Nothing remains the same

Usually, I would focus on the positive but, this time I must reveal a personal, somewhat unsettling discovery.
Its about mushrooms, or at least the ones in a jar I love to put on my pizzas. When I was either an elementary student or a Cub Scout, I was on a field trip to Temple, PA, the mushroom capital of the world. It is located near Reading, PA in Berks County. I remember countless huge long barn-like structures without windows. Inside were continuous racks, like bunkbeds, full of manure and thousands of button mushrooms.I have images stored clear as day still and always think of that experience when I buy mushrooms.
So, the other night I was making a couple small pizzas for dinner. I looked at the jar while waiting on something and saw the Pennsylvania Dutchman logo and "Americas favorite mushroom" (which is bordered by the outline of the USA) on the front label. I turned the jar around and saw the funny little caricature of a PA Dutchman. Near the bottom I saw Giorgio Foods of Temple, PA. My mind flashed back to the experience of my youth and felt satisfied.
My eyes swung to the bottom of the label and I was shocked beyond belief; it read PRODUCT OF CHINA. After a moment I thought about how I was mislead by the jar. Then becoming calm again, I wondered how the "Capital of Mushrooms" would outsource their product and ship it in from halfway around the world. Gosh, I wondered if there are traces of heavy metals and who knows what in that jar. Plus, think of the energy required and carbon released to maintain this method. The money would be better spent paying higher wages to the local industry and continue to recycle manure into wonderful mushrooms.
The point of this message is that not all is what it appears or what you used to know. I already spend at least half my time in the market reading labels trying to avoid certain things in the ingredients. Now, it looks like I'll have to ramp up my vigilance while shopping. Great....

Big Green Dot

Alterra's largest contribution to mitigate climate change is not the RE installations, but the land itself.
Currently, and for the past 28 years, approximately 70 acres of marginal land and woodland has been allowed to grow and is sequestering CO2 at the rate of 3 tons per acre per year. This produces the following trivia facts:

70 acres x 3 tons = 210 tons per year, that's 420,000 lbs per year
In equivalent kilowatt hours, using 2.2#/kwh= 191,000 kwh or 191 megawatt hour (Mwh) offset.

Now after 28 years, the numbers become staggering:
Total tons CO2 sequestered: 5,880 tons or 11,760,000 pounds
Total equivalent kwh: 5,345,454 kwh or 5,345 mwh offset
Total equivalent in gasoline: 691,764 gallons or over 20 million miles of driving at 30 mpg

Our annual usage footprint which includes 4 people, 2 homes, 2 shops, some cars, and a few animals comes to about 10 tons of CO2 per year. This represents 1/20 or 5% of the CO2 being sequestered every year by allowing the marginal lands to turn back to a climax forest. Hopefully, this can be sequestered for centuries to come. After the first 100 years the uptake will diminish but the accumulative affect will be stable.

Calculations by Bob Hoffa
Alterra Renewable Energy Experts