I took my kids yesterday to ride a river barge to the new Museum Reach portion the Riverwalk here in San Antonio.

First of all, there’s a lock system where you board.  That was a first for us.  The delta in river level is 9 feet and it only takes about 5 minutes to get from one level to the next.

Veiw from lower portion of lock

From there we traveled a little over a mile up river.  We passed the San Antonio Museum of Art which was the original Lone Star Brewery.  Finally we got out at the Pearl Brewery.  There we saw a fantastic display about the new $1.35 million 200 kw solar array on the roof of the old brewery.  The work was done by Meridian Solar.  The Pearl owners got $400k in subsidy from CSP Energy, which is almost 1/3 of the cost.

There was also a great interactive display which my 7 year old couldn’t be pulled away from.  You can track real time how much energy the panels are generating and whether the facility of buying the extra amount from CPS or selling power back to them.  She loved it.

I highly recommend you check it out.  If you do, bring a hat and a water bottle.

Ok, this has nothing to do with the environment, but a co-worker of mine recently invented this electronic nicotine inhaler using an Altoids tin.  He’s quit smoking and is using these new nicotine inhalers instead.  Evidently they’re much better for you b/c there are no carcinogens. (I think Philip Morris sells these, though – for what’s that’s worth…)

We present to you the JVG-X1 (codename from the inventor – Jennifer Van Gorkom) or otherwise known as The Curiously Strong Nicotine Inhaler

Specs:

• USB power
• Built in battery
• Recharging circuit
• Tactical manual switch

http://serverbeach.wordpress.com/2009/05/08/new-and-improved-curiously-strong-nicotine/

The other day, I was walking into a WalMart, (never a very pleasant thing – did I lock my car?  am i being followed?).  There was a trashcan outside the store which was literally overflowing with trash.  However, I estimated that about 60% of the visible overflow ‘trash’ was actually recyclable bottles and cans (more Mountain Dew and Big Red bottles, not so much water bottles, but plastic bottles nonetheless).

Here’s the idea.  What if there was a volunteer group who would go dumpster diving to retrieve these recyclable materials from the front of grocery stores, malls, concerts, ballparks, and other places where plastic bottles accumulate?  You could dress the team in green, highly visible tshirts.  Their goal:  to embarrass the public but more importantly, the retailer into more responsible action.  Just think if a fellow citizen was going through the trashcan making up for the laziness of others by retrieving bottle and cans.  Not for personal profit, but simply because it’s the right thing to do.  Wouldn’t that make an impression on you, particularly if there was an equally large bag of recycled material next to the trash?  Taken even further, you could plant your own recycling option next to the company-supplied overflowing trash can.  Maybe only do this on Saturdays when the traffic is highest.

Now, imagine if you’re WalMart of Target or the Mall operator regional manager and you walk into your own store and see a recycling option next to the trashcan.  Then you go inside and ask when this program was implemented, only to find out there is no program.  Wouldn’t that be embarrasing if some individuals were taking action on their own?  I think it would turn heads, get people thinking, and prompt change.  It would probably get on the local news, at the very least.

Now, doing this in airport TSA security lines is another story altogether…

What do you think?