Back in March of 2014, a video made the rounds on Social Media claiming that Bison were running away from Yellowstone's super volcano. Was this a sign that the over-due world changing eruption would soon occur?

Now as the dust settles, I am going to input some additional data and as an Environmental Scientist, I know there is a great deal more to this equation of doom:

First, if an eruption was about to occur from a super volcano, I think ALL the animals would be on the move.
Second, it has been reported by Park Rangers that the video and images show the Bison actually running toward the "previous eruption" site of Yellowstone's old super volcano. However, don't be too relieved. With a normal volcano, the lava's Conduit (main vent of upward flowing lava) supplied from the Magma deep beneath the earth's crust, create new passageways to the surface. Known as a side vent, it can travel many miles over the centuries and become the new main vent in a different location. An example of this would be the Hawaiian Islands since each island is a new location where the lava erupted on the surface. In Italy, Mount Vesuvius that destroyed the Roman city of Pompeii in 79AD, shows evidence of now being under the Bay of Naples. Some scientists studying this situation have stated that the water temperature in the Bay has increased and the surface level has raised slightly. One possible conclusion: a side vent of lava has developed and moved toward the Bay.

Now Super Volcanoes have a pool of lava that builds up under the surface and there isn't a main vent to release the pressure and lava. So when and if all the animals start running, then I would be concerned. The only release valves, per se, are geysers such as Old Faithful.

Scientist have discovered that since 1923, the ground level in Yellowstone is 74cm higher today. This can indicate a swelling of lava under the park's surface. Some state that Yellowstone's volcano is 40,000 years overdue. You see, the last eruption was about 640,000 years ago and it is believed that this super volcano erupted in intervals of six hundred thousand years. Nevertheless, there is no hard evidence at this time that an earth changing eruption is about to take place. In addition, there isn't much humans can do to prevent or stop the event. Life will change and survival will be very difficult world wide. God's green earth will lose most of its color, the land will become gray and humankind may see the final days. Please note that I said "may" because there are so many variables to this, including our ingenuity and human spirit. Thus, nobody can be certain. This is truly in God's hands.

Bill Lauto, GTG
Environmentalist and Energy Consultant
GoingTrueGreen.com

Twenty-four years ago, during the 20th anniversary of Earth Day in 1990, I was the Energy Advisor to the Earth Day Committee in New York City. I also was the attending expert witness to the press conferences of former New York’s Major Dinkins and Commissioner Mark Green. Five years later we were on the World Wide Web, which was the popular way everyone referred to being online.

Today, under BBV Publishing, we have EnergyHotwire.com since the 1990s and our new GoingTrueGreen.com website, blog, videos and social media celebrating a one year anniversary.

Since that very first Earth Day in 1970, America has made great strives in awareness. However, progress in solving our environment issues has varied from year to year. Saving energy to help our green planet has been mostly successful on the individual level. Americans waste* a great deal, but our energy consumption remained the same while America’s economy grew over 60% between 1982 and 1998.**

However, many in Corporate America have yet to display putting people and our environment first over profits. For this Earth Day, we have news from Apple who launched a new version of their website showing steps they take to be more environmentally responsible. Apple’s comments concluded with: “At Apple, we continue to put nature at the center of our business and design principles. We promise to keep you updated on our journey.”

This is what we need more of... Everyone working together and on the same team! There is always another way to do something. Ways for us to protect God’s green earth and to do so without making sacrifices. This has been my passion since I first saw and had a lasting impression made on me by a television commercial*** when young. I will never forget the tear coming down the face of the actor who represented Native Americans after viewing the ways people littered upon the water and land from his canoe.

Communication is the Tool,

Knowledge is the Power,

Implementation is the Victory.

I find no better satisfaction than working together on developing a better way and then speaking about the work to bring a simple, yet powerful message to everyone. Just like the message spoken so clearly by one teardrop in a commercial so many years ago.

Bill Lauto, GTG

GoingTrueGreen.com

Contribute your comments!

