From: Raleigh McLemore (raleighmclemore@yahoo.com)
Date: Tue Mar 22 2005 - 23:47:29 PST
Message-ID: <20050323074730.78143.qmail@web54705.mail.yahoo.com> Date: Tue, 22 Mar 2005 23:47:29 -0800 (PST) From: Raleigh McLemore <raleighmclemore@yahoo.com> Subject: Recycling and Wind Tunnels
Recycling: Seems like we should be careful to define recycling. The assumption is that it is good for the environment to recycle, but, using lead-acid battery recycling as an example, it may only be good for our environment. Recycling materials like lead, which according to Greenpeace is done increasingly in third world countries, may not be good for those in whose environment they are recycled. Some of the lead recycling operations in Mexico, for example, are terrifying in their output of nearly unregulated lead pollution.
It sounds great, we recycle quite a few of our car batteries, and we certainly have enough car batteries to worry over, but my brief experience in this stuff makes me very skeptical that we should celebrate anything other than our ability to muscle our trash to a place where "they can deal with it". This problem makes recycling a simpler concept of partial reuse or downcycling and it is not neccessarily good for the Earth's environment, although it may make people feel good. I am particularly skeptical of old technology, lead, oils and paper recycling as possible transfering of our garbage to be cleaned up by people who have little to say about receiving this stuff. Economic conditions may force people into positions where they do hazardous recycling of American wastes, but that isn't the same as doing right for our planet. I know we've discussed this before, so I apologize for bringing it up again.
Wind Tunnels: I have a student who is working on a wind tunnel idea. I can't find a simple working wind tunnel idea, maybe there ain't such an animal. It is impossible to line up school administrators ear to ear in a straight line to see if that would function as a wind tunnel, as any two Oakland adminstrators are unable to face in the same direction. I made a really cool wind tunnel using buckets, 6" PVC Sewer Pipe (with a clear plastic laminate center tube to observe the model) and tried to calm the flow by pulling air through bundles of straws at both ends, but the flow is still a mess. Like herding cats. I have no idea what to do with this nifty, non-functioning wind tunnel except to use it as an example of what quite a bit of effort and probably not enough thought can manage to produce. That's science, right? Anybody know of a simple working wind tunnel idea? ACME Windtunnel Kit might work but I can't seem to reach the Coyote or the Roadrunner to get the address.
With firm handshake,
Raleigh
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