What about my dioxin footprint?

Carbon footprint has become a simplistic tagline for environmental impact. This term seems to discount concerns for profoundly hazardous chemicals. There are 187 hazardous air pollutants, that in the US, are controlled by the EPA. I have them listed at the bottom.

These pollutants can cause things such as cancer, birth defects, impaired lung function, and reduced fertility. They can also cause harm to the nervous system, cardiovascular, and brain.

I worry more about mercury and dioxin footprint than carbon footprint. I think the old-fashioned word “pollution” is better than “carbon footprint”. Everyone concerned with the environment should understand the notion of embodied energy, which considers the energy (and pollution) associated with a product, including things we don’t think about, such as mining, transportation, administration, disposal, etc.

Bad products that are expensive and then soon discarded always have a high embodied energy. Recycling has environmental impact, which is why reducing consumption is at the top of the “reduce, reuse, recycle” mantra. Likewise, sequestering carbon artificially is not environmentally neutral – I’m a big fan of living trees for obvious reasons!

Personally, I think fine particulates (e.g., PM2.5) are the biggest immediate pollution concern. It is very sad to watch children running around outside enjoying the use of their healthy lungs and bodies while breathing all the nasty particulates in which we immerse them.

What level of sophistication is required by people that regulate us?

EPA’s Current List of Air Toxics

Acetaldehyde

Acetamide

Acetonitrile

Acetophenone

2-Acetylaminofluorene

Acrolein

Acrylamide

Acrylic acid

Acrylonitrile

Allyl chloride

4-Aminobiphenyl

Aniline

o-Anisidine

Asbestos

Benzene (including benzene from gasoline)

Benzidine

Benzotrichloride

Benzyl chloride

Biphenyl

Bis(2-ethylhexyl)phthalate (DEHP)

Bis(chloromethyl)ether

Bromoform

1,3-Butadiene

Calcium cyanamide

Caprolactam

Captan

Carbaryl

Carbon disulfide

Carbon tetrachloride

Carbonyl sulfide

Catechol

Chloramben

Chlordane

Chlorine

Chloroacetic acid

2-Chloroacetophenone

Chlorobenzene

Chlorobenzilate

Chloroform

Chloromethyl methyl ether

Chloroprene

Cresols/Cresylic acid (isomers and mixture)

o-Cresol

m-Cresol

p-Cresol

Cumene

2,4-D, salts and esters

DDE

Diazomethane

Dibenzofurans

1,2-Dibromo-3-chloropropane

Dibutylphthalate

1,4-Dichlorobenzene(p)

3,3-Dichlorobenzidene

Dichloroethyl ether (Bis(2-chloroethyl)ether)

1,3-Dichloropropene

Dichlorvos

Diethanolamine

N,N-Dimethylaniline

Diethyl sulfate

3,3-Dimethoxybenzidine

Dimethyl aminoazobenzene

3,3'-Dimethyl benzidine

Dimethyl carbamoyl chloride

Dimethyl formamide

1,1-Dimethyl hydrazine

Dimethyl phthalate

Dimethyl sulfate

4,6-Dinitro-o-cresol, and salts

2,4-Dinitrophenol

2,4-Dinitrotoluene

1,4-Dioxane (1,4-Diethyleneoxide)

1,2-Diphenylhydrazine

Epichlorohydrin (l-Chloro-2,3-epoxypropane)

1,2-Epoxybutane

Ethyl acrylate

Ethyl benzene

Ethyl carbamate (Urethane)

Ethyl chloride (Chloroethane)

Ethylene dibromide (Dibromoethane)

Ethylene dichloride (1,2-Dichloroethane)

Ethylene glycol

Ethylene imine (Aziridine)

Ethylene oxide

Ethylene thiourea

Ethylidene dichloride (1,1-Dichloroethane)

Formaldehyde

Heptachlor

Hexachlorobenzene

Hexachlorobutadiene

Hexachlorocyclopentadiene

Hexachloroethane

Hexamethylene-1,6-diisocyanate

Hexamethylphosphoramide

Hexane

Hydrazine

Hydrochloric acid

Hydrogen fluoride (Hydrofluoric acid)

