Chesapeake Bay problems

I've been thinking that I need to actually keep up with this blog, even if no one reads it. Classes are over, so there is no longer the weekly stress of a class that gets me fired up so that I need to vent. I've had to do a 20 page paper, a take home final and a presentation for my classes, hence the lack of posts. If anyone cares, or even reads this. But anyway. On to the Chesapeake Bay. Currently I live no where near the Bay, actually probably about 300 miles from the watershed, maybe a little closer. But, about 3 years ago my husband and I lived in VA, and loved it. I taught Environmental Science in a small school in the tidewater region. Lovely place. But I just don't get their mentality. They act like nothing is happening to the bay. The kids, I taught high school, acted like the bay was gonig to be there forever and it would be fine, even if nothing was done. They didn't get the fact that they were the ones that would be needed to make a difference in what happened to the bay. These are the same kids that have families that depend on the bay for their livelihood. Their fathers, brothers, and uncles are able to harvest fewer and fewer animals from the bay. In 20 years they probably won't be able to harvest anything at all. The tidewater area is one of increased development, with Newport News and Norfolk growing, as well as Richmond, which increases pavement and sediment runoff. Uh, not good for the bay. One of the things that is going on in the Bay is the restoration of the submerged aquatic vegetation (SAV). But there are problems with it growing. Hmmm, I wonder why? The increased development in the area, as well as the areas upriver from the bay have increased the amount of sediment in the bay so that the SAV won't grow. The bay is very shallow and does not empty rapidly into the ocean. This creates a problem with sediment and pollutants; they all stay in the bay and are not flushed out to sea. The EPA puts out a list of impaired waters of the US every year, or every few years. We talked about it in class and the Mahoning River is on it, but so it the Chesapeake Bay. I'm not sure where it's at on the list, but it's on there. The states that include the Bay have gotten together to try and regulate different areas, such as runoff, to help improve the Bay, along with the Chesapeake Bay Foundation. But in order for something to really happen the young people have to take an active interest in what is going on around them, step up and do something.

Mahoning River....YUCK!

I thought I was going to discuss the Chesapeake Bay this time, but I'll get to that another day. Believe me there is lots to talk about when it comes to the Bay. Dumb people abound. Anyway. Today in class we talked about the Mahoning River in Ohio. There are 43 MILES, yes, I said miles, that have been contaminated by oil spills, PAH's (aka polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, nasty stuff), mercury, along with some other nasty stuff. When the sediment in the bottom gets stirred up it's more like sludge. This area was historically an industrial area with steel mills as well as other manufacturing facilities, and there are a number still in the area. As recently as 1977 70,000 lbs/DAY of oil and grease went into the river, 500 lbs/DAY of cianide, 800lbs/DAY of zinc. Just to get an idea of how much oil 70,000 lbs is, it's 200 barrels, enough to heat 30,000 average sized homes. Yeah, 200 barrels of oil a DAY went into the river. no wonder the river is a mess. And this pollutant load was at the end of the contamination time, which means in the years before, imagine how much crud went into the river. This contamination has caused the river to be declared a Human Health Hazard by the US Health Department, this means no one is allowed to swim or wade in the river and no fish are to be consumed from it. You wouldn't want to eat the fish anyway, the only thing that survives there is stuff that tolerates pollution. Like catfish and carp, and even those have nasty abnormalities on there skin and have large amounts of pollutants in their meat and fatty tissue. The Army Corps of Engineers conducted a dredging reconnaissance study on the possibility of getting rid of the contaminants on the river bottom. The only problem is, it's not just the river bottom, the soil is also contaminated into the riverbank. But I won't go into that right now. The Corps is only responsible for the navigable waterways, so all they are worried about is the part that is frequently covered by water. After this reconnaissance they decided that the best way to get the contaminants out is to dredge, but then the stuff has to be disposed of. soooo, this leads to a whole other story. but anyway. The study was done in 1999, uh, yeah, 10 years ago. And 10 years ago it was going to cost $91 million, and the fed. government will only pay $4million. The cost includes dredging and disposal, most coming from disposal. And a feasibility study was also conducted. And of course, this is the federal government, so that means things take FOREVER and they cost TOO MUCH, like millions. The feasibility study said that the dredging was indeed possible and it SHOULD be done, but the request or report or something are stuck on some bureaucrats desk. waiting, waiting, waiting. So now, they have decided that the contamination of the river comes under CERCLA (Comprehensive, Environmental Response Compensation and Liability Act), which means whoever put the crap in the river is responsible for its cleanup. yeah, right, this just puts more years and millions on the project. It will cost a few million to conduct the study to see who is responsible for spilling the crap, and then to sue them or ask them to clean in up. Which leads the steel companies to hire lots of lawyers to fight the CERCLA stuff because they weren't the ones that originally did the polluting. However, they, the steel companies, did purchase the companies that did the polluting. Under CERCLA, a federal law, they are responsible, no matter what. SUCK IT UP people!! You make billions of dollars, sending American jobs overseas, you SHOULD pay for cleaning up a river that someone you probably know messed up. We came up with several ideas in class, one is that the steel companies could donate money and get their name on a plaque that says they helped clean up the river, not that they pollute the crap out of the earth today, but hey, we take what we can get. It would only cost about $10 million to do that, split between all the companies that would be responsible. Compared with the cost of fighting whether they are actually at fault, both would probably cost about the same, and with one they'd actually get to brag about being green. Oh, part of the feasibility plan is to remove 5 of the 9 dams that are on the river, because they are no longer being used and are just impeded the ecological recovery. However, those dams can't be removed until the sediment is cleaned, because when they are removed the nasty crap will be moving down river. not good. no one down stream wants that crap. Anyway. the dams are disintegrating, and fast, so something needs to be done....oh, I don't know, yesterday. So not only do we need to clean the river, and we need to do it quickly. CERCLA or no CERCLA, it needs to be done. So, anyone have any ideas how to raise 90 million dollars to clean up a river to improve the health of the river, ecological and human?