* You can view a short video on this topic at: EnergyHotwire
** Data cited from E-The Environmental Magazine, Jan. 1998
*** View the Television commercial at: GoingTrueGreen's Blog

No, this is not GM's EV1. Those "leased only" Electric Vehicles apparently worked so well, GM pulled every last one off the road and had them crushed back in 1999. The official reply was that they were not selling. Then again, why will a gasoline engine Car Dealer want to sell an electric car for less profits. This XL1 from Volkswagen looks just like GM's EV1. I wonder if GM will file a legal case for stealing their look.

Nevertheless, the XL1 is only for European distribution. Some reports claim the car isn't even allowed to tour in the United States. I wonder why and I then compare issues to what TESLA is going through. The Tesla's all electric car doesn't sell through dealerships. They are sold directly, yet don't expect a savings on the purchase price. The one and only problem with Tesla's vehicles, is the price. However, some States are playing bad politics with old laws to block Tesla from selling directly and forcing Dealerships into the mix. Alas, in comes that conflict of interest again: Why will a gasoline engine Car Dealer want to sell an electric car for less profits? Here is another conflict: Government wants to solve the evils of capitalization, yet they are in bed with car, oil, gasoline and other corporations blocking direct sales, VW from showing the XL1 in the States, and leading us to believe that a car with a carburetor can never get 100 mpg. The XL1 gets almost 300 miles per gallon.

VW plans to build about 250 of  these two seat 283mpg hyper-hybrid cars that are 1800 pounds of carbon fiber, aluminum, and plastic. You will find a two-cylinder turbo-diesel engine sharing the trunk with an electric motor. They will be sold or leased, but either way the sticker price is reported to be around $120,000. Most Tesla models are less than six figures and do not use any gas.

The 27-hp electric motor, currently used in the Jetta hybrid, works in ­tandem with a 47-hp two-cylinder diesel engine. The XL1 will operate for 31 miles solely on electric power, while the American made Tesla will travel up to 265 miles and sit five. If you are able to install solar photovoltaic panels to recharge your car, then you are driving money and pollution free! So mile for mile, the Tesla is a better deal for all concerned.

Bill Lauto, GTG
GoingTrueGreen.com
Contribute your comments!

Someone just dropped one of those compact energy saving fluorescent light bulbs and the bulb broke upon hitting the floor. They contain mercury and some people yell open all the windows and evacuate the house or at least the room.  The question is: Do we know the FACTS or just the MYTHS about energy-saving light bulbs?

Through the years we have received numerous phone calls and emails about concerns with energy saving light bulbs. Today due to the lack of proper information, many people are concerned with these bulbs containing Mercury.

So I would like to provide some important additions to the facts and myths about compact energy saving fluorescent light bulbs. With compact energy saving fluorescent light bulbs, they must be recycled because many people are now using them. We cannot allow large amounts of mercury to be "dumped" because this will create a gateway for mercury to get into our drinking water tables.

Now since these bulbs were actually available in 1982, but only became readily available in stores after North American Phillip's patents ran out almost twenty years later, recycle laws finally came about because of the increase of these bulbs sold.

With recycling, the solid plastic housing of these bulbs is opened and the double glass sealed envelope with mercury (far less mercury than the original bulbs of the 1980s) is removed for proper disposal. So with this design, EPA and other organization will error on the side of caution when they suggest how to deal with a broken bulb. In fact, research demonstrates that these bulbs do require careful handling and disposal, the hazard does not warrant evacuating the house or even the room. If this was true, the government would require Warning Labels on the light bulb boxes.

In 2008 the scientific journal Environmental Health Perspectives, stated these bulbs contain 3 to 5 milligrams of mercury, about one-hundredth of the mercury in old thermostats that are still inside thousands of homes in America.

