What the DR Can/Should Do Regarding Global Climate Change

[fightfish]

I like your ideas, Chris. I think that environmental solutions all revolve around being economically feasible in order to be sustainable.

A country that has as its number one industry in tourism could be even more attractive if it sets the bar in public transport being eco-friendly.
---has a sustainable fisheries program regarding seafood served at resorts.
---helps its neighbor green up its own environment
---promotes alternative power, which, at least on the North coast, could include wind.

[Keith R]

Originally Posted by Chip

Also, being that hybrid vehicles have a battery supply, would it really be realistic for third world countries to require them given their already dismal record at managing and protecting their natural resources? A good example would be the obvious environmental impact of poorly managing battery recycling plants. Could you imagine that in the DR? All hybrid cars with a battery recycling shop on every corner? Where would they dump all of the sulfuric acid? You guessed it, right in the gutter. Sure we might lower the earhts surfacr temparature, but at what cost, the water supply. This is why any solution anybody proposes needs to be realistic, not just unrealistic goals that are to be reached by whatever means possible. The whole picture must be kept in perspective imo. If not or other ramifications will rear their ugly head.

Very good point. The DR already has a very poor record in battery recovery/recycling -- the publicized heavily contaminated site of a "recycling" operation in Haina is only the tip of the ice berg. At present most of what is called battery "recycling" in the DR is actually nothing more than artesanal mining of spent cells for their lead with little personal protection and few precautionary measures taken.

[PICHARDO]

#1 Eliminate and make it a felony to own/sell/use/manufacture charcoal other than mineral one in the DR... This will aid 100% to keep the forest and reverse the trend.

#2 Make use of highly predictable wind areas in our north and south coasts to harness the power using turbines and produce enough electricity along our hydroelectric generators to satisfy local demand. Thus ending the need to run gas/oil/charcoal/diesel generators at all.

#3 Make it illegal to use/sell/import/own/manufacture non power saving light bulbs of all kinds, including for commercial usage (so far the biggest chunk). Outlaw incandescent bulbs in the country, period.

#4 Set strict energy efficient requirement for electric devices for both residential and commercial use. Let’s force the local manufacturers to go green until their thumbs are green enough that they bleed Ozone...

#5 Ban all vehicles for non commercial use of more than 4 cylinders. Adapt the State of California's emissions control.

#6 Place a 5 year deadline so that all vehicles imported or sold by dealers beyond that point are either Hybrid, dual fuel or 100% electric.

#7 Invest in one or two Ethanol driven electric plants; so that the country will be self sufficient regarding the power crisis making headways in the world.

#8 Create a TAX to be imposed on cigarettes/alcohol/gambling/etc to fund green projects like planting trees year round while using the public and private school system and students to educate them on the job about the importance of trees in our habitat.

#9 Place stiff fines to home owners/business/etc that fail to keep their sidewalks and gutters clean during 2 daily inspections in all streets of the country. This will aid in having less municipal vehicles on the streets to clean up daily.

#10 Monitor industrial facilities that discharge sewage into the rivers and waterways, place stiff fines and require full cleanup payment to law breakers.

#11 Require stringent air pollution monitoring from industry to make the vented air safe to release in the skies above the DR.

#12 Invest heavily into mass transit systems in all major cities to ease the demand for more private vehicles as the population grows. If mass transit covers enough of the places frequented by the local people, then it's most likely that a cheaper and faster solution would be their first option. Funding to expand the SD Metro to cover the entire D.N. and Santo Domingo Province is a necessity as well as funding for a Metro system for the city of Santiago.

#13 Fund a 50/50 private/gov commercial rail to link all industrial complex to ports in the country. Saving energy and roads from heavy usage due to commercial transportation. Putting an end to the "Owners of the country" dilemma.

#14 Stop further expansion of rural areas to the remote greener areas via new roads and new constructions. Cities should expand vertically not horizontal. As it's in present time it will create a major problem and thin the natural resources to bring potable water and electricity to remote areas.

These are some...

[Chirimoya]

Make it part of mandatory building regulations to provide a clothes drying area, so that people have the option of using free solar energy to dry their laundry, as opposed to operating an electric dryer.

[PICHARDO]

Originally Posted by Chirimoya

Make it part of mandatory building regulations to provide a clothes drying area, so that people have the option of using free solar energy to dry their laundry, as opposed to operating an electric dryer.

Hate to break it to you, but in the DR just because a lot of people own washing machines it doesn't equate into owning a paired drying one too...

Most (like 90%) don't own a dryer machine because as you pointed out, the DR is a big solar drying machine free of charge!!!

The 10% that owns a dryer are mostly made up of foreigners used to having to buy the set as customary in their home countries and as such carry on the tradition. The other parts are the elite in the DR and those who live in apartments and lack the space in the sun to carry out such tasks.

[Chirimoya]

You'd be surprised, Pichardo. When we were apartment hunting we saw several where there was no external clothes-drying area and we were told that everyone had dryers. The seller thought I was some kind of weirdo for telling her that I wouldn't buy the apartment for that sole reason.

We've just viewed apartments in huge brand new upscale developments where this has also been the case. Again, the promoters thought I was being eccentric when I pointed it out as a concern. No one had mentioned it before, apparently.

