Environmental Engineering Quotes

It is a mistake," he said, " to suppose that the public wants the environment protected or their lives saved and that they will be grateful to any idealist who will fight for such ends. What the public wants is their own individual comfort. We know that well enough from our experience in the environmental crisis of the twentieth century. Once it was well known that cigarettes increased the incidence of lung cancer, the obvious remedy was to stop smoking, but the desired remedy was a cigarette that did not cause cancer. When it became clear that the internal-combustion engine was polluting the atmosphere dangerously, the obvious remedy was to abandon such engines, and the desired remedy was to develop non-polluting engines.

The global industrial economy is the engine for massive environmental degradation and massive human (and nonhuman) impoverishment.

We all are travelers traveling on a very big spaceship called Earth. Let's not ruin the engines of our very own spaceship in the name of development.

All these beefy Caucasians with guns. Get enough of them together,looking for the America they always believed they'd grow up in, and they glom together like overcooked rice, form integral, starchy little units. With their power tools, portable generators, weapons, four-wheel-drive vehicles, and personal computers, they are like beavers hyped up on crystal meth, manic engineers without a blueprint, chewing through the wilderness, building things and abandoning them, altering the flow of mighty rivers and then moving on because the place ain't what it used to be. The byproduct of the lifestyle is polluted rivers, greenhouse effect, spouse abuse, televangelists, and serial killers. But as long as you have that four-wheel-drive vehicle and can keep driving north, you can sustain it, keep moving just quickly enough to stay one step ahead of your own waste stream. In twenty years, ten million white people will converge on the north pole and park their bagos there. The low-grade waste heat of their thermodynamically intense lifestyle will turn the crystalline icescape pliable and treacherous. It will melt a hole through the polar icecap, and all that metal will sink to the bottom, sucking the biomass down with it.

It matters that we recognize the very large extent to which individual human thought and reason are not activities that occur solely in the brain or even solely within the organismic skin-bag. This matters because it drives home the degree to which environmental engineering is also self-engineering. In building our physical and social worlds, we build (or rather, we massively reconfigure) our minds and our capacities of thought and reason.

It is worse, much worse, than you think. The slowness of climate change is a fairy tale, perhaps as pernicious as the one that says it isn’t happening at all, and comes to us bundled with several others in an anthology of comforting delusions: that global warming is an Arctic saga, unfolding remotely; that it is strictly a matter of sea level and coastlines, not an enveloping crisis sparing no place and leaving no life undeformed; that it is a crisis of the “natural” world, not the human one; that those two are distinct, and that we live today somehow outside or beyond or at the very least defended against nature, not inescapably within and literally overwhelmed by it; that wealth can be a shield against the ravages of warming; that the burning of fossil fuels is the price of continued economic growth; that growth, and the technology it produces, will allow us to engineer our way out of environmental disaster; that there is any analogue to the scale or scope of this threat, in the long span of human history, that might give us confidence in staring it down. None of this is true. But let’s begin with the speed of change. The earth has experienced five mass extinctions before the one we are living through now, each so complete a wiping of the fossil record that it functioned as an evolutionary reset, the planet’s phylogenetic tree first expanding, then collapsing, at intervals, like a lung: 86 percent of all species dead, 450 million years ago; 70 million years later, 75 percent; 125 million years later, 96 percent; 50 million years later, 80 percent; 135 million years after that, 75 percent again. Unless you are a teenager, you probably read in your high school textbooks that these extinctions were the result of asteroids. In fact, all but the one that killed the dinosaurs involved climate change produced by greenhouse gas. The most notorious was 250 million years ago; it began when carbon dioxide warmed the planet by five degrees Celsius, accelerated when that warming triggered the release of methane, another greenhouse gas, and ended with all but a sliver of life on Earth dead. We are currently adding carbon to the atmosphere at a considerably faster rate; by most estimates, at least ten times faster. The rate is one hundred times faster than at any point in human history before the beginning of industrialization. And there is already, right now, fully a third more carbon in the atmosphere than at any point in the last 800,000 years—perhaps in as long as 15 million years. There were no humans then. The oceans were more than a hundred feet higher.

It is not brains or intelligence that is needed to cope with the problems with Plato and Aristotle and all of their successors to the present have failed to confront. What is needed is a readiness to undervalue the world altogether. This is only possible for a Christian... All technologies and all cultures, ancient and modern, are part of our immediate expanse. There is hope in this diversity since it creates vast new possibilities of detachment and amusement at human gullibility and self-deception. There is no harm in reminding ourselves from time to time that the "Prince of this World" is a great P.R. man, a great salesman of new hardware and software, a great electric engineer, and a great master of the media. It is his master stroke to be not only environmental but invisible for the environmental is invincibly persuasive when ignored.

Trying to design or reclaim places is, therefore, rather like trying to make or modify life itself. In this effort, it is wisest to adopt the gentle patient manner of an environmental midwife, while rejecting utterly the machine-driven arrogance of some environmental equivalent to a genetic engineer. By such gentle means places might flourish again, but also the world might become less threatened.

