Each compact fluorescent light bulb has a small amount of mercury in it
(Source: Yann at Wikimedia Commons)
Old incandescent light bulbs
are getting pushed out of the
way by the more efficient compact
fluorescent light bulbs. But
the bulbs contain a small amount
of a toxic chemical. Mark Brush
reports, that has some regulators
concerned:
Transcript
Old incandescent light bulbs
are getting pushed out of the
way by the more efficient compact
fluorescent light bulbs. But
the bulbs contain a small amount
of a toxic chemical. Mark Brush
reports, that has some regulators
concerned:
Each one of these CFL bulbs contains a tiny amount of mercury.
It’s not a big a concern. If a bulb breaks in your home, you’re supposed to vent the room for 15 minutes before you clean it up.
But regulators are concerned about large volumes of bulbs.
The state of New York decided to crack down on CBS after the Late Show with Dave Letterman threw bulbs off a rooftop.
Letterman: “You have some incandescent light bulbs and you have some fluorescent light bulbs. How many do you think you have there?”
Assistant: “Uh, a couple of hundred.”
Letterman: “A couple hundred”
(sound of bulbs crashing on ground)
The little cloud of dust that rose as the bulbs broke caused people from around the country to call the New York Department of Environmental Conservation. And CBS reached a settlement with the state.
Most home owners don’t need to worry about state regulators knocking on their doors. It’s not illegal to put them in your trash in most states.
But officials encourage home owners to find a bulb take-back program like the ones listed on EPA’s website.
Honda rolled out the 2010 Insight for it's world premiere (Photo courtesy of the North American International Auto Show)
Car makers are showing off new
models at the North American International
Auto Show in Detroit. Domestic automakers
are rolling out hybrids and coming plug-in
hybrids. Foreign manufacturers have a
little more experience with hybrids.
Toyota has been doing well with its hybrid,
the Prius, and the Japanese company plans
to release a plug-in version early next year.
Lester Graham talked with Julie Halpert.
She’s a reporter who’s been covering the
preview of the Detroit Auto Show (opens
Saturday January 17th). She says
Honda, which started this hybrid trend,
hasn’t done much lately, but it is now:
Transcript
Car makers are showing off new
models at the North American International
Auto Show in Detroit. Domestic automakers
are rolling out hybrids and coming plug-in
hybrids. Foreign manufacturers have a
little more experience with hybrids.
Toyota has been doing well with its hybrid,
the Prius, and the Japanese company plans
to release a plug-in version early next year.
Lester Graham talked with Julie Halpert.
She’s a reporter who’s been covering the
preview of the Detroit Auto Show (opens
Saturday January 17th). She says
Honda, which started this hybrid trend,
hasn’t done much lately, but it is now:
Lester Graham: They’re paying a lot of attention to the Detroit Auto Show this
year because of the bailout and because of the new green cars that are being
displayed. Julie Halpert’s been covering the Auto Show. Julie, there’s a lot of
talk about the domestic automakers bringing on board hybrids and plug-in
hybrids in the near future, but it appears the Japanese automakers are coming
out ahead.
Julie Halpert: What’s interesting is the Japanese automakers feel it’s more
important in the near future to focus on regular hybrids. For example, Honda is
coming out with a new version of its Insight, that is comparable in size to the
Prius. And, it’s going to be the most affordable Hybrid. Priced under $20,000,
which makes it very attractive. Their argument is, these electric cars are
interesting, but there’s a lot of work to be done on the battery, and, so they would
rather see lots of people in hybrids, near-term. They think that’s going to make a
bigger difference environmentally than coming up with these plug-in hybrids,
which are going to be more expensive, and aren’t going to be offered for the next
couple of years.
Graham: If oil prices stay low, I’m wondering if domestic automakers will stay the
course of these more energy efficient cars. It sounds like they want the
government to force consumers into that market.
Halpert: Well, the government’s obviously placing a priority on this. And what
they’re very much hoping is that the government fuels demand by creating tax
incentives for these vehicles – they have the ability to do that, Congress has the
ability to do that. I think they’ve invested so much now, there’s really no
reversing course. The problem is that customers are very fickle. If gas prices
are low, they’re going to go back to their conventional internal combustion
engines. When gas prices were high, this past summer, there was a huge cry for
these alternative, more fuel efficient vehicles. The problem is that automakers
need to plan months and months in advance to bring out these vehicles. So
now, they’re on course to do that, it would be very difficult for them to switch
course at this point.
