Environment of Beer: Bayern Brewery, Missoula, MT

Bayern’s Dancing Trout keeping cool while fly fishing

Bayern Brewery in Missoula, MT has been brewing award-winning, traditional German beers since 1987. They’re not one of the new breweries on the growing-craft-beer-market block. There are a lot of great breweries, but very of few of them have the same strong commitment to a sustainability program.

I’ve been to their brewery and tasting room twice during my travels to Missoula. During my most recent visit with a co-worker, who lives in Missoula, he began telling me about their recycling program and other environmental efforts. As a beer drinking and environmental professional, I am interested in the “environment of beer” and wanted to know more. I didn’t want to miss this opportunity to drink some good beer and learn more about their environmental programs.

Their most interesting sustainable practice is that they recycle their own glass. Combined with buying back their 6-pack holders and/or giving recyclers trade-in value for beer, they recycle or reuse their entire packaging material. For a $3 deposit, you can get one of their Ecopacks to collect and return the bottles and 6-pack holders. They’ll even take back other qualifying beer bottles. How about that, beer drinkers? Bring back your bottles and 6-pack holders and they’ll give you credit for beer!

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Exploring Environmental Art: Earth Tree

Environmental Art? I’d say so.

This is part of a series where I explore interesting pieces of environmental art.

I saw this earth tree metal working piece in an emergency pet hospital. It was not the best time to try to appreciate a piece of environmental art. I was dropping off my dog post-surgery to be observed overnight.

It’s a pretty cool work of art and it’s a map. (I’m a sucker for a cool map.) The continents of the earth are the leaves on a tree that has grown out of the ground where the animals roam. It’s a good message that you could dig in to on many levels – animals were here first; the continents have shifted as the tree grew up and spread out; the earth is a natural process and there’s continual growth and rebirth of these processes; ecological processes; it’s a mix of geology and biology.

I think that last one is what I like about it most. It merges geology and biology. It makes a statement that they are related and even can be interpreted that geology comes from biology, not the other way around. Although let’s be clear, the rocks were here first.

I asked the front desk about it and wasn’t surprised to find out it was made by a veterinarian who had worked there. This vet has a talent beyond healing sick dogs. It’s not just the message that makes this an interesting piece of art. Physically building it is impressive as well.

One more thought about it. It’s not a typical North American-centered map. I appreciate maps that give a differnent perspective.

Joseph von Fraunhofer’s Toxic Death, Highlighted on Cosmos

Did you see episode 5 of Cosmos and the story of Joseph von Fraunhofer? First, why not? Cosmos is an awesome show! This episode highlights von Fraunhofer’s life – his early life as an orphan working as a mirror and glass maker and his discoveries that further enhanced our global scientific knowledge. Cosmos mentioned how he died young, age 39, potentially from being exposed to the toxic glassmaking conditions. This caught my attention. Who am I kidding? Cosmos is so good that everything in it catches my attention.

I don’t have the experience in glass making to know what the conditions were like for someone making mirrors in the late 1700’s. But I can be certain that there wasn’t any OSHA to enforce wearing of respirators and other personal protective equipment (PPE); no EPA to regulate the emissions and management of wastes; no NIOSH, no TLVs to be concerned with, and certainly no Hazardous Materials Managers.

The toxic heavy metals used in mirror making over the course of history have included copper, bronze, sliver, gold, lead, and mercury. I don’t know exactly what toxins young von Fraunhofer was inhaling. A mirror making historian might know, but I don’t know any mirror making historians. Due to the time, it was probably a combination of silver, lead and/or mercury. All poisonous heavy metals.

Beyond being poisonous, when we get heavy metals in our bodies, they don’t leave our bodies easily. They don’t pass through (or come back up). They get into your bloodstream and cause damage throughout.

Some of the biographies note that he died from tuberculoss, which is a lung disease. Whether it was tuberculosis enhanced from the toxins, or just lung disease from the toxin inhalation, it’s a pretty convincing argument that the mirror making chemicals did some damage. If only Joe had attended a HAZCOM, safety, or other hazardous material training course to learn about his potential exposures, maybe our scientfic knowledge of light and lenses would be even further enhanced today.

The Chen Cup

The Chen Cup GS race start gate

The Chen Cup is a ski race networking event for environmental professionals at Eldora Mountain Resort in Nederland, CO. How cool is that? It combines a nordic race and a GS downhill race for teams of environmental consulting firms to compete for a chance to win the Chen Cup. It has been held annually since the mid-1980’s, but I just found out about it this year and had to compete.