Are we really this dumb? seriously?

Okay, so I have this monstrous paper to do for my policy class. not looking forward to it, and it's tough going. I only have 3 pages done and I need 20. yuck. anyway. i've been looking at a lot of EPA websites. Some things the EPA does are really dumb, but then what do you expect from a government agency. A lot of times their hands are tied by even bigger idiots up farther on the food chain. And then there is the lack of funding. Don't even get me started on that. Well, maybe I'll mention something. And those that love out service people don't get your panties in a bunch. I totally appreciate and love what those guys and gals do for our country but we are spending too much money and people are dying for a place that doesn't want us there and were we have stuck our nose in where it doesn't belong. Nothing against the people fighting, i wish they would come home safely, it's the idiot who was in charge that sent them over there. but that is just my opinion. so, if all that money wasn't being wasted, maybe we could afford to fix the health care and the environment here on our own blasted soil. anyway, i've gone off on a tangent. back to where i was headed with this little tirade. "For the past two decades the rate of land development across the country has been more than two times greater than the rate of population growth. If unchecked, the increased impervious surface associated with this development will increase stormwater volume and degrade water quality, which can harm lakes, rivers, streams, and coastal areas." this quote compliments of the EPA. There are already areas, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Atlanta, Chicago, that have noticed serious negative impacts on their rivers because of increased runoff. Nice, eh, just think, we need that wal-mart, lowes and gorcery store 5 feet from our front door, but ya know what's gonna happen, we won't be able to drink the water that is coming out of our faucets. Remember what I wrote about in the first note i put on here? where does out water come from? Do people not realize that everything works together and is affected by everything else? So as we continue to pave over the trees and the grass we increase the amount of water that is running into the rivers and streams. creating faster, bigger flows, and actually increasing the chances of flooding. Why do towns seem to think that a huge development is a good thing? We have one going in 5 miles down the road, everytime I drive by i get mad. It's such a waste. And for what? so we could have a Lowes? Didn't they just close a bunch of stores this past year? so why are they building a new one here? So now 150 acres of mostly trees is going to be covered in pavement. sigh. and the township encouraged them to move in there! idiots, i tell ya. There is a lake here that about 40 years ago used to be at least 12 feet deep and 75 acres. It's now only 63 acres and at it's deepest it's only 6 feet. I might have mentioned this little area. Anyway, they've drained it and are planning on dredging it. The only problem is, they haven't fixed the real problem. The DEVELOPMENT!! it increases runoff, which increases sedimentation, which FILLS UP THE LAKE! DUH!!!See what I mean about stupidity? There is a cause and effect relationship here, do the idiots in charge not see this? Or are they under the same thumb as the EPA? there are bigger idiots higher up the food chain that seem to think this problem will go away if we ignore it long enough. Maybe if we explain it to them in finger painting they'll get a clue. And the housing developments that are going in are outrageous! People want to live out of the city, so they move into a development where they can see in the neighbors windows. um, live in a townhouse, there's more privacy. There are some developers that are starting to do conservation developments where the majority of the land in the development is left alone and the houses are put into one area while the rest is left as green space. But these are few and far between. Bigger is not better people, not in this situation!! We need to start controlling development or soon there won't be anything to worry about because we will have destroyed it all. I understand that we are not all environmental scientists or engineers, but I think everyone should be able to understand what happens to water when you increase the amount of pavement, and decrease the amount of grass and trees. Don't you?

