Letters From The Earth
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Golden opportunity
The one positive aspect of COVID-19 is a slowdown in climate change. Think about it: fewer cars mean less pollution, less manufacturing means less waste, and less human activity means less environmental disruption. On the other hand, stay-at…Calvin Frost 06.04.20
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All roads lead to China
Do you remember reading about the Silk Road in geography in the fifth or sixth grade? The Silk Road was not an imaginary road. It was real, even though my imagination flowed to camels loaded with goods from China. It was a trade route that connected…Calvin Frost 04.03.20
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Turning waste into gold
A new process could potentially change the waste and recycling markets.Calvin Frost 03.05.20
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The asteroid is us
As we begin 2020, I am struck by the discordance that is here in America. Am I alone in hearing these voices? I see and hear a lack of harmony, a lack of balance. Every time we pick up a newspaper, or watch television, there is another story of polit…Calvin Frost 01.31.20
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Sacrifice and survival
Can “sacrifice zones” create positive change? I think so. First, what is a sacrifice zone? It is “a geographic area that has been impaired by environmental damage or economic disenchantment.” Think of the southern…Calvin Frost 11.15.19
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Invasive plants and animals
“For my people are foolish…they are stupid children, they have no understanding. I looked on the earth, and lo, it was waste and void; and to the heavens, and they had no light. I looked on the mountains and they have quaking, and all th…Calvin Frost 10.11.19
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Palm oil
Several issues ago I wrote about synthetics, manmade chemistries, if you will. I had numerous e-mails about that one, some positive and some not so positive. Such is life! But I have a post script to that column. I just read a wonderful opinion piece…Calvin Frost 09.04.19
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Evian spelled backward
I was going to discuss the ROI on EPR in this column. Some of you would say, “What’s he talking about?” Very simply, the return on investment on extended producer responsibility. But, right now we’re sitting on a powder…Calvin Frost 07.10.19
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Chemistry is the culprit
There’s something going on that doesn’t make a lot of sense. I’m going to divert from my “scheduled” topic, but it’s necessary. I’ve been reading about chemistry (Bill and David, do you remember Chemistry 101…Calvin Frost 05.31.19
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Garbage patch gyres
My wife invited me to join her to watch a movie at a recent Garden Club meeting. The movie, “Bag It,” was about plastic contamination in oceans. (What else at a garden club meeting, right!?) It was very graphic and had me thinking a…Calvin Frost 04.05.19
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Taking responsibility
If we’re committed to a world, a planet in balance, how in the world do we do it? Well, certainly it takes a “pure” committed Huawei, not the one that we’ve recently come to know in the US. The Huawei I wrote about earli…Calvin Frost 03.14.19
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This is not about China
Wow, a flurry of emails from you regarding my last column on Chinese domination of the solar industry. And, most recently, the controversy surrounding the arrest of Chief Financial Officer, Meng Wanzhou, of Huawei. Lots of spirited comments, but at l…Calvin Frost 02.01.19
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China means business
In my last column I wrote about the importance of photosynthesis. I said photosynthesis “is the essence of life.” I spent most of the column discussing the biological process of photosynthesis and the importance of sun energy as the…Calvin Frost 11.16.18
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Improving photosynthesis
Photosynthesis is the essence of life, in more than one way or another. In photosynthesis, plants use the energy of the sun to turn air and water into sugar, the food that plants use to build their tissue that feeds the world. When we emit carb…Calvin Frost 10.12.18
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Sustainable investing
Sally came to dinner the other evening. We don’t see her as much now that Bob is gone. She lives north in the summer, south in the winter and west in between. Who knows where she is or when? It was kind of fun to semi-listen to her update…Calvin Frost 09.10.18
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A monster of a problem
Folks, we have a problem. Neither the “love” potion as postulated at the royal wedding by the Most Right Reverend Michael Curry, the presiding head of the American Episcopal Church, nor the love messages from Bob Dylan and others of 50 ye…Calvin Frost 07.13.18
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Passing Gas, Keeping Score
First, apologies for that photo in the April issue. Suffice it to say, I had no idea our editor would connect it to my comments on California’s Cap & Trade scheme, as well as my admiration for Governor Jerry Brown. Nor had I looked closely…Calvin Frost 05.25.18
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Californication
There’s a wonderful article in Mother Jones called “Dreamers of the Golden Dream.” Mother Jones has always been one of my favorites: liberal, investigative, irreverent, and holds no hostages. In this case, however, Gabriel Kahn was…Calvin Frost 04.09.18
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Taking on a new life
In my last column I wrote about a study on the incredible growth of the plastics industry and a similar growth in plastics going to the landfill. The study concluded: “Thus without a well-designed and tailor-made management strategy for end…Calvin Frost 03.09.18
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Plastic parallels
In my last column I mentioned that “the current linear plastics system is broken.” Sadly, like so many other truly important contributors to our society (and let’s not debate the degree of importance), many of our developments since…Calvin Frost 01.26.18