Owing to the shape of a bell curve, the education system is geared to the mean. Unfortunately, that kind of education is virtually calculated to bore and alienate gifted minds. But instead of making exceptions where it would do the most good, the educational bureaucracy often prefers not to be bothered. In my case, for example, much of the schooling to which I was subjected was probably worse than nothing. It consisted not of real education, but of repetition and oppressive socialization (entirely superfluous given the dose of oppression I was getting away from school). Had I been left alone, preferably with access to a good library and a minimal amount of high-quality instruction, I would at least have been free to learn without useless distractions and gratuitous indoctrination. But alas, no such luck. Let’s try to break the problem down a bit. The education system […] is committed to a warm and fuzzy but scientifically counterfactual form of egalitarianism which attributes all intellectual differences to environmental factors rather than biology, implying that the so-called 'gifted' are just pampered brats who, unless their parents can afford private schooling, should atone for their undeserved good fortune by staying behind and enriching the classroom environments of less privileged students. This approach may appear admirable, but its effects on our educational and intellectual standards, and all that depends on them, have already proven to be overwhelmingly negative. This clearly betrays an ulterior motive, suggesting that it has more to do with social engineering than education. There is an obvious difference between saying that poor students have all of the human dignity and basic rights of better students, and saying that there are no inherent educationally and socially relevant differences among students. The first statement makes sense, while the second does not. The gifted population accounts for a very large part of the world’s intellectual resources. As such, they can obviously be put to better use than smoothing the ruffled feathers of average or below-average students and their parents by decorating classroom environments which prevent the gifted from learning at their natural pace. The higher we go on the scale of intellectual brilliance – and we’re not necessarily talking just about IQ – the less support is offered by the education system, yet the more likely are conceptual syntheses and grand intellectual achievements of the kind seldom produced by any group of markedly less intelligent people. In some cases, the education system is discouraging or blocking such achievements, and thus cheating humanity of their benefits.

Humans are producing no-analog climates, no-analog ecosystems, a whole no-analog future. At this point it might be prudent to scale back our commitments and reduce our impacts. But there are so many of us — as of this writing nearly eight billion — and we are stepped in so far, return seems impractical. And so we face a no-analog predicament. If there is to be an answer to the problem of control, it's going to be more control. Only now what's go to be managed is not a nature that exists — or is imagined to exist — apart from the human. Instead, the new effort begins with a planet remade and spirals back on itself — not so much the control of nature as the control of the control of nature.

Humboldt was the first to relate colonialism to the devastation of the environment. Again and again, his thoughts returned to nature as a complex web of life but also to man’s place within it. At the Rio Apure, he had seen the devastation caused by the Spanish who had tried to control the annual flooding by building a dam. To make matters worse, they had also felled the trees that had held the riverbanks together like ‘a very tight wall’ with the result that the raging river carried more land away each year. On the high plateau of Mexico City, Humboldt had observed how a lake that fed the local irrigation system had shrunk into a shallow puddle, leaving the valleys beneath barren. Everywhere in the world, Humboldt said, water engineers were guilty of such short-sighted follies. He debated nature, ecological issues, imperial power and politics in relation to each other. He criticized unjust land distribution, monocultures, violence against tribal groups and indigenous work conditions – all powerfully relevant issues today. As a former mining inspector, Humboldt had a unique insight into the environmental and economic consequences of the exploitation of nature’s riches. He questioned Mexico’s dependence on cash crops and mining, for example, because it bound the country to fluctuating international market prices. ‘The only capital,’ he said, that ‘increases with time, consists in the produce of agriculture’. All problems in the colonies, he was certain, were the result of the ‘imprudent activities of the Europeans’.

I daresay the environmental movement has done more harm with its opposition to genetic engineering than with any other thing we’ve been wrong about. We’ve starved people, hindered science, hurt the natural environment, and denied our own practitioners a crucial tool.

The pioneers and their new Indian partners amply displayed the American penchant for technological prowess, developing shore-to-shore windlasses and flatboat ferries to cross the rivers, innovations as vital to the country’s progress as the steam engine and the telegraph. America’s default toward massive waste and environmental havoc was also, and hilariously, perfected along the trail. Scammed by the merchants of Independence and St. Joe into overloading their wagons, the pioneers jettisoned thousands of tons of excess gear, food, and even pianos along the ruts, turning vast riverfront regions of the West into America’s first and largest Superfund sites. On issue after issue—disease, religious strife, the fierce competition for water—the trail served as an incubator for conflicts that would continue to reverberate through American culture until our own day.

Sadhana You may have noticed this about yourself: when you are feeling pleasant, you want to expand; when you are fearful, you want to contract. Try this. Sit for a few minutes in front of a plant or tree. Remind yourself that you are inhaling what the tree is exhaling, and exhaling what the tree is inhaling. Even if you are not yet experientially aware of it, establish a psychological connection with the plant. You could repeat this several times a day. After a few days, you will start connecting with everything around you differently. You won’t limit yourself to a tree. Using this simple process, we at the Isha Yoga Center have unleashed an environmental initiative in the South Indian state of Tamil Nadu, under which twenty-one million trees have been planted since 2004. We spent several years planting trees in people’s minds, which is the most difficult terrain! Now transplanting those onto land happens that much more effortlessly.

