Did you miss me? Sorry the site was down—I went on vacation for a couple weeks, and my hosting expired. But contrary to all evidence, Pragmatic Environentalism does still exist, and I’ve got some great info coming up on cruise ships, Costa Rica, forestry management, and program evaluation. I know you’re waiting with bated breath…

Just in time for Christmas….

• 8 Gifts That Reduce Waste – Examiner. Okay, so if you haven’t bought all your presents, you’re a serious procrastinator, but here are a few good ideas.
• DIY Green Wrapping – Green Phone Booth. I love wrapping presents in reusable bags. Two gifts in one!
• Vegetarian Holiday Recipes – Green Phone Booth. Has anyone tried these? They look good.

It’s been a few weeks since I’ve shared, so there’s a lot. Do you do want the good news or the bad news first?

The good news:

• Empire State Building Achieves LEED Gold Certification – Inhabit. It’s the tallest building in the U.S. to get LEED certification.
• EPA Issues Rule Limiting Arsenic, Mercury Emissions from Power Plants – NPR. About half of the coal- and oil-fired power plants still lack modern pollution controls. Now they have three years to clean up their act.
• Elevation of the Chimp May Reshape Research – New York Times. The government is halting all new grants for research on chimps.
• EPA Report Cracks Down on Hydraulic Fracking – Energy 2.0. The EPA specifically links fracking with groundwater contamination.
• Could Having Better Labels Help out the Environment? – Slate. More argument for social norms advertising.
• Naked People Need Building Science – Energy Vanguard. Okay, so this is less good news and more funny. But it makes a good point!

The bad news:

• The Scariest Energy Graph You’ll See Today – Green Bang. Warning: the the US Energy Information Administration’s International Energy Outlook 2011 is pretty depressing.
• Canada Holds Hearing on Suspected Virus in Salmon – New York Times. Infectious salmon anemia has spread from farmed fish to wild.
• As Permafrost Thaws, Scientists Study the Risks – New York Times. Permafrost could contain twice as much carbon as the entire atmosphere.
• Plastic Bags – XKCD. I love XKCD.

Some people consider me a bit of a grinch. I’m generally not a big fan of required gift giving, considering it an inefficient use of money. You may have seen my favorite article on the subject, “The economic argument for never giving another gift.” I quote it a lot. Another good one is “The economist’s guide to giving Christmas presents that people actually want.” They argue that we value things less (20% less!) when we don’t buy them for ourselves. Expected gifts (Christmas, birthday, anniversary) are especially devalued.

Pink and brown is the new red and green.

How to avoid this trap without looking like a total scrooge?

• Give to people you know well. Daily or weekly contact translates to gifts that are 10% more satisfying.
• Give experiences, not things. Interpersonal relationships and new experiences consistently make people happier than material goods.
• Surprise them. Whether the surprise is in the timing or the present itself, unexpected gifts are the most satisfying.
• Give to those less fortunate. Redistributing wealth—even if it’s just from comfortable adults to broke students—is a particularly good way to make gifts more efficient.

Okay, so I don’t have a Christmas list, but Energy Circle and Grist have done it for me.

• Energy Circle’s 2011 Holiday Gift Guide: Gifts of Efficiency – Energy Circle. I love that spray foam and caulk are at the top of this list.
• A gift guide to bike stuff that people actually want  – Grist. I vote for Smart Wool socks.
• Hubway to branch out next spring – Boston Globe. 20 stations in Cambridge starting in March!
• Winter Farmers’ Markets – Boston Globe. The winter farmers market at the Pru is definitely not getting the love it deserves right now.
• Organic Can Feed the World – The Atlantic. “A 2010 United Nations study (PDF) concluded that organic and other sustainable farming methods that come under the umbrella of what the study’s authors called ‘agroecology’ would be necessary to feed the future world.”
• Carbon Emissions Show Biggest Jump Ever Recorded – New York Times. “The increase, a half-billion extra tons of carbon pumped into the air, was almost certainly the largest absolute jump in any year since the Industrial Revolution.”
• What’s the #1 Air-Pollution Source in Montreal During Winter? Old Wood Stoves and Fireplaces – Treehugger. Old wood stoves are not only inefficient, but release tons of particulate matter into the air.
• Sustainability: 4 Principles for Behavior Change – Practically Green. I love these! Berklee’s Counseling and Advising Center did an anti–drugs and alcohol social norms campaign that was just great.

Recently, I spent a couple hours collecting bicycle and pedestrian data for the city of Somerville. This is the second time they’ve done this study. The first was back in April, when 35 locations were observed during morning and evening rush hours. Read about the results in the Boston Globe.

I tallied people passing through two sections of Beacon Street, and I couldn’t believe the traffic! It makes sense, because it’s a wide road, with bike lanes most of the way.

163 bicyclists in an hour!

I found this especially interesting because I’m taking a Program Evaluation class this semester. This data collection instrument is nice and simple, but at the same time it would be easy for a collector to miscount while trying to keep track of four directions of traffic. (Once I had 16 people walk through at the same moment.) If the city wanted completely accurate statistics, they could record the intersections on video and then have two separate people tally the results. Of course, that would be far more expensive, and since this study is relying on volunteers, I’m assuming it must not be well funded. This is definitely good enough for a quick and dirty method. However, if I were conducting the study, I would probably want more training of the volunteers and maybe simplify the forms to only include pedestrians and bicyclists.

I’ll be interested to hear how they apply the results.