Lets talk about the Everglades

If you didn't know it, the Everglades are dying. And it's all our fault. Yeah, I did say it, all OUR fault. People are dumb, I mean dumb. Well, maybe I should use that word ignorant. I mean when you do something without really thinking or knowing what could happen in the future, I guess you can say that's ignorant. Since 1907 the Everglades have been altered, paved, diked, leveed, and channelized all to the detriment of the ENTIRE system. Concerns were raised in the 1920's about the impact we were having on the ecosystem, but then in 1947 there were huge floods and so the response was, drain it, kill it, make it dry. sigh, people are so dumb. Let me explain a little about the 'Glades. It starts at the Kissimmee river, north of Lake Okeechobee, and then SHOULD flow across the ground down to the Gulf of Mexico. The term "river of grass" was coined in Marjorie Stoneman Douglas because that is what it looked like. The Everglades are supposed to be a huge sheet flow of water, a few feet deep, but miles wide. But, people want to live there. Why? Why? Why? Duh, there were huge floods in the 1940's, why would you want to move there? The Seminole lived there for the longest time and didn't worry about the floods, the gators or the panthers. They lived with them, dealt with them. The Army Corps of Engineers came in and put cement walls up all around Lake Okeechobee, so it wouldn't flood anymore, and put rivers into canals and levees up along the side, pretty much trying to keep them in their channels. Which is really stupid, because rivers want to meander, and move. If you try to control them and keep them in one spot, they destroy something else that you weren't planning on. Since they dammed and channeled and leveed the river and lake "to death," and the sugar companies were taking so much water out, the federal government, in 1972, had to regulate a MINUMUM amount of water that would enter the 'Glades. Yes, a minimum. Meaning that there had to be just enough water left to feed the 'Glades, because the sugar companies and agriculture were and are taking it all. And that was back in 1972! Anyway, now everyone wants to fix what we have screwed up. Yeah, okay.... to the tune of over $7.8 billion, oh, wait, that was back in 1999. In 2000 the Federal Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan was passed, along with the State Everglades Forever Act, both saying that yes, the Everglades need to be repaired. So now what? It's been over 6 years and the 'Glades haven't been repaired, and it now is going to cost more money that it did before, obviously. Now that all those people live in Florida, south of Lake Okeechobee, where they really shouldn't live, the scientists have to find some way to restore the 'Glades and get water to millions of people. They also have to control flooding and erosion while they are at it. hahahahahahahaha!! Sometimes I just want to pull my hair out. This would be another time when people really need to THINK about the future of the environment before they move somewhere like southern Florida. jeez. You know what really sucks? Once the 'Glades die, and don't get me wrong, they will, cause people are more worried about our millions dollar homes than they are about where their water comes from, all those animals that are indigenous to the 'Glades, will be gone forever. Just like all the others we have made extinct. We will lose a large amount of biodiveristy that lives in a relatively small area. Currently 68 species that depend on the 'Glades are on the endangered or threatened list. 68!!! nice. I guess that's not TOOO many, since there are hundreds that live there. right? (sarcasm dripping) let's just hope one isn't a cornerstone species. which means, once that species dies, so do MANY others. it's not a good thing. A lot of these species are dying because they are being killed off, they are dying because we are paving their habitat. They have no where to live. Or we have so badly degraded the waters that their food sources can no longer survive. So they die. Many of the bird species come to the 'Glades to mate and resproduce. But if they dont' have enough habitat or food, they can't do that, so there are no new generations to take over for the ones that are dying. Oh, for all those non science geeks :) Indigenous means they can't be found anywhere else, like the Florida panther, which is only found in the Everglades. just something to think about. i think i'll talk about the Chesapeake Bay next time, it's a subject near and dear to me :) And it's sooo messed up.

