Comments on: A Black Cloud Rises Over the Blue Sea http://gigaom.com/cleantech/a-black-cloud-rises-over-the-blue-sea/ Tue, 14 Feb 2012 03:48:28 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.com/ By: SkySails Sets Sail « Earth2Tech http://gigaom.com/cleantech/a-black-cloud-rises-over-the-blue-sea/#comment-8345 Tue, 22 Jan 2008 16:22:28 +0000 http://earth2tech.com/2007/11/27/a-black-cloud-rises-over-the-blue-sea/#comment-8345 [...] measure up to 640 square meters, are not cheap, but compared with the rising cost of fuel and the added stigma of being known as polluters, the shipping industry may not see the kites as so much hot air. As a [...]

]]> By: Larry http://gigaom.com/cleantech/a-black-cloud-rises-over-the-blue-sea/#comment-8344 Mon, 24 Dec 2007 05:22:10 +0000 http://earth2tech.com/2007/11/27/a-black-cloud-rises-over-the-blue-sea/#comment-8344 Now that the U.S. economy is so dismall that we fly or die with the rate of consumer spending , there will be no end in sight for the flood of imported goods coming to a big box store near you. Railroads are on an all time hiring and expansion binge and the use of bigger and faster ships is just getting started. With that in mind , I think it may be a good move for freight companies to push their manufacturing customers to use less packaging material . At the same time , it would be equally as wise for the shippers to start using aluminum containers , instead of the steel containers they now use…they’re heavy. This would reduce weight , which would reduce fuel consumption , and that would mean a cheaper fuel bill for freight company owners. These type of ideas are more likely to be adopted in the shipping industry , since they love them some money…keeping it , not spending it.

]]> By: James D Kirk http://gigaom.com/cleantech/a-black-cloud-rises-over-the-blue-sea/#comment-8343 Wed, 28 Nov 2007 01:16:38 +0000 http://earth2tech.com/2007/11/27/a-black-cloud-rises-over-the-blue-sea/#comment-8343 Hmmmm, maybe we could just reduce the amount of sh, er, stuff that we consume. Would love to see break downs of that 90% of shipped goods and start to figure out just what we could do without, as well as what we could just spend a few cents more for the same stuff built/made closer to home. Seems to me people don’t think about things in these terms. We are all up in arms (and we should be) about the gunk these ships are putting out so we can get the “stuff” at Wal-Mart for 40 cents cheaper than the local shop where it was produced and trucked in from a place a few hundred miles away.

I know this comment is idealistic in certain ways, but the bottom line is that if I don’t need those new socks from China (or wherever), or I am willing to save a few pounds of CO2 and spend a buck more for the same (or better) quality socks, I need to know that is an option, and why it should seriously be considered. I have nothing against Wal-Mart. I shop there a lot. I buy socks from them (though this last batch are really cheap and disappointing to me!)

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