Science has long informed the environmental movement. Now it must take the lead, because we are forced to enter an era of large-scale ecosystem engineering, and we have to know what the hell we’re doing. That sermon gets a chapter. Beavers are benevolent ecosystem engineers; so are soil-enriching earthworms; so were American Indians, who terraformed a continent; so are all of us who work on restoring natural infrastructure. A chapter on that subject leads straight to the book’s conclusion: our obligation to learn planet craft, to be as life-enhancing as any earthworm, in the big yard.

San Francisco’s battles are no longer with itself but with the outside world, as it exports the European-style social ideas that drive Republican leaders and Fox News commentators into a frenzy: gay marriage, medical marijuana, universal health care, immigrant sanctuary, “living” minimum wage, bicycle-friendly streets, stricter environmental and consumer regulations. Conservatives see these San Francisco values as examples of social engineering gone mad. But in San Francisco, they’re seen as the bedrock of a decent society, one that is based on a live-and-let-live tolerance, shared sense of humanity, and openness to change.

What the most advanced researchers and theoreticians in all of science now comprehend is that the Newtonian concept of a universe driven by mass force is out of touch with reality, for it fails to account for both observable phenomena and theoretical conundrums that can be explained only by quantum physics: A quantum view explains the success of small efforts quite differently. Acting locally allows us to be inside the movement and flow of the system, participating in all those complex events occurring simultaneously. We are more likely to be sensitive to the dynamics of this system, and thus more effective. However, changes in small places also affect the global system, not through incrementalism, but because every small system participates in an unbroken wholeness. Activities in one part of the whole create effects that appear in distant places. Because of these unseen connections, there is potential value in working anywhere in the system. We never know how our small activities will affect others through the invisible fabric of our connectedness. In what Wheatley calls “this exquisitely connected world,” the real engine of change is never “critical mass”; dramatic and systemic change always begins with “critical connections.”14 So by now the crux of our preliminary needs should be apparent. We must open our hearts to new beacons of Hope. We must expand our minds to new modes of thought. We must equip our hands with new methods of organizing. And we must build on all of the humanity-stretching movements of the past half century: the Montgomery Bus Boycott; the civil rights movement; the Free Speech movement; the anti–Vietnam War movement; the Asian American, Native American, and Chicano movements; the women’s movement; the gay and lesbian movement; the disability rights/pride movement; and the ecological and environmental justice movements. We must find ourselves amid the fifty million people who as activists or as supporters have engaged in the many-sided struggles to create the new democratic and life-affirming values that are needed to civilize U.S. society.

Without sex, the only way for bacteria to adapt is through mutation, which is caused by reproductive error or environmental damage. Most mutations are hurtful; they make for even less successful bacteria—though eventually, with luck, a mutation would arise that made for a more heat-resistant bacterium. Asexual adaptation is problematic because the dictate of the world, “Change or die,” runs directly counter to one of the primary dictates of life: “Maintain the integrity of the genome.” In engineering, this type of clash is called a coupled design. Two functions of a system clash so that it is not possible to adjust one without negatively affecting the other. In sexual reproduction, by contrast, the inherent scrambling, or recombination, affords a vast scope for change, yet still maintains genetic integrity.

The Soviets were not 50% right, they were entirely wrong. They weren’t quantitatively wrong about the amount of variance due to the environment, they were qualitatively wrong about what environmental manipulations could do in the face of built-in universal human machinery. Having said this, though, I now feel no particular impulse to vote Republican. Also, it’s quite possible that someday you could create perfectly unselfish people… if you used sufficiently advanced neurosurgery, drugs, and/or brain-computer interfaces to engineer their brains into a new state that no current human brain occupies. Whether or not this is in fact possible isn’t something that ideology gets to decide. The reasoning errors of past communists can’t prohibit any particular future technological advance from being possible or practical. Having said that, I feel no particular impulse to turn “liberal.

I took 17 computer science classes and made an A in 11 of them. 1 point away from an A in 3 of them and the rest of them didn't matter. Math is a tool for physics,chemistry,biology/basic computation and nothing else. CS I(Pascal Vax), CS II(Pascal Vax), Sr. Software Engineering, Sr. Distributed Systems, Sr. Research, Sr. Operating Systems, Sr. Unix Operating Systems, Data Structures, Sr. Object Oriented A&D, CS (perl/linux), Sr. Java Programming, Information Systems Design, Jr. Unix Operating Systems, Microprocessors, Programming Algorithms, Calculus I,II,III, B Differential Equations, TI-89 Mathematical Reasoning, 92 C++ Programming, Assembly 8086, Digital Computer Organization, Discrete Math I,II, B Statistics for the Engineering & Sciences (w/permutations & combinatorics) -- A-American Literature A-United States History 1865 CLEP-full year english CLEP-full year biology A-Psychology A-Environmental Ethics

After more than three decades and many hundreds of studies, the overwhelming scientific consensus is that GMO foods are safe to eat. The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine commissioned a comprehensive study of the science, and in 2016 their report declared GMOs both safe to eat and environmentally benign. Of the scientists in the American Association for the Advancement of Science, 88 percent think it’s safe to eat GMO foods. This is almost exactly the same percentage of those scientists who say climate change is real and man-made, the latter a data point regularly used to demonstrate right-wing antiscience craziness.

The engineered built environments or domesticated landscapes of certain Amazonian peoples were as impressive as any Egyptian pyramid, Mesopotamian city, or Chinese terrace-irrigiation system. In the Amazon, the transformation was driven by social demands: social group formation, domestic routines, territoriality, local environmental knowledge, gifting, and competitive feasting.