I think it is scandalous on so many levels that people should be forced into buying using dryers when, as you say, the DR is a free solar drying machine.

Where we live now I estimate that only about half the apartments (6 out of 12) use the external drying area. I know for a fact that the rest use electric dryers. They are all Dominicans.

I have never owned a dryer, even when living in rainy England, and never intend to.

[PICHARDO]

Originally Posted by PICHARDO

The other parts are the elite in the DR and those who live in apartments and lack the space in the sun to carry out such tasks.

My point exactly...

The advent of apartments in the DR has created some new problems and requirements not met by the original builders and architects.

As you pointed out, lack of space for chores such as drying clothes were overlooked in favor of the view and accepted opinion that offering goodies like a washer/dryer hookup in all apartments would solve that problem without sacrificing extra space available for the apartments.

You have to add parking spaces, water pressure, sewage discharge and a host of countless other things that were bypassed in favor of value to the developers.

All older apartment complexes in the DR made a point to accommodate these issues as they were not addressed by the government at all. You can spot the ropes and poles in the roof of those tenements that were designed with those needs in mind. Also they took under consideration that water pressure was lacking and made up for it quite well. The sewage was addressed via septic systems that used the public plumbing as a secondary discharge only.

The electrical aspect was addressed by simply designing all rooms in the apartments to have at least one wall facing the street and therefore daylight when available.

Today those common sense designs are no longer in use, due in major part to the westernization of the designs and ample availability of home appliances to the buyer of those units.

Like the saying goes: The old becomes new again!

[Chirimoya]

The first example is a spacious apartment complex built 30 years ago, with plenty of common areas, but they still didn't have a designated clothes drying area.

The second example is where I live now, similar to the above only with good drying facilities, yet half the residents still don't use them.

The third example is a brand new upscale apartment complex which certainly does have the space to spare, but it is clearly not something that buyers insist on.

[MommC]

may be a much larger environmental disaster than incandescent.

What most people don't realize is that CFL's contain mercury.

Have you ever read the directions for disposing of a CFL??

Did you know that if a CFL breaks the first thing recommended is to open all windows and leave the room for 15 minutes to let the mercury contaminated vapours disperse so the vapours are not inhaled?

Cleanup requires donning protective gear so skin, mucus membranes and pulmonary systems do not come in contact with the mercury.

Disposal also requires a hazardous materials facility to accept the waste.

Are you aware of the amount of ground water contamination caused by one CFL?

Yes, many countries have enacted legislation to force inhabitants of those countries to switch to CFL's.

IMHO - this may be the largest future environmental disaster the modern world has seen.

[Keith R]

Actually, MommC, some of what you just posted is not accurate and has been making the rounds of the internet for several months now, often citing a "reported" example case in Maine that, once researched, was found to be made up.

Yes, I've read the labels -- we have a growing number of CFLs in my home and I've always been funny about reading the entire label on nearly everything (foods, packaging, etc.). Much of that language on the CFLs frankly is overdone CYA stuff for markets like the US, where they want to ensure that they cannot be sued for not including enough warnings to consumers.

Don't get me wrong -- I am in no way downplaying the health and eco-toxic risks of mercury. I've done quite a bit of writing on batteries, lamps and mercury-containing products, so I'm pretty familiar with the studies and other literature.

CFLs have far less mercury in them than do the fluorescent tubes that have been used for decades -- about 5 milligrams. As a point of comparison, that old fashioned thermometer you may still have around the house has 500 milligrams.

Individually CFLs are not a significant health or waste risk. The "protective gear" needed to clean up a broken CFL may be little more than the Playtex gloves some ladies use when washing dishes.

And the water contamination thing is often overblown -- I've seen people claim repeatedly that that one "button" battery (such as the one in your watch) contains enough mercury to contaminate a large lake, yet no one can point to the scientific study that supports the claim. And these button batteries often contain more milligrams of mercury (up to 25 mg) than does the average CFL...

Where CFLs may pose a problem is when there is massive improper disposal of very large quantities of them, so that tiny amount of mercury will become sizable in the aggregate. With many countries, as you correctly point out, encouraging or even mandating (such as Australia) a switch to CFLs in the name of energy efficiency and reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, at some point this is going to become a disposal headache for those nations. This is particularly true for countries like Brazil, the DR, much of the Caribbean and Central America, which do not have adequate handling and disposal infrastructure for hazardous wastes and no collection system to speak of for "universal" wastes (products with hazardous materials that we use commonly in the home and/or office in small quantities that, at end of product life and in the aggregate, become an environmental problem if not properly handled, treated and recovered or disposed.

BTW, the common argument for utilizing CFLs to reduce "carbon footprint" (lower GHG emissions) presumes an electricity generation base heavily dependent on coal and/or petroleum. The argument goes, if you use less electricity, they use less of these fuels to generate power and the attendant emissions drop. The reasoning is less valid for countries such Costa Rica, where the majority of electricity is generated from renewable alternative energy sources (hydro, geothermal, solar, wind) whose GHG emissions are low or none.

Also, unless other energy savings and energy efficiency measures are also introduced, there's always the chance that any savings gained from widespread use of CFLs will be offset by higher consumption elsewhere in the economy.