It’s the perfect event for environmental professionals in Colorado. Living the environmental professional lifestyle typically involves enjoying the outdoors. In Colorado in the winter that means skiing or snowboarding. I fall into that category and have experience skiing all over the mountain, except racing. From the people I met on the mountain that day, it was much of the same. This gave recreational skiing environmental professionals a chance to compete in a pro-style race competition and oh yeah, do some networking.

As networking event, it was unique. It wasn’t as easy to meet as many people as a meeting, conference, or social event, but it was much more fun. I met a hydrogeologist, mining engineers, lab technician, and several other consultants and they were all thrilled to be there. Most people weren’t in it to win the race, just to ski some real race gates, meet other like-minded people, and have a good day on the mountain knowing you are surrounded by your professional community.

Since I was racing gates for the first time ever, I made sure my GoPro rolling to capture my runs. I didn’t win, but for a brief moment got to pretend I was Ted Ligety instead of Glen Plake. Check it out.

Exploring Environmental Art: Sand Trails

Sand Trails photography by Susan Alexander.

Sand Trails, photograph by Susan Alexander.

This is part of a series where I explore interesting pieces of environmental art.

This is a great example of eARTh or earth as art. As an earth scientist, I appreciate art that capture the beauty of a natural process. In this photo, award-winning photographer, Susan Alexander, captured the beauty of the eroding sand. You can stand on a beach all day and continually watch the waves and tides erode and deposit sand. Susan captures this continual process in a unique way and turned it into art. Very cool.

What makes this photograph special is that you’ll never see this exact image again…ever. That’s the beauty of water processes; it’s never the same twice. Waterfalls, rivers, waves, erosion, they may look repetitive from a distance, but moving water is never the same.

It takes more than just a good artist’s eye to see this, but also a good photographer to understand the lighting, composure, and technical skills to capture it. I’ve tried to take enough photographs of landscapes and earth processes to know that I’m impressed with this photograph.

The photographer may not have realized she was making environmental art when she took the photograph, but that’s how I perceive it. I immediately saw the eroding sand and made a connection. I guess that’s part of the process of art; everyone may take something different from it. I see environmental art.

This was photographed by Susan Alexander in Cape May, NJ in 2013.

Exploring Environmental Art

I have a growing interest in environmental art and I’m going to pursue it. Not making environmental art, but looking for it, appreciating and understanding it.

I don’t have an art education background or experience, but I’ve been seeing and thinking about the power of environmental art. Art is designed to grab your attention, inspire, or make you think. That’s what it does for me. When I see an interesting piece, I want to know more about it. What do I see? Does it have a deeper meaning? What was the artist’s intent? Is it the same as the artist? Does it matter?

I first need to come to an understanding of what fits in to the category of environmental art. Is it art that makes an environmental message, art that is made from natural or other environmental-related materials, both, or those and more? To me, it’s all of that as long as it creates a relationship, connection, understanding or appreciation of a natural process or environmental issue.

An example I enjoy, which is typically a photograph, is eARTh or Earth Art. If you’re not familiar with it, it’s the earth’s natural processes or landscapes captured with a beauty or perspective to create art.

Here’s what I plan to do about this new interest. As I see environmental art or artists, I’ll write about it here and do my best to highlight and explain it from my perspective. I may even get the artist’s perspective. I’m not going to be an art critic. I just want to understand the art. So stay tuned for my take on the environmental art that comes across my path.

Hazardous Materials Management 365 Days a Year: February Events

Louisville, KY sewer gas explosion, February 1981. Courtesy of courier-journal.com.

“Those Who Do Not Remember the Past Are Condemned to Repeat It” George Santayana, Spanish-American Philosopher, Essayist, Poet, & Novelist

Contributed by: Richard T. Cartwright PE, CHMM*, CPIM*. Connect with Richard on LinkedIn and at Richard.Cartwright@mecx.net.

Hazardous Materials Management 365 Days a Year: February Events

February 1, 2003: Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated while re-entering earth’s atmosphere over Texas, where all 7 crew members died. Eighty seconds into its launch on January 16^th, a piece of foam insulation had broken off from shuttle’s propellant tank & hit edge of shuttle’s left wing.

February 1, 2012: Stampede occurred during soccer riots in Port Said, Egypt; where 73 people died.

February 1, 2004: Stampede occurred during religious pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia, where 251 people died.

February 1, 1974: Skyscraper fire occurred in Sao Paolo, Brazil; where 179 people died. Good news the 25 story building was built of armored concrete, which was specifically fire-resistant. Bad news is the building contained flammable items as its furniture, desks, chairs, even cubicle partitions. Ceilings were made of tiles, prepared from cellulose fiber tiles, strapped in wood. Even the carpets & curtains were made of flammable substances. No emergency lights fire alarms fire sprinkler systems, or emergency exits were fitted to the building. There was only one stairwell, which ran the full height of the building. No evacuation plans had been posted in the case of a fire.