Oil Change instructions for Women: 1. Pull up to Dealership when the mileage reaches 5,000 miles since the last oil change. 2. Relax in the waiting room while enjoying a cup of coffee. 3. 15 minutes later, scan debit card and leave, driving a properly maintained vehicle. Money spent: Oil Change:$24.00 Coffee: Complementary TOTAL: $24.00 Oil Change instructions for Men: 1. Wait until Saturday, drive to auto parts store and buy a case of oil, filter, kitty litter, hand cleaner and a scented tree, and use your debit card for $50.00. 2. Stop to buy a case of beer, (debit $24), drive home. 3. Open a beer and drink it. 4. Jack truck up. Spend 30 minutes looking for jack stands. 5. Find jack stands under kid's pedal car. 6.. In frustration, open another beer and drink it. 7. Place drain pan under engine. 8. Look for 9/16 box end wrench. 9. Give up and use crescent wrench. 10. Unscrew drain plug. 11. Drop drain plug in pan of hot oil: splash hot oil on you in process. Cuss. 12. Crawl out from under truck to wipe hot oil off of face and arms. Throw kitty litter on spilled oil. 13. Have another beer while watching oil drain. 14. Spend 30 minutes looking for oil filter wrench. 15. Give up; crawl under truck and hammer a screwdriver through oil filter and twist off. 16. Crawl out from under truck with dripping oil filter splashing oil everywhere from holes. Cleverly hide old oil filter among trash in trash can to avoid environmental penalties. Drink a beer. 17. Install new oil filter making sure to apply a thin coat of oil to gasket surface. 18. Dump first quart of fresh oil into engine. 19. Remember drain plug from step 11. 20. Hurry to find drain plug in drain pan. 21. Drink beer. 22. Discover that first quart of fresh oil is now on the floor. Throw kitty litter on oil spill. 23. Get drain plug back in with only a minor spill. Drink beer. 24. Crawl under truck getting kitty litter into eyes. Wipe eyes with oily rag used to clean drain plug. Slip with stupid crescent wrench tightening drain plug and bang knuckles on frame removing any excess skin between knuckles and frame. 25. Begin cussing fit. 26. Throw stupid crescent wrench. 27. Cuss for additional 5 minutes because wrench hit truck and left dent. 28. Beer. 29. Clean up hands and bandage as required to stop blood flow. 30. Beer. 31. Dump in five fresh quarts of oil. 32. Beer. 33. Lower truck from jack stands. 34. Move truck back to apply more kitty litter to fresh oil spilled during any missed steps. 35. Beer. 36. Test drive truck. 37. Get pulled over: arrested for driving under the influence. 38. Truck gets impounded. 39. Call loving wife, make bail. 40. 12 hours later, get truck from impound yard. Money spent: Parts: $50.00 DUI: $2,500.00 Impound fee: $75.00 Bail: $1,500.00 Beer: $20.00 TOTAL: $4,145.00 But you know the job was done right!

you have to battle him, too. Also, you have to fight bosses from the Department of Environmental Conservation and the Army Corps of Engineers- dodging fines from the DEC and hoping the Corps doesn’t find mystical endangered magic weeds in your yard. The game ends when you get your property fixed and you hold the flood back- or you get hauled away by the law while the neighbor chugs Bud Lite and flips you off. It was even better with the virtual reality goggles.

This, I fundamentally believe, is why scientists and engineers will do more than politicians and activists to solve today’s environmental problems. They have more than words. They have solutions.

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Although it all starts with the familiar flames of oil, coal, and natural gas, the details of global warming are complex. I’d say it’s like rocket science, but the details of climate change are actually a great deal more complicated than rocket science, by quite a margin. After all, much of our own planet is still a mystery. More than five hundred people have flown in space and twelve people have walked on the moon, but only three humans in history have been to the bottom of the ocean. An orbit in space is clean and predictable, whereas key environmental processes, like the Gulf Stream’s interaction with Greenland’s ice sheets, are wildly complex. With that said, climate change and rocket science have major things in common: The basics are straightforward, and they’re both science. If you have a rocket, you know what to do: Light one end, and point the other end where you want it to go. (Come to think of it—it might be better to point that front end first, and then light the engine on the other end.) In climate science, we can see that we’ve already lit one end, and we know only too well where it’s pointed.

But we can’t stop eating altogether, so the best way to limit the environmental impact of farming is to cut out the farming that takes the heaviest toll. The average American consumes around 200 pounds of meat a year. When you consider that producing one pound of “factory-farmed” beef requires seven pounds of grain and 2,400 gallons of water, it’s easy to see where to begin.

Last week I sat through a day of environmental talks. You know what I remember from that entire day? Only one thing-the story a guy told about how he was sitting on an airplane and the lady next to him asked for cream for her coffee, but when they brought her the small plastic containers of cream, she said, "No thanks; the plastic isn't biodegradable." And he thought to himself, "I can hardly hear her over the jet engines that are burning up fifty gazillion barrels of fuel a minute, and she's worried about a thimble-sized piece of plastic?" That's all I remember from that day. Why is that? It's the power of a well-told story that is also very specific. Stories that are full of vague generalizations are weak. Specifics give them strength.