Graham: While Honda’s coming out with this new version of the Insight, Toyota’s
coming out with a third generation of the Prius, GM’s trumpeting the Volt, Ford is
going after smaller engines with turbo power. Why are they taking that
approach?
Halpert: Well, it’s actually quite a prudent approach. They’ve got this hybrid
Ford Fusion, which gets 41 miles per gallon. And, they’ve got this super turbo-
charged engine, which can boost fuel efficiency by 20-30%. And, their argument
is, let’s use more conventional motors to do this, because it gets into an
affordability issue. They can basically provide the power of a V8 engine in a V6
engine. And, consumers still want that power. They want low costs. So, they
figure, this new technology can go quite far in getting a lot of fuel efficiency and
not requiring consumers to pay this up-front premium that other hybrids cost.
Graham: That’s Julie Halpert, who’s been covering the Detroit Auto Show.
Thanks, Julie.
A new element highlighting the green future of the automotive industry has been added to the show. Attendees will be able to experience the latest in technology in a ride-and-drive format on a track built in Michigan Hall. (Photo courtesy of the North American International Auto Show)
Car makers are at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit to show-off their hybrids, and coming plug-in hybrids. Lester Graham reports:
Transcript
Car makers are at the North
American International Auto Show in
Detroit to show-off their hybrids,
and coming plug-in hybrids. Lester
Graham reports:
GM, Ford and Chrysler have all built hybrids and have plans for more – and all plan
plug-in hybrids. Those kinds of cars need good batteries.
Soon lithium ion batteries will replace what’s being used now. But, it’ll still only get
you 40 miles at best in plug ins before it runs out of juice and needs the gas-powered
engine onboard.
So making even better batteries is important to GM, Chrysler and Ford’s Executive
Chairman Bill Ford.
“I actually think the battery break-throughs will now start coming relatively quickly.”
But what if gasoline prices stay low? Will the majority of car buyers care about fuel
efficiency?
GM’s Rick Wagoner bets as the economy improves, gas prices will go back up.
“In general we’d expect oil prices to resume an increase. Hopefully a more gradual
one than we saw last year.”
And the automakers hope the government continues to encourage sales of fuel
efficient cars with tax credits.
For The Environment Report, this is Lester Graham.
Environmentally-themed movies are hitting the festival circuit hard
(Source: Sailko at Wikimedia Commons)
If you think Al Gore’s movie, ‘An
Inconvenient Truth,’ is one of the only
environmental films out there, think again.
There are so many movies about the environment
that entire festivals have been created to
showcase them. Jennifer Guerra has more:
Transcript
If you think Al Gore’s movie, ‘An
Inconvenient Truth,’ is one of the only
environmental films out there, think again.
There are so many movies about the environment
that entire festivals have been created to
showcase them. Jennifer Guerra
has more:
Science films have come a long way from this.
(sound of old science film)
Now, they’ve got flashy trailers, famous narrators and edgy music. There are hundreds of
these environmentally-themed movies and they’re hitting the festival circuit hard. Korea,
Italy, Israel, DC, Colorado, Michigan.
Susan Woods got to choose which movies to include in Michigan’s first ever Green on
the Big Screen film festival.
“It was quite daunting in the beginning, to tell you the truth, when I started looking
up all these films. I thought oh my goodness, how can I select them. There’s too
many to select.”
She eventually settled on about 30 films, including King Corn. Curt Ellis produced the
documentary, which is all about – yup, you guess it – corn and our dependence on it for
almost everything we eat.
(sound from movie)
“When you’re telling a story about the natural world, you really have to be able to
transport people to the place you’re talking about.”
And Ellis thinks the best way to do that – short of lecturing people in a cornfield in the
middle of Iowa – is to show them a film.
“The reason we make documentaries – Lord knows it’s not for the profit – the
reason we make film is because we believe film can make a difference.”
“My opinion of media effects in terms of film actually producing social action is
pretty limited.”
That’s Daniel Herbert. He teaches film at the University of Michigan. You could say he’s
got a healthy amount of skepticism when it comes to films’ impact on environmental
change.
“Unless you have policies in your city government without recycling, what does it
matter if you’ve watched An Inconvenient Truth? If Al Gore’s telling you to buy
$30 light bulbs and you make 9 bucks at Starbucks, what’s it matter?”
Plus he says you run the risk of having audiences think that just because they watched the
film they’ve somehow participated in solving the problem.
That said, if he had to choose between showing an environmental film at a festival, a
commercial movie theater or on TV? Herbert says he’d pick the festival. Sure, there’s
probably a greater audience to be had with television, and it’s a little more convenient to
just Netflix the film and watch it from home, but you lose something that way.