Ignorance is not just for dumb people :)

I was talking to a friend today about this idea I have for a company for a project we have to do in one of my classes. Fun stuff. Anyway, the "new" thing is green infrastructure. Google it, you'll actually find lots of stuff on it. Here's a site for you to check out, http://www.greeninfrastructurecenter.org/ , like I said, cool stuff. Anyway. I was babbling on and on about rain gardens and putting them in parking lots to slow down or even stop stormwater runoff, which is a HUGE, GIGANTIC problem here in Pittsburgh. Anyone heard of North Park? It used to be 12 foot deep, now is only 6 foot, or less, from all the sediment that has gone into the river and the lake. SO they drained it this year and are going to be dredging it. Uh, DUH, if you don't fix the problem you will have to just spend a couple more million to do it again in a few years. so dumb. anyway, back to talking to a friend. While i was babbling about rain gardens, she had this perplexed look on her face, and I didn't even notice. So when I finally shut up her questions was, "what IS a rain garden?" Doh!! my fault, you know those prof's you hated in college cause they talked way above you cause they forgot that you don't know all the crap in between. yeah, that was me :) So i'm going to back up a step and explain some stuff. Rain gardens: These are low areas that are made to catch water. They are planted with native plants that stand inundation of lots of water, and can stand a little drought. The idea of rain gardens is to NOT have to water them. If they are big enough you can put one or two trees in them, but they are usually full of flowers, grasses, and shrubs. Because they are lower than the rest of the area the water goes there, and can actually remain there long enough to infiltrate into the ground, back into the aquifer. And the gardens catch a huge amount of sediment and nutrients that are not good to have in the water. Now if I start talking about bioswales, swales, or something along those lines, here is that description. They are, more or less, vegetated ditches. If you don't know what a ditch is, I don't know what to tell you :) The plants that are put in the swales are the same as the ones that are put in a rain garden, for the same reason. The water needs to remian in that swale long enough to slow down, infiltrate, and or be filtered. Some swales are also more like large, wide ripples in the landscape, not so much a ditch. They are there to slow the water down so the river isn't overwhelmed by all the water that could go into it. So, there you go, if you already knew all that, sorry, but for those that didnt', I hope I helped out. Now onto another case study. Some of you might be thinking all she talks about is out west, well, duh, what do you expect, it's dry out there, of course they will be having water shortages. let me bring it a little closer to home. Ever heard of Atlanta? Yeah, as in Georgia. For the last 40 years, at least, the city of Atlanta has been illegally drawing water out of Lake Lanier, a reservoir on the Flint river. The river flows through Georgia, Alabama, and the Florida panhandle. Areas in Alabama and Florida have been complaining for a long time that Atlanta has been taking too much of the water out of the reservoir and it needs to stop. So the states took the city to court and won. Now Atlanta, with it's population of 3.5 million, will have to find a new source of water. Levels in the lake have dropped significantly due to drought in the past couple of years. This affected Alabama's ability to naivgate teh river with boats and Florida has endangered species at the mouth of the river that it sued to protect under the Endangered species act. So, now there is a big problem and they are going to have to hurry and fix it.