Nevertheless, most governments remain wary of running the risk of slowing down the drive towards economic expansion or decelerating the treadmill of production (Novek & Kampen 1992). Caught in a contradictory position as both promoter of economic development and as environmental regulator, governments often engage in a process of environmental managerialism (Redclift 1986), in which they attempt to legislate a limited degree of protection sufficient to deflect criticism but not enough to derail the engine of growth. By enacting environmental policies and procedures that are complex, ambiguous and open to exploitation by the forces of capital production and accumulation (Modavi 1991: 270) the state reaffirms its commitment to strategies for promoting economic development.

just-concluded Paris Motor Show stood out for its dazzling concept and production cars, many of which are pointing to the future, low emission, electric or hybrid cars that are environmentally-friendly as well as fuel-savers that give more mileage than ever before. It also showcased exciting levels of French design and innovation. There was the Peugeot 208 Hybrid Air concept which Peugeot-Citroen has based on a standard 208 with an engine that uses compressed air instead of conventional battery power in a hybrid set-up. It works in the opposite way to electric hybrids by being best utilised with frequent use and regeneration. As regenerating the system takes just 10 seconds, it's also ideal for city

I write these words in May of 2011, the week after a huge outbreak of tornadoes killed hundreds across the American South; it was the second recent wave of twisters of unprecedented size and intensity. In Texas, a drought worse than the Dust Bowl has set huge parts of the state ablaze. Meanwhile, the Army Corps of Engineers is moving explosives into place to blow up a levee along the Mississippi River, swollen by the the third “100-year-flood” in the last twenty years—though as the director of the Federal Emergency Management Administration noted at the end of 2010, “the term ‘100-year event’ really lost its meaning this year.” That’s because 2010 was the warmest year recorded, a year when 19 nations set new all-time high temperature records. The Arctic melted apace; Russia suffered a heat wave so epic that the Kremlin stopped all grain exports to the rest of the world; and nations from Australia to Pakistan suffered flooding so astonishing that by year’s end the world’s biggest insurance company, Munich Re, issued this statement: “The only plausible explanation for the rise in weather-related catastrophes is climate change. The view that weather extremes are more frequent and intense due to global warming coincides with the current state of scientific knowledge.” And that’s not the bad news. The bad news is that on April 6, the U.S. House of Representatives was presented with the following resolution: “Congress accepts the scientific findings of the Environmental Protection Agency that climate change is occurring, is caused largely by human activities, and poses significant risks for public health and welfare.” The final vote on the resolution? 184 in favor, 240 against. When some future Gibbon limns the decline and fall of our particular civilization, this may be one of the moments he cites.

§417. The purpose of science is to be turned into technology, and the purpose of technology is to be used in the construction of the Overman. Any purpose other than this is false, at worst a challenge to our culture (since the Overman IS culture: its last and highest achievement), at best a mere misunderstanding. As for "pure science", this is as much of an absurdity as pure spirit: things we can't influence we have no interest in. And it is only because we can influence everything (because flux: either we can influence everything or nothing, since in a universe of flux changing one thing changes everything) that we are interested in everything. So if we help African children, it is only with a view to turning them into scientists and engineers to help construct the Overman. If we support the arts, we do so to inspire the Overman and help him to relax, or to use failed artists as waiters to serve the Overman his meals. Or McDonalds: to feed the subhumans who clean the toilets in the labs where the scientists and engineers are working on the Overman. Everything can be reduced to this. Every other conception of purpose is folly. Everything going the opposite way, e.g. environmentalism, artfaggotry, religions other than Overman worship, and so on, are threats to be suppressed, or better yet to be reinterpreted as opportunities for the Overman to challenge himself and exercise his powers. Only as intellectual exercises for the Overman are all these forms of decay justified, but once their workings have been fully grasped, as they will be by the time the present work is over, they are nothing but nuisances that serve no useful purpose and must be minimized or, if possible, completely eliminated.

Earlier in this book, I introduced the idea of synthetic biology having ‘two souls’, one focused on engineering new features into existing life and the other aiming to create life de novo. Though the first attracts the bulk of current effort and funding because of its industrial, environmental, and medical potential, the goal of creating life is arguably far more significant in terms of long-term scientific and philosophical impact. It is poised to be another step in the long journey from Copernicus (the Earth is just one part of the universe, not its centre) and Darwin (humans are animals, and share their origins) to an irrefutable demonstration that life is just normal matter, albeit organized in a particular way. Most scientists already take this as a working assumption; however, it has not yet been proven, and it will not be until someone creates life from non-living matter.

In the background, given my commitment to the outer ecology of environmentalism, I replaced all the company cars with diesels, which used less crude oil and lasted longer than gasoline engines. The diesel cars did pay off briefly during the Second Energy Crisis of 1979, but they gave us a lot of trouble in the long run because the diesel-powered Oldsmobile station wagons that General Motors rushed into production had nothing but a beefed-up gasoline engine (internal pressures are much greater in a diesel) and they were in the shop more often than on the road. We aggressively redesigned the stores to conserve energy. To this day, Trader Joe’s stores don’t have very many windows, and all panes of glass are very small, an idea that had an accidental payoff in every subsequent earthquake and riot. As the young lady said back there in the God of Fair Beginnings chapter, I did the right thing for the wrong reasons.