Hydrogen sulfide

Hydroquinone

Isophorone

Lindane (all isomers)

Maleic anhydride

Methanol

Methoxychlor

Methyl bromide (Bromomethane)

Methyl chloride (Chloromethane)

Methyl chloroform (1,1,1-Trichloroethane)

Methyl ethyl ketone (2-Butanone)

Methyl hydrazine

Methyl iodide (Iodomethane)

Methyl isobutyl ketone (Hexone)

Methyl isocyanate

Methyl methacrylate

Methyl tert butyl ether

4,4-Methylene bis(2-chloroaniline)

Methylene chloride (Dichloromethane)

Methylene diphenyl diisocyanate (MDI)

4,4'-Methylenedianiline

Naphthalene

Nitrobenzene

4-Nitrobiphenyl

4-Nitrophenol

2-Nitropropane

N-Nitroso-N-methylurea

N-Nitrosodimethylamine

N-Nitrosomorpholine

Parathion

Pentachloronitrobenzene (Quintobenzene)

Pentachlorophenol

Phenol

p-Phenylenediamine

Phosgene

Phosphine

Phosphorus

Phthalic anhydride

Polychlorinated biphenyls (Aroclors)

1,3-Propane sultone

beta-Propiolactone

Propionaldehyde

Propoxur (Baygon)

Propylene dichloride (1,2-Dichloropropane)

Propylene oxide

1,2-Propylenimine (2-Methyl aziridine)

Quinoline

Quinone

Styrene

Styrene oxide

2,3,7,8-Tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin

1,1,2,2-Tetrachloroethane

Tetrachloroethylene (Perchloroethylene)

Titanium tetrachloride

Toluene

2,4-Toluene diamine

2,4-Toluene diisocyanate

o-Toluidine

Toxaphene (chlorinated camphene)

1,2,4-Trichlorobenzene

1,1,2-Trichloroethane

Trichloroethylene

2,4,5-Trichlorophenol

2,4,6-Trichlorophenol

Triethylamine

Trifluralin

2,2,4-Trimethylpentane

Vinyl acetate

Vinyl bromide

Vinyl chloride

Vinylidene chloride (1,1-Dichloroethylene)

Xylenes (isomers and mixture)

o-Xylenes

m-Xylenes

p-Xylenes

Antimony Compounds

Arsenic Compounds (inorganic including arsine)

Beryllium Compounds

Cadmium Compounds

Chromium Compounds

Cobalt Compounds

Coke Oven Emissions

Cyanide Compounds

Glycol ethers

Lead Compounds

Manganese Compounds

Mercury Compounds

Fine mineral fibers

Nickel Compounds

Polycyclic Organic Matter

Radionuclides (including radon)

Selenium Compounds

Source:  https://www.epa.gov/haps/initial-list-hazardous-air-pollutants-modifications

Time Tested Designs

Here are some thoughts about one bad design and a few good ones. 

This is what happens when you don't understand users and subordinate function to form. The G4 Cube was a commercial failure even if MoMA likes it. It was a commercial failure for good reason – it didn't work well. The computer would overheat and the gestural controls didn’t work correctly. The high price diverted consumers’ money from other purchases.

Inefficient designs contain a lot of embodied energy and consume resources that could have been used elsewhere. Embodied energy is the energy (and pollution) associated with a product, including stuff you don’t think about such as mining, transportation, administration, disposal etc. Bad products that are expensive and soon discarded always have a high embodied energy.

Here is the how it was released (20 years ago this month!):

MACWORLD EXPO, NEW YORK—July 19, 2000—Apple® today introduced the Power Mac™ G4 Cube, an entirely new class of computer that delivers the performance of a Power Mac G4 in an eight inch cube suspended in a stunning crystal-clear enclosure.

“The G4 Cube is simply the coolest computer ever,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “An entirely new class of computer, it marries the Pentium-crushing performance of the Power Mac G4 with the miniaturization, silent operation and elegant desktop design of the iMac. It is an amazing engineering and design feat, and we’re thrilled to finally unveil it to our customers.”