Where our water comes from

It occured to me that some of you may not know where your water comes from, and think, hey that last note wasn't really meant for me, cause get my water from the well, or from the city water supply. You do realize everything is connected, right?! And I mean really connected. The rivers and streams, lakes, ponds, are just where the ground water has reached the surface. SO when you pump water out of your well, you are lowering the water table, which will lower the level in the river. There are actually areas in the midwest, Ogallala aquifer area, where large flowing rivers have dried up becuase the water table has dropped so far because of the overpumping. Anyway, back to my sopabox. Where DOES you water come from? We were talking in class last night about people just turning the handle and water coming out. As long as that keeps happening people ARE NOT going to step up and take notice and do something about the problem. So let me explain something. The majority of the water in the US, that we drink, comes from surface water. This is water that is from rivers and lakes. If you live in a city, more than likely you get your water from here, there are a few that use groundwater, but surface water is more likely. This means you get your water from Lake Michigan, if you live in Chicago, Lake Erie if you live in Cleveland or Akron, The Allegheny River in Pittsburgh, and the MIssisissppi River, any of those cities that are along the river. Obviously you've seen some of those rivers up close and you wouldn't even want to swim in them, let alone drink out of them right then and there. So what happens to it? It gets sucked up by the water treatment plant, the solids get setttled out, stuff is added to make the rest of the gunk settle out, it's treated for biological stuff by using chlorine and then it's released into the pipes so that when we open the taps it's there. For those with well water, none of that happens and you hope that someone hasn't contaminanted your aquifer. Oh, if your from a city that uses ground water, they do treat it to some degree, but not as much as surface water, because there usually isn't dirt in it, so they usually just treat with chlorine. So then what happens to it. A little known fact 95% of the water that comes out of tap, goes down the drain. Think about it, what do you use water for? Laundry, dishes, showers, baths, cooking, where does that water go? SO then this water is taken in a pipe to the wastewater treatment plant. nasty place, if you've ever watched Dirty Jobs, he actually goes to one of them. yuck. Once the water gets to the plant all the "crap" is settled out. And i literally mean "crap"!!! (this process is a little more complicated but for ease of reading and understanding, i'll explain it like this) Bacteria is added to start breaking down the organic waste. After that, the water is moved through a system that cleans the dirt that is still in it out, the bacteria is removed, and the water is chlorinated and put right back were it came from. Yes, that means back into Lake Erie & Michigan, back into the Mississippi, back into the Allegheny river to be used again by some other municipality. So, you ask, what can you do change this mess that we have created. Many, many things. One, take shorter showers. I have a child that told me last week that when she's at home she take 30 minute showers!!!! WHAT??!!! she's not even 5 foot tall yet. When she's here, she will be getting a timer and be out a lot sooner than that. I need to let her read some of this stuff and maybe she'll change her tune. Fix leaks and drippy faucets. Turn the water off when you are brushing your teeth. Use rain water to water your lawns, flower beds and gardens. THere is a company in Mars, PA that sells used water barrels, for 10-15$. simple plastice barrels.I'm sure there are places in other cities that have them, just google it. Use the barrels to catch the water coming off the downspouts, or even set the barrel out in the yard to catch the rain. The majority of municipal water is wasted on watering lawns. yeah, i said wasted! there are better ways to water without using the stuff that comes out of the tap. The crappy part about this is that some zoning laws and ordinances prohibit you from doing this sort of thing. so DUMB, incredibly DUMB!!! whoever thought that up needs taken out back and shot. I'll get into why this has even more benefits in another diatribe later. If you can't use rain barrels, water your lawn in the morning, before the sun comes up. Less evaporates, more gets into the soil and your lawn is less likely to mold. You can water at night, but it's more likely to mold. And you really don't need to water for very long. Especially around here. The best fix for watering in arid places is to xeroscape your lawn. Put in native plants that are used to the dry weather. there are soe pretty cool, pretty ones that take very little water to maintain. And lastly, since it's a little more complicated. Use grey water to flush the toilets. This step here needs a little mechanical fixing to do, but it VERY doable. We watched a show last week about green things to help the environment and I think it only took an hour for the people to set it us and get hooked up. But when you think about it, your dish water isn't really that dirty, and what's in the toilet anyway. Not only will it save fresh water, it will save the waste water treatment plant as well, since there will be less water going there that they will have to treat. The problem with this is the same as the rain barrels, some construction and zoning laws will prohibit this. We need to start saying something to someone about the benfits of doing things like this or it won't happen as quickly as it needs too. So there are a few ways for you to help, and like I said i'll go on anther rant about stormwater later. I have homework I should be doing :)

Ignorance is not bliss people!!