What are you trying to buy? Asset type? Size? Price? To determine the answer to the first question, do the following: Start with your own net worth. Add in friends and family. The total team net worth is your starting point. Choose a market. Consider travel time and expense. You must be able to be in your market to look at deals at least once a month. Determine the viability of your market. Job growth? Population growth? Get deal flow from the market. Real estate agents Find all commercial realty companies in the city. Get on all their mailing lists. Analyze deals online from realtors in the area. Call the realtors about their listings. Direct to owners Get lists of owners. Create a system to reach owners directly. Mail Text Cold calling Analyze deals. Income approach Income – Expenses = Net operating income Net operating income – Debt service = Cash flow Check with lenders for current terms on debt. What is the CoC return? Cap rate? Debt ratio? Comparable data Check the analyzed cap rate against cap rates in the area for similar properties. Check comparable sale prices. Comps should be close in size and age to the subject property. Comps should have similar amenities. Comps should be within a few miles of the subject property. Exit Hold and operate. Refinance. Sell or flip. Consider upcoming market conditions. Debt Check with lenders or a mortgage broker to determine the availability of loans for this type of property. What are the terms and conditions? Is this the information you used to analyze the deal originally? Make the offer. Use an LOI to submit the offer in writing. The LOI will summarize the main deal points. If your offer is less than 15 percent of the asking price, speak with the realtor before you submit the offer. Once the offer is accepted, send the LOI to your attorney and have them draft the purchase agreement. Draft the purchase and sale agreement. Now that you have a fully executed contract, the clock starts. Earnest money goes into escrow. Do your due diligence. Financial inspection Physical inspection Lease audit Begin your loan application. The lender will complete three inspections. Appraisal Environmental inspection Physical engineer inspection of the buildings Do your closing. The lender will wire the loan proceeds to the closing escrow. Wire your down payment funds to the closing escrow. You own a new property! Engage property management for takeover of operations.

Climate engineers could certainly strong-arm the weather to what someone had foolishly decided was optimal—though they did it at their own peril, creating an environment that led, ultimately, to malaise of the mind, body, and spirit. The Imperial family would never understand that. They continued to relax under their sunny skies and stroll through their well-watered arboretums, oblivious to an environmental catastrophe just waiting to unfold before their covered eyes. It would be a challenge to stay on this planet

I’d always been swayed by the argument that no-one would waste money on R&D if engineered lifeforms couldn’t be patented – but there was something insane about the fact that the most powerful tools against famine, the most powerful tools against environmental damage, the most powerful tools against poverty … were all priced beyond the reach of everyone who needed them the most.

Gutenberg just wanted to make money printing Bibles. Yet his press catalyzed the Scientific Revolution and the Reformation, and so became the greatest threat to the Catholic Church since its establishment. Fridge makers didn’t aim to create a hole in the ozone layer with chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), just as the creators of the internal combustion and jet engines had no thought of melting the ice caps. In fact early enthusiasts for automobiles argued for their environmental benefits: engines would rid the streets of mountains of horse dung that spread dirt and disease across urban areas. They had no conception of global warming.

The culture of production was a key environmental contingency that was part of their worldview. The culture of production included norms and beliefs originating in the aerospace industry, the engineering profession, and the NASA organization, then uniquely expressed in the culture of Marshall Space Flight Center. It legitimated work group decision making, which was acceptable and nondeviant within that context.

In 2000 a group of computer scientists and engineers at Georgia Tech collaborated on a project called the “Aware Home.”4 It was meant to be a “living laboratory” for the study of “ubiquitous computing.” They imagined a “human-home symbiosis” in which many animate and inanimate processes would be captured by an elaborate network of “context aware sensors” embedded in the house and by wearable computers worn by the home’s occupants. The design called for an “automated wireless collaboration” between the platform that hosted personal information from the occupants’ wearables and a second one that hosted the environmental information from the sensors.

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Leading the field in environmental expertise. Adeptus provides environmental consultancy, reporting and project management services. Our multidisciplinary team of environmental consultants and engineers is equipped to advise on projects of any type. Many of our clients operate within the sectors shown below, where we strive to find the most cost effective way to meet their objectives. Our core business is the assessment of land condition and the management of contaminated soil and waters.

We’re used to thinking of design as creating an intricately engineered setting for the user, for which every act has been accounted. But the contextual meaning of the environment is never permanently established, because context is a function of the active engagement of the user. This means the primary aim of the designer is not to design ways for the artifact to be used but instead to design the artifact to be clearly understood,[66] so the user can recruit it into her full environmental experience in whatever way she needs.

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In 2015, 92 percent of all corn, 94 percent of all cotton, and 94 percent of all soybeans grown in the United States were genetically engineered in this way. The altered crops offer considerable environmental and economic advantages. By planting crops that have enhanced abilities to protect themselves against pests, farmers can attain higher yields while reducing their reliance on harsh chemical pesticides and herbicides.

In the transcripts, he described how the accident took place because of a “routine safety test.” Because the test put the reactor in a highly unstable state, Anatoly Diatlov, the second chief engineer at the plant, told two operators (both would die a few weeks later in Hospital No. 6) to turn off the reactor’s alarm system. They did and then proceeded to manually slow down the reactor to see if the turbines would generate electricity with the reactor coasting to a stop. Once they finished the test, Diatlov gave the order to activate the SCRAM button for a complete shutdown. Five seconds later the reactor blew.