Old designs that show how it’s done 

It is a shame to be negative all the time. Hopefully love and creation wins over hate and destruction. Therefore, to offset my negative statements about the time-failed Apple G4 Cube, I wanted to offer a few old designs that are the opposite. They work great and have held up over time. They are the Cavendish banana, the offset snow shovel, and the Citroen DS.

A banana is a design? Yes, welcome to the 2020s – designers design more than toasters. We don’t have to be stupid about things that don’t involve a pretty product wrap. We understand taste, tactile response, interactions, packaging and all the things that go into a good banana. Joseph Paxon understood these things too when he designed his banana, which also happened to be resistant to the mold that wiped out all the Big Mike (Gros Michel) bananas. It was a compromise – Paxon’s Cavendish banana didn’t travel as well as the Gros Michel because of its thinner skin and it tasted different. Paxon got it right though, the Cavendish has dominated the banana export market for over 60 years and lets me make smoothies every morning.

It seems presumptuous to assert the importance of industrial design in genetics, but design is design. If you get the right people and the right tools and you can do anything. 

The offset snow shovel is more expensive and harder to store than a standard snow shovel, but it works well. A simple design change that answered the question, what is the most ergonomic design for the user? Let’s do that, the designers thought. They ended up with this ugly, awkward shovel that some people hate and some people love, but it has lasted the test of time and it works well.

I loved the Citroen DS when I first saw it. It has an exquisite blend of aesthetics and function that shows how traditional industrial design can work. 

Beauty

The effect of beauty is easier to consider than its essence. We respond to beauty and we desire to protect it. As a Christian, I move the notion of beauty can be moved into the theological domain. Inner beauty are those things that look like Christ, external beauty are those things that look like the Garden of Eden.

In design, I prefer to think of allure rather than beauty. Moreover, art should be gently cleaved from design. Art should not be dragged down by the mechanistic concerns of design. Styling is not art, and it is not industrial design. Styling is a part of industrial design and an important historical foundation. Styling can probably be considered the foundation of design, but in the 21^st century design is much more than styling.

I hope a three-to-one good to bad design ratio is an uplifting view -- I don’t wish to be cranky and negative.

Coronavirus

I was close to failing Sophomore English. My high school had an accelerated English track that I was put on. All was well until sophomore year when my dismal memory capabilities shone brightly. My teacher required we memorize many pages of vocabulary words. A good exercise, but I just couldn’t seem to remember them. I did poorly on the test and withdrew from the accelerated track. I still have to replace words in my writing because I have no idea how to spell them. COVID-19 has been similarly humbling. I have no idea how to even start to create a vaccine or treatment plan.

Besides being humbled, which is a good thing, the English class experience made me realize that some people have strong abilities that I just don’t have -- like memory. One of my kids has a super memory. It’s great when she is with me. She remembers everything, including days and years of every event we have shared. She has none of my memory shedding DNA.

Vanity is another problem I have, which I wrote about last time. Online venues let you show your good side and bury your bad side. Like George Orwell confessed, all my writing (and video) are rooted in ego. Teaching also nurtures ego because you control the environment. You talk about things you know. Long ago Augustine recognized "pride lurks even in good work". (Yes, I'm reusing a quote from the last article because I liked it so much.)

Does that mean you stay silent and live under a rock? Maybe. Sometimes it is good to be silent and listen to others, keeping your voice out of the cacophony of screaming words.

While COVID-19 is humbling, the coronavirus will affect the virtual communications environment in the same way that 9/11 impacted security. This pandemic is forcing late adopters to use technology in a way that makes our world safer and reduces the environmental impact of travel.

History will be repeated. We chatted about 9/11 until the financial markets crashed in 2007 – then we talked about lost savings. The same will probably happen with COVID-19. However, it does seem like it will leave lingering changes such as, virtual education, rapid diagnostic technology, and the establishment of medical borders.

However, time advances and even now I take both pride in my humility and speling.