As most of you may or may not know, I am in school for environmental engineering. Not the gross waste water kind or the boring water treatment kind. I want to work with development companies on finding more environmentally friendly ways to put in developments. Well in order to do this I have to take this water resources policy class. Interesting class, but depressing, and I mean really depressing. well, maybe not so much depressing as FRUSTRATING, and i mean frustrating. I mean, can people really be this dumb, or is it ignorant. And i mean the dictionary meaning of ignorant, like, not knowing something cause you have never been taught. So, on with my story. I am reading a book called the Great Lakes Water Wars, by Annin, for this class, great book EVERYONE should read it, I'll tell you why in a minute. One line said, "people need to think about water when they are considering where to live." I mentioned that to a coworker cause I thought it was funny since Sean and I have been talking about moving back to Utah, and the other day I told him I think it might be a bad idea, since in twenty years they will be out of water. Another coworker said, "you actually believe that stuff?" I said, uh yeah, I'm a scientist, this is what I'm going to school for, YES i believe that stuff." His reply, "it's all overreacting, that stuff really isn't happening." I was floored, unbelievably flabbergasted. It's not happening? really? do you not watch the news? do you not read the papers? huh? I guess if that's true I'm getting my degree for nothing. I told this to my professor in class last night, since it was that class that the article related to and he said, well, you could get into dialog with the guy, or girl for that matter, whoever brings it up, and tell them about case studies. So I thought I'd vent on here and let you guys hear me from my soapbox and maybe someone will wake up and smell the blasted coffee, cause I know some pretty smart educated people and I hope that you won't blow me off thinking this "isnt' happening." First case study, the Aral Sea, anyone ever heard of it? It used to be the 4th largest inland sea in the WORLD. Yes USED to be, it no longer is, because Stalin in his genius phase decided that the rivers that fed the Sea needed to be diverted for agriculture. So now the sea is drying up, and there is nothing that can really be done, unless the 5 'Stans (uzbekastan, Kazacstan, Turkmenistan, you get the drift) agree that something needs to be done. Not only is the sea drying up, the type of irrigation they do makes the water more polluted, creating areas that are slowly becoming unfarmable. You think that oh, that's the other side of the world, it can't happen to me. Let me give you case number 2. Waukesha, Minnesota, a subrub of Minneapolis. This little town used to have springs that were fresh and world renowned, guess what, they don't anymore. They used to have no water regulations to speak of, and one of the cheapest prices for water in the whole state. They paved over their springs and covered them with parking lots and shopping malls. smart, i tell ya, smart. They have used so much of the water out of the aquifer that they are now pumping out radium and other salts and chemicals, making their water undrinkable. yeah, that's in Minnesota, were it rains and they don't really use water for irrigation. just think about it people. The amount of water used in that town is just for everyday stuff, washing the cloths, dishes, cars, watering the lawns. But obviously with very little regard to where the next drop was coming from. So now they are begging to get water from the Great Lakes, Michigan in particular. The commision of the great lakes has told them NO, because the town doesn't want to pay to return the treated water to the lakes. Do I see another Aral sea coming on? No, since the commision refuses to allow them to withdraw lake water unless they plan to return it. Now onto case number 3. The Ogallala aquifer, some of you have to have haerd about this one. it's the largest aquifer in the US and is underneath Nebraska, Texas, OK, South dakota, Kansas, and a few other states. It used to be fresh glacial water, over 200 feet deep, in the aquifer. not anymore. It is being pumped out so fast that no water is going back in. The area that uses the water does NOT get much rain, therefor they depend on that water for ALL their irrigation. The area is covered with large industrial farms, you know, the ones that are owned by big coperations. They could give a crap about what happens, as long as they get water for their plants that they can sell. The largest crop out there is corn, which is the most water thirsty crop you can grow, and the corn is grown for the feed lots. Feed lots are where your steak and hamburger come from if you go to wal mart, or any grocery store, for that matter. One way to fix that is to start buying local beef that wasn't grown on a feed lot, yeah it may cost a little more money, but hey, what's more important, the couple extra bucks you'll pay for steak now or the lack of water you will have later. Soon, as in, within 20 years parts of the Ogallala aquifer will be dry. You think, why the heck do I care, I'm never moving to Nebraska? It's too flat, dry, ugly, take your pick. Uh, yeah, were did I say your meat came from? Exactly people, exactly. And don't even get me started about the people that live in LA, Las Vegas or other places where there just shouldn't be people. Sorry Amy :) Do you know how far that water travels overland to get to them? And what it does to the ecosystem when it it removed from the river? Do ya care? okay, I'm done for now, I think I'm getting more irritated as I write this, instead of the other way around. So, just think about the water you are wasting when you do your dishes, or watering your grass, or brushing your teeth, there are LOTS of ways to conserve, you just have to give a crap!