend Paul, who first posted this, pointed out that leaf in the last 10 seconds or so, a subtle nod to the companies sister, Nissan, which is bringing the Leaf EV to market.
Enjoy.
Dave
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
Renault EV Commercial
Friday, January 1, 2010
Medical Waste - More Than Landfill Filler
Fantastic radio piece about medical waste and orgs that gather usable items and ship them abroad. Really makes you think.
Check it out here
Elizabeth McLellan has been a nurse for more than 30 years. But she has never been able to get over how many perfectly good medical supplies — millions of dollars' worth — get thrown out each year by U.S. hospitals.
So she started a nonprofit group, called Partners for World Health, that collects leftover supplies from hospitals in the Portland, Maine, area and ships them to clinics in developing countries.
After she and other nurses pick up the supplies, McLellan stores them in her home while shipments are prepared.
Bags are crammed in her dining room, hallway and cellar. They are stuffed with sterile syringes, diabetic syringes, insulin syringes, gloves and alcohol swabs, most of them in their original packaging — "everything you could possibly imagine," McLellan says.
Where Excess Supplies Come From
McLellan says hospitals ditch items that were once in a patient's room because of strict rules about infection control.
Other times, hospitals throw out supplies that have never even left the supply cabinet.
Don Hancock, a vice president for Premier, a company that negotiates bulk purchases for hospitals, says supplies become outdated before hospitals get a chance to use them.
"Maybe you have invested in some inventory with a physician who no longer is with you, or maybe there is a new procedure that came out that can supersede an old procedure, and you no longer need the supplies for that old procedure," Hancock says.
An unopened pack of sutures is far more preferable to dipping gauze in alcohol, pulling the string out and turning it into sutures.
Dr. William Rosenblatt of the Yale School of Medicine says the waste is also a result of being cautious during medical procedures.
Surgeons order up enough drapes, sutures and gloves for worst-case scenarios. But Rosenblatt says there are always leftover items, up to a hundred dollars' worth per surgery. He doubts patients would have it any other way.
"If I was a patient in the operating room," Rosenblatt says, "I would want to know that the surgeon has immediately available not just what is going to be needed for my procedure, but also materials that are there just in case."
'Far' Better Than The Alternative
In the early 1990s, Rosenblatt formed one of the first medical supply recovery programs in the country, called REMEDY. Dozens of groups have cropped up since.
Occupational therapist Danielle Butin leads a group called Afya that ships supplies to Africa.
"An unopened pack of sutures is far more preferable to dipping gauze in alcohol, pulling the string out and turning it into sutures, which is a strategy that's employed in many developing nations," Butin says.
Back in Maine, volunteers move bags of supplies out of McLellan's house to her driveway, where they are being measured on a giant scale.
The final tally is about 10,000 pounds of supplies that will end up in countries such as Haiti and Cambodia.
There is potential for McLellan and others to collect much more. It's estimated that only 10 percent of hospitals around the country have arrangements to donate unused supplies.
Sunday, December 13, 2009
Recycling For Charities
Been meaning to post this for a while now. It's an interview I did for a pretty cool company called Recycling For Charities that raises money by recycling used electronics. Check it out.
Dave
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
Thursday, November 19, 2009
Oil Rigs in The Heart of LA? You Bet.
Found this on LA Green Girls Blog. Oil Derricks in Beverly Hills? Wild.
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Return to the Gyre
For anyone interested in an update on the North Pacific Gyre, the plastic floating mass of garbage in the middle of the pacific, my friend Lyndsay just returned from a month at sea and had an article in the New York Times today. She told me that Captain Moore, who was back out with her, said that it has grown quite a bit since he was last there.
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