Susan Woods – she’s from the Michigan film festival – she says a festival can provide a
whole different experience.
“The difference is that these people are sitting home in a dark room as opposed to
being with a group of people who have the same mind set. And I think that’s the big
difference.”
And, she says, at a festival, if you feel inspired by one of the films, you can go up to a
director afterward and ask questions, or talk with a climate change expert about solutions
or sign up with a local environmental group.
Something you definitely wouldn’t be able to do sitting at home alone in the dark with
your TV.
The Junkyard Symphony warms the crowd with their beats. They say recycling even a little goes a long way. (Photo by Karen Kelly)
The ring toss - a crowd favorite. (Photo by Karen Kelly)
Showing one of many uses for used pickle buckets. (Photo by Karen Kelly)
The old cup-on-the-head trick. (Photo by Karen Kelly)
It takes a keen eye to see the value in an old hubcap, a dented bucket or a broken bicycle horn. But when you’re searching for musical instruments, the junkyard can be an inspiration. Karen Kelly has the story:
Transcript
It takes a keen eye to see the value in an old hubcap, a dented bucket or a broken bicycle horn. But when you’re searching for musical instruments, the junkyard can be an inspiration. Karen Kelly has the story:
It’s a winter weekend festival in Ottawa, Canada and it’s freezing. And there are a few things you can count on – ice skating, ice sculptures, maple taffy… but bongo drums?
(sound of drums fades in)
As you make your way along a crowded path, you catch sight of the band, and you realize…these guys aren’t playing bongos.
They’re playing on recycling bins. And they’ve got paint buckets hanging on either side of them. Those bottle caps taped to the top turn them into snare drums. And there are PVC pipes sticking out of the bin with metal bowls on top. Those would be the cymbals. And – believe it or not – they sound really good.
(drumming)
They’re called Junkyard Symphony.
Two guys, dressed in khaki-green jumpsuits, playing on instruments they made themselves. Jonny Olsen is the founder of Junkyard Symphony.
“Usually, what I do is go to the junkyard and look through the stuff and take my stick and bang on stuff and experiment with different sounds. I get a lot of ideas for bits in the show just from the props that we find. Just use your imagination, basically.”
Like a beat-up Cheer detergent box. During the show, Olsen picks a little kid out of the audience to hold that box up in the air. And the audience does what it’s told.
(Olsen leads crowd in cheering)
Olsen started Junkyard Symphony about 20 years ago, when he was in high school. But what started as an Earth Day project became a summer job that put him through college. After graduation, he tried to stop, but couldn’t.
“Once I was done, I had so many people calling for the show, and I’ve never really been able to stop it, beacuse I’ve had so many people calling. I wasn’t able to move on to anything else. They wouldn’t let me.” (laughs)
What really gets the audience going are the tricks. There are plungers juggled between the legs. And the audience is invited to throw tennis balls at a tube attached to Olsen’s forehead.
One of Olsen’s favorite tricks is to place a kid on top of a milk crate, hands together, straight up over their head. The drum rolls, along with hundreds of mittens.
The kid’s looking nervous, and Olsen – standing behind him – starts tossing hula hoops at him. Kind of like human horseshoes.
That’s what attracts people like Joe Vinchec on a freezing cold day.
“I find them very creative and hilarious, actually. Quite funny.”
Olsen says he’s got three goals for his show. He wants to expand it beyond Ottawa, Montreal, and Toronto – where they play now.
He wants people to have fun.
And he wants people to think about reusing and recycling.
Some people have said he should move on to bigger issues, like climate change. Recycling is old news. But in Ottawa, where Olsen lives – and in many other cities – they’re running out of space for their garbage.
That’s why he argues everyday actions do matter.
“Every little thing you do adds up. Like when we first started Junkyard Symphony, we made our money on the street, by someone chucking in a quarter and eventually, all those quarters added up to my tuition. So if everybody just did little things, it would add up to having a cleaner environment.”
(sound back up)
Olsen blows into a homemade didgeridoo, and aims it at the nearest kid. (audience laughs)
It’s the traditional Australian instrument, but this one is made from a long piece of PVC piping.
Olsen doesn’t talk much during his show. And he definitely doesn’t preach. He believes if you inspire positive feelings – if you get them to laugh – you’re more likely to inspire people to take positive action, as well.
Each compact fluorescent light bulb has a small amount of mercury in it (Source: Yann at Wikimedia Commons)