My bet is that had Bt corn been Monsanto’s initial product launch instead of Roundup Ready soy, things might have been very different for GMOs. Genetic engineering could have been associated in the public mind from the outset with the reduction of chemical pesticides and might therefore have faced less widespread opposition. Some environmental groups might even have cautiously supported GMOs as part of their long-running campaigns to reduce pesticides in agriculture. Bt crops might even have been adopted by organic farmers as a more efficient way to deliver a biopesticide that they had already been relying on for many years. Instead, mostly because of the ‘original sin’ of Roundup Ready, Monsanto found itself embroiled in a succession of controversies that have today made the company a byword for chemical-dependent ‘Big Ag’.

India's Best Highway Infrastructure: Forging a New Era of Connectivity India's vast network of highways, spanning thousands of kilometers, is more than just an intricate system of roads. It serves as the lifeline of the nation, linking financial hubs, cultural landmarks, and strategic regions. This expansive infrastructure plays a vital role in driving the growth of a rapidly evolving country. Turning Challenges into Opportunities While India’s highway infrastructure has seen remarkable progress, it still faces hurdles such as congestion, road safety concerns, and maintenance gaps. Innovative Highway Builders view these challenges as stepping stones to success. Through advanced technologies and sustainable construction techniques, the company is redefining highway development, transforming obstacles into opportunities for progress. Remarkable Achievements Completion of a 124.52-kilometer six-lane expressway Expansion of 750 kilometers of roadways Development of 84.725 kilometers of new highways Construction of three major bridges and 30 minor bridges Completion of seven flyovers and seven railway overpasses Installation of noise barriers over 3.08 kilometers Deployment of street lighting across 44.68 kilometers Total project investment: ₹3,244 crore Concession period: 24 years Innovative Highway Builders: Redefining Excellence Pioneering a New Era of Infrastructure Innovative Highway Builders is at the forefront of India’s road-building revolution. For them, highways are more than just paths—they symbolize connectivity and progress. From high-tech expressways to eco-friendly overpasses, their projects reflect precision engineering, meticulous planning, and an unwavering commitment to sustainability. Uncompromising Quality and Timeliness Every project undertaken by Innovative Highway Builders is rooted in the pursuit of excellence. With a skilled workforce and strict quality control protocols, they ensure projects are completed on time, with minimal disruption, meeting the growing demands of India’s transportation needs. Community Engagement and Environmental Stewardship Recognizing the importance of community collaboration, Innovative Highway Builders actively address local concerns and minimize environmental impacts. By integrating sustainable practices at every stage of construction, they ensure India’s highways remain valuable assets for both current and future generations. India’s Highway Triumphs: Milestones of Progress Iconic Expressways and Engineering Feats From the iconic Golden Quadrilateral to the cutting-edge Eastern Peripheral Expressway, India’s highways stand as testaments to remarkable engineering. Innovative Highway Builders takes pride in contributing to these transformative projects, bolstering the country’s legacy of connectivity and growth. Empowering Communities and Driving Economic Growth India’s highways do more than connect places—they drive economic progress, enhance trade, create jobs, and improve living standards. Innovative Highway Builders is dedicated to building infrastructure that empowers communities and supports businesses, reinforcing the critical role highways play in national development.

Agra-Etawah Toll Road Project: Transforming Uttar Pradesh's Infrastructure Landscape Spanning an impressive 124.52 kilometers, the Agra-Etawah Toll Road Project signifies a monumental stride in reshaping Uttar Pradesh's infrastructure network. Designed to significantly cut travel times and boost regional trade, this essential corridor between Agra and Etawah also promises to catalyze economic growth across the state. Amid India’s rapidly advancing infrastructure endeavors, the Agra-Etawah Toll Road stands as a beacon of modernization. At the helm of this ambitious initiative is Modern Road Creators, a leading name in highway and expressway construction. Their role in this project underscores India’s dedication to creating world-class infrastructure. A Marvel of Engineering Excellence Modern Road Creators’ involvement in the Agra-Etawah Toll Road highlights their expertise in delivering cutting-edge infrastructure solutions. From meticulous planning and advanced surveying techniques to flawless execution, every stage reflects their unwavering commitment to quality, precision, and operational excellence. Modern Road Creators: Pioneers of Progress Unmatched Infrastructure Expertise With extensive experience in transforming India’s landscape, Modern Road Creators bring unparalleled knowledge and skill to the Agra-Etawah project. Their dedicated team ensures adherence to the highest standards of safety, durability, and quality, setting a new benchmark for road construction in the region. Commitment to Sustainability Environmental stewardship is central to Modern Road Creators’ approach. By utilizing eco-friendly construction methods and sustainable practices, the Agra-Etawah project minimizes ecological impact while fostering a balance with nature. Shaping a More Connected Future As the Agra-Etawah Toll Road nears completion, it promises to transform the region into a more interconnected and economically vibrant hub. By championing innovation and integrity, Modern Road Creators are paving the way for a unified and prosperous future for Uttar Pradesh and beyond. Conclusion: Building India’s Future Modern Road Creators play a pivotal role in driving transformative projects like the Agra-Etawah Toll Road. Their contributions go beyond infrastructure, creating employment opportunities, strengthening communities, and accelerating India’s growth trajectory. As this project unfolds, its impact is poised to resonate for generations, reinforcing its place in India’s development journey. Key Project Highlights Length: Six-lane highway spanning 124.52 kilometers Total Road Coverage: 750 kilometers New Road Construction: 84.725 kilometers Bridges: Three major and 30 minor bridges Railway Structures: Seven railway bridges and seven overhead structures Noise Barriers: Stretching 3.08 kilometers Lighting: Road illumination over 44.68 kilometers Project Cost: ₹3,244 crore Concession Period: 24 years

