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Pachamama Alliance

While interning with The Pachamama Alliance I was responsible for selecting stories from the media that touched on environmental themes, then constructing blog posts that tied them to Pachamama’s social mission of environmental protection and preservation through support of indigenous groups.

Each post was written with the intention of attracting new members to the organization, or new participants to their semi-annual trip to the rain forests of Ecuador. Included in each article were key words selected to optimize the posts’s placement in related search results on popular search engines.

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April Fooled: The Benefits of Skepticism vs. The KXL Pipeline

The recent April Fool's Day has once again passed giving us all a renewed appreciation for the friendly sketpics in out midst; those who aren't quite as gullible as the rest and approach each scenario with a healthy sense of disbelief. Those two qualities are traists we could all do with a little more of as we move on through the rest of the year.

The benefit skepticism provides is in allowing an individual or group a buffer between acknowledging a claim and believing one. This buffer can then be applied to any topic, large or small, and teh result is a clearer picture of reality, like the reality of how many new jobs and KXL pipeline will provide. In terms of the environment, this skill has been helpful in determining fact from fiction.

When bolstering our own healthy skepticism, it is important to consider the history of any person(s) or group making bold claims, as their credibility is dependent upon its validity. In other words, we should pause to consider how their previous assertions have or have not aligned with the actual outcome of events, such as the case with TransCanada and Keystone Pipeline I. The more erroneous claims that accumulate, the further their credibility falls. It is important to keep that standard in mind as we entertain new promises.

Our ability to recognize a snake oil salesman in TransCanada is what allows us the chance to avoid future calamity, but only if we remember to apply it. As we continue through the remainder of the year, let April Fools’ Day remind us to employ our own healthy skepticism with a measured but constant frequency.

Can Desalination Cure the Water Shortage?

A growing concern over the availability of fresh water has lead Chinese officials to a seemingly counterintuitive, if not uncommon, solution: converting salt water to fresh water.

The process, known as desalination, can occur through one of several methods, all resulting in the removal of salt from saltwater. In China, officials are hoping this will help solve the growing water crisis in a small village in the mountains of west Beijing.

According to a BBC article, in the village of Nanxinzhuang tap water is available for just four hours a day due to the limited supply. Since the 1980’s the village has faced an increasing water shortage that has put the region “on par globally with chronically dry countries like Syria and Jordan.”

Fighting the Water Shortage

To combat this growing epidemic, the Chinese government constructed a desalination plant that also functions as a power generator. The new plant, which began limited operations in 2010, is located outside of Tianjin in what is known as the Binhai New Area, an area home to many growing industrial plants.

Opponents of the plant, and desalination in general, see the process as a temporary solution that doesn’t address the real problem. Instead, they argue, the plant simply consumes more energy while encouraging more consumption, rather than preservation.

But the plant itself is quick to point out its own green credentials. The desalination process uses the excess heat from the power plant, effectively recycling the energy. They also convert the highly-concentrated salt water, a by-product of the distillation process, into industrial grade salt.

New Desalination Plant in California

IDE Technologies, the company behind the new distillation plant in China, is also behind the new plant currently under construction in Carlsbad, CA. The 204,412 cubic meter seawater desalination plan, known as the Carlsbad Desalination Project, will be designed by the IDE subsidiary, IDE Americas, and administered by Poseidon Resources. Upon completion, it will be the largest desalination plant in the United States.

The plan drew criticism from environmental groups throughout the planning and approval stages, who cited the cost and threats to marine life, before finally being permitted to break ground on the project. Despite these objections, the $954 million seawater desalination plan is now underway and is expected to be fully operational by 2016.