Teru Talk Newsletter
Volume VI, Issue 16, April
25,
2016
Teru Talk by Michael
Theroux (pronounced
"Terú")
Teru's Trash Talk
Earth Day, April 22, 2016: one
day in the year when Humans
graciously come together to
think about where they live,
and to concern themselves with
the health and well-being of
our planet. How thoroughly
Human of us! What's amazing is
the arrogance with which we
make these grand assumptions
about what is or is not 'good
for the planet'. Face it:
Humans aren't very good for the
planet, but somehow we
continue.
We have it from 'reliable'
sources that this year, Planet
Earth has decided to declare
May 1, 2016 as Human Day. For a
one day-cycle out of that grand
lap of the sun, our planet will
take time to consider what she
might do to better our lot, to
make us healthier, stronger,
more 'together'. Why, Earth can
just emulate Humans' ability to
fix things. Hummm … let's think
this through:
Surely, that background
radiation that spurs animal
evolution can be tweaked just a
little to speed things
up.
Humans
just need to 'evolve' a little
faster … And that
heat-versus-cold thing should
be re-adjusted a smidgeon,
nobody's ever happy about the
temperature. And hey! Maybe the
land-sea-air water balance
needs rethinking… when it comes
to water for Humans, there's
always too little, or too
much.
Humans make this plastic stuff
that hangs around almost
forever. They keep making it
and tossing it, and it's gotten
into the ocean. Now, there are
tiny plastic bits in all the
fish they eat. There are indeed
natural bacteria that can eat
plastic - maybe all humans need
plastic eating bacteria inside
'em. That might
work.
Humans are always scratching
around for metals, especially
the shiny ones needed for the
buzzing gadgets they use a
year, toss and replace: more
upwelling magma will bring
those funny metals closer to
the surface. And Humans sure
like to stack rocks on top of
each other – boring gray rock
blocks – only to tear their
rock block buildings down and
make new ones. That's an easy
fix: more rocks around the
cities coming right
up.
They are always so hungry too.
Humans need something they can
catch and eat that replicates
fast, isn't too big, something
that they don't need to take
very good care of: how about
rats? Lots more rats can fill
that bill. Then there's that
More Energy thing, another easy
one: a little brighter
sunlight, a bunch more wind,
and bring that methane gas and
crude oil up closer to the
surface where they use it,
right in the middle of their
communities.
There's so much natural stuff
the Humans need already right
handy, and more grows every
day. There's a natural Earthly
balance that provides what
Humans need if they'd only take
care of their home. But they
use all this good stuff once
and throw it away, then gripe
about how bad it is to wallow
around in their own trash. No
problem: let Humans eat
trash.
Hey Rube!
Here's hoping you celebrated
Earth Day, fellow Humans. In
the spirit of truthfulness, we
still must recognize that all
our efforts to out-guess the
reasons for Global Hunger, the
Need for Energy and the horrors
of abrupt Climate Change tend
to boil down to one underlying
theme: Use what you need of the
Planet's bounty, but don't be
wasteful. Conserve resources,
and try not to be too
irritating, planetarily.
Remember, our planet tends to
self-heal: with a decent shrug,
Earth could rid herself of
these annoying pests we call
our brethren.
The Week's Top Story
Praxair
Signs Long-Term Agreement to
Source Waste Carbon Dioxide
in
US
Praxair, Inc has signed a
long-term agreement to purchase
by-product carbon dioxide from
US Nitrogen LLC, a subsidiary
of Austin Powder Company.
04/21/2016
The Week's News
Tarkett
Partners with Veolia to
Accelerate Its Transition to
Circular
Economy
The Tarkett Group, a global
flooring and sports surface
solutions company, has chosen
Veolia to help accelerate the
deployment of its ReStart®
program for the collection and
reuse of its products.
04/22/2016
ZooShare
Celebrates Groundbreaking
for Biogas Plant at Toronto
Zoo
On April 19th 2016, Zooshare,
the Toronto Zoo, Bullfrog
Power, and TREC Education
gathered to celebrate the
groundbreaking of the ZooShare
biogas plant.
04/21/2016
Valmet
Supplies Wood Pellet Heating
Plant to Helsinki Power
Facility
Finland based Valmet
Corporation will supply a wood
pellet heating plant to Helen
Oy's Salmisaari power plant.
04/20/2016
Ecova
Schedules Webinar on
Starving the Landfills: Food
Waste
201
Washington state based Ecova,
Inc has announced the second
webinar in its food waste
series, Starving the Landfills:
Food Waste 201, on how Chelsea
Market found food waste success
by leveraging waste
characterization studies to
provide the data driving long
term diversion strategies.
04/20/2016
Clariant
Concludes Extensive and
Successful Tests On
Sugarcane
Residue
Clariant has conducted
comprehensive tests on over 40
containers of sugarcane bagasse
and tops and leaves from Brazil
at its pilot and pre-commercial
facilities in Straubing,
Germany to validate its
sunliquid® technology.
04/20/2016
Comet
Biorefining Signs Supply
Agreement with
BioAmber
Canadian company Comet
Biorefining Inc has signed an
off-take agreement with
bio-succinic acid producer
BioAmber for high-purity
dextrose from Comet’s planned
commercial plant in Sarnia,
Ontario.
04/19/2016
UPM Biofuels
Gains ISCC PLUS
Certification for Bio-Based
Applications
UPM Biofuels has received
extended sustainability
certification to cover all of
its output streams from the
Lappeenranta Biorefinery in
Finland under the International
Sustainability and Carbon
Certification Scheme ISCC PLUS.
04/19/2016
The Week's Action
Items
Due
05/31/2016: Abstracts for
Biochar 2016 Conference at
OSU
Abstracts are now being
accepted for the Biochar 2016:
The Synergy of Science and
Industry: Biochar's Connection
to Ecology, Soil, Food and
Energy conference scheduled for
August 22-25, 2016 at Oregon
State University (OSU) in
Corvallis, Oregon.
04/19/2016
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