Research also states that only a small residue of mercury would be released when a bulb breaks. This study was completed in 2011 and cited in the journal Environmental Engineering Science. Only 0.04 to 0.7 milligrams of mercury would exit the bulb when broken and it would take weeks for a dangerous amount of mercury to leak out. Thus, an attentive and safe clean up will suffice. We are at greater risk of cutting ourselves with the broken glass or for a few people, have some temporary irritation to the smell of epoxy residue omitted by the cheaper "cut-corners" bulbs. Either way, both issues will render a room evacuation unnecessary. For broken bulbs, just put on rubber gloves and place the broken bulb into a Zip-Lock plastic bag and then bring it to Home Depot or Lowe's for free recycling. For any smells being omitted, return the bulb for a better made bulb from a different manufacturer. I'm still using Phillip's energy saving bulbs since 1983, some have yet to burn out and still saving oil for America.

As for the good old fashioned light bulbs, they were never good, only old. A least 90% of the energy consumed to operate them creates heat and only 10% provides light. They are the most inefficient item designed by humankind. The difference between bulbs is significant and stated in numerous studies since 1988. A more recent study by California's Energy Commission talks about California households replacing five incandescent bulbs with compact energy saving fluorescent light bulbs to save 6.18 billion Kilowatt-hours that will prevent the release of 2.26 million tons of heat-trapping carbon dioxide. Translation: Equivalent to removing 414,000 cars off the road.

In addition, compact energy saving fluorescent light bulbs reduce the amount of mercury emitted into our atmosphere by coal-burning power plants which is the largest source of mercury pollution on our planet. Then there is mercury still being used in tooth fillings!

Most of the exaggerated myths on compact energy saving fluorescent light bulbs comes from the manufacturers, who twenty years ago didn't and couldn't (due to patents) make energy saving bulbs to compete with North American Philips.

Also there was profit margin... Some friends in the light bulb industry told me that the cost was only 7 pennies from raw material to supermarket shelf to make an incandescent light bulb. This is a bulb that sells for 75 cents when on sale and burns out in three months when on 12 hours a day. That is what you call built in repeat business at the cost of our environment and health.

Bill, GTG
www.GoingTrueGreen.com

My recent two GoingTrueGreen Blog postings were about our drinking water and the overall availability for every human living on our planet. This is a serious issue mainly because we do not know for sure how easy or difficult obtaining clean drinking water will be for our grandchildren in the future. Yet, extreme difficulty already exists today for over 1.1 Billion people to obtain just 5 gallons of drinkable water and today's evidence points toward a dry future.

Enter on the world stage, the Human Spirit. My Blog and Videos present the power from Humankind working together on one team. The Human Spirit became the catalyst behind humans walking on the moon, and from that work, leap-frog medical technology came about, to cite just one area of benefits. Today I want to share with you just one project that provides solutions to our drinking water situation. This work is no less than walking on the moon.

Lima is surrounded by a desert. The capital city is one of the world's largest, and drinking water, clean drinking water, is a serious issue.

A large amount of Lima's population obtains their drinking water from wells. Wells that can get polluted. This is not anything new. Throughout the United States we have wells closing because they have become so polluted, the water is undrinkable.

The city of Lima receives very little rain, yet the air about the city has an atmospheric humidity level of 98% most of the time. So the University of Engineering and Technology in Peru teamed up with a marketing agency called Mayo DraftFCB and they built and installed a billboard with an advanced water harvesting feature. The system not only harvests water, but also has a filtration system that creates up to 96 liters (over 25 gallons) of drinkable water each and every day.

Think about this for a second, a billboard installed in a desert city, where the generators capture moisture out of the air - out of humidity, converts the moisture into purified drinking water and stores the water in five tanks connected to a faucet at the base of the billboard for retrieval. Thus, helping to solve a real need for the local area by the billboard.

There is one additional function for the billboard:
To advertise the University's engineering and technology accomplishment! Video below:

So as we talk about Wind and Solar out in the desert, perhaps we should incorporate one more item into our desert farms: Water Harvesting.

Bill Lauto, GTG
GoingTrueGreen.com