Landscape Mathematics = Landscape Architecture + Mathematics + Engineering™. Complex mathematical systems exist in nature. We must mimic these systems, and create original ones to solve environmental and educational issues worldwide.

How Pressure Relief Devices Prevent Transformer Explosions? Transformers are essential components in the electrical grid, responsible for stepping up or stepping down voltage to ensure the efficient transmission of electricity. However, they also contain pressurized systems that can pose a risk of explosion if not properly managed. Pressure Relief Devices (PRDs) play a crucial role in preventing transformer explosions by managing the internal pressure that builds up during operation. At Precimeasure, we manufacture Pressure Relief Devices using Brass material that requires no external power. What Causes Pressure Buildup in Transformers? Transformers use insulating oil to cool and insulate the internal components, particularly the windings and core. Over time, this oil can absorb heat from the transformer’s operation. If the transformer experiences a fault, such as an electrical short or a sudden overload, the temperature inside can rise significantly. As the temperature increases, the oil begins to break down and release gases, causing pressure to build up within the transformer. In extreme cases, this pressure can become so great that the transformer’s casing may rupture or explode. Without a mechanism to relieve this pressure, a transformer can become a serious hazard, leading not only to equipment failure but also to fire hazards, environmental damage, and significant financial losses. This is where Pressure Relief Devices (PRDs) come into play. How Do Pressure Relief Devices Work? Pressure Relief Devices (PRDs) are designed to monitor and respond to changes in the internal pressure of transformers. There are different types of PRDs, including rupture disks, pressure relief valves, and spring-loaded relief valves. Each of these devices is engineered to release the built-up pressure at a predetermined level, thus preventing the transformer from reaching a point of catastrophic failure. Rupture Disks: This is a one-time-use device that consists of a thin membrane or disk that ruptures when the internal pressure exceeds a specific threshold. Once the disk bursts, the pressure is quickly relieved, preventing further damage to the transformer. Pressure Relief Valves: These are mechanical devices that open when the internal pressure exceeds a set point, allowing the transformer to vent the excess pressure in a controlled manner. Once the pressure returns to normal levels, the valve closes again, allowing the transformer to continue functioning without further intervention. Spring-loaded Relief Valves: Similar to pressure relief valves, these devices use a spring mechanism to maintain a seal under normal conditions. When pressure increases beyond a safe level, the spring compresses and allows the valve to open, venting the excess pressure. Preventing Explosions and Minimizing Risk PRDs are vital for preventing transformer explosions by ensuring that excessive pressure does not accumulate within the transformer tank. If left unchecked, this pressure could lead to the rupture of the transformer casing, causing a dangerous explosion. By venting the pressure in a controlled manner, PRDs help avoid such catastrophic events. Additionally, PRDs play a key role in minimizing other risks associated with transformer operation. For instance, by maintaining the transformer’s structural integrity, they reduce the likelihood of oil leaks, which could lead to fires or environmental contamination. This not only helps to keep the transformer safe but also protects the surrounding infrastructure and environment. Thus, Pressure Relief Devices are an indispensable part of transformer safety. By managing the pressure that naturally builds up within transformers, PRDs prevent explosions and other hazardous outcomes that could result from excessive pressure. Their ability to function reliably and efficiently ensures that transformers can operate safely, even under extreme conditions. In this way, PRDs contr

Driving Into the Future: India’s Most Impressive Highway Projects India’s highways have undergone a remarkable transformation in recent years, and the Agra-Etawah Toll Road Project is a shining example of this progress. As part of #India'sbesthighway infrastructure, this road offers travelers a seamless blend of functionality, safety, and aesthetic appeal. The moment your journey begins, the smoothness of the road becomes apparent. The highway has been meticulously constructed by #Moder_Road Makers, whose expertise ensures a hassle-free drive. The absence of bumps and potholes makes it a joy to traverse, while the gentle curves and strategic design add to the overall experience. What elevates this journey is the scenic beauty that unfolds along the way. Flanked by verdant landscapes and thoughtfully designed structures, the highway is as much a feast for the eyes as it is a marvel of engineering. Modern Road Makers have not only prioritized functionality but also paid attention to the visual and environmental impact of their work. The amenities along the route further enhance the experience. Clean, well-maintained rest stops provide a space to relax, refresh, and refuel. State-of-the-art toll plazas ensure smooth operations, minimizing delays and maximizing efficiency. Traveling on this highway feels like stepping into the future of India’s infrastructure. It’s not just a means of connecting two points but a symbol of the nation’s commitment to progress. For anyone who values comfort, safety, and beauty on the road, the Agra-Etawah Toll Road Project sets the gold standard.