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TNEP Profile: Richard Cartwright, PE, CHMM, CPIM

Richard Cartwright is an engaging and energetic speaker on hazardous material management. His knowledge and passion for the subject ooze out of him. He teaches and speaks to environmental professionals all over the world and if you connect with him on LinkedIn, he seems to be somewhere different every day.

Richard is the Senior Vice President/Owner of MECX and has been involved with the Alliance of Hazardous Material Professionals (AHMP) as a Certified Hazardous Material Manager (CHMM) since the start of the organization. He continually works to bring together CHMM’s around the country, coordinating with chapters, and enhancing the brand.

We previously met when he spoke to the Colorado Environmental Management Society and he was back in Denver to give a talk on the history of hazardous material management to the Rocky Mountain Chapter of CHMMs. By chatting with him and hearing his presentation I gained an insight into his background and interest in having hazardous materials managers in all aspects of life.

I often ask people, “What drew you to this field?”, but I didn’t have to ask him. It was obvious when he spoke.

His life is a personal connection to the chemistry, toxicology and management of hazardous materials. He talks about Paracelsus, Marie Curie, and Rachel Carson as if they are Washington, Napoleon, and Churchill. During his presentation this night, he presented a history of hazardous material incidents, both good and bad. For all the bad ones, such as the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, he is assured that they could have been avoided if a good CHMM was involved in the operation.

His talks are a mix of technical problems and solutions and interesting stories that make you think more deeply about the topic. For example, hazardous material management or toxicology is the world’s oldest profession. Huh? He makes the point that our ancestors looked to the animals and nature to see what they were eating. The “original CHMMs” would see an animal eating a food and then give it to another person and see if it was good or poisonous.

After he talked, I had one specific question for him. It’s one that I ask nearly all the environmental professionals profiled here.

TNEP: Everyone in this room has an appreciation for what you talked about tonight? How do you relate to people who don’t understand our field?

Richard: You have to give examples. It’s kinda like scripture. They’re parables. You’ll become fishers of men. Instead of catching fish, we’ll have new disciples and new people and we’ll grow and multiply. You have to capture the new young generation. They’re willing to learn and they’re willing to change. At my age, people will dump trash and their kids and grandkids will go pick it up. So it’s a culture change.

And understanding these different tragedies and why they occur. Unfortunately in America, we’re a nation of under-reaction and overreaction. And the only time we learn is from a catastrophe. We don’t listen. God gave us two ears and one mouth and we just don’t listen. And only when it goes wrong we actually do something.

TNEP: Thank you, Richard. It was an enjoyable evening learning more about the history of hazardous material management and getting an insight into one of the original CHMMs.

Richard will no doubt continue to travel the world emphasizing the need for good management of hazardous materials. He regularly blogs on his LinkedIn page, is writing several books on the topic, and I’m sure will keep speaking to any and all groups that invite him in.

Hazardous Materials in the Field

A lot of national attention regarding environmental issues is spent on climate change, sustainability, and alternative energy. These are topics that demand attention from scientists, policymakers, and the community. There are everyday environmental incidents that don’t impact a wide population, but can be extremly impactful to a person, workplace, or neighborhood. When these smaller issues are overlooked for an extended time, we get incidents like the West Virginia water contamination or the Texas fertilizer plant explosion.

I’ve spent most of my career trying to keep work places healthy from exposure to hazardous materials, wastes, and toxins. Here are a few interesting photos of what it’s really like out there. All of these have been taken by me on job sites.

DDT found in a storage room. How old is this?

Rusted, bulging 55-gal drums.

Uh, what they thinking?

Used oil in a Pepsi bottle. Don’t put it back in the fridge.

Good or bad? A garbage can full of oil.

Asking Deep Environmental Questions

Freedom Industries Storage Facility on the Elk River. Photo by AP.

I was asked a couple deep environmental questions while teaching a recent RCRA hazardous waste course. I usually just get questions on topic. The students often don’t get engaged until I tell them a tragic environmental story or two. As an instructor, I love these deeper discussions, enjoy creating an environment to cultivate these discussions, and let the class go at it. They take much more away from the class by having these discussions than if we just discussed the nuts and bolts of RCRA.

The recent West Virginia methylcyclohexane spill was the first one. I presented the topic to discuss the hazards of methylcyclohexane, in context to cross reference their own hazards. One student brought up that the facility had not been inspected since 1991. Now we’ve entered the deep end. The class exploded with their debate on why.

Their first thought is that the company was bribing the regulators and inspectors. The other ideas included, lack of funds by regulatory agencies, bumbling government agencies, the state doesn’t care because the money from the coal business is big business, or the company didn’t do their own checks because the money was flowing in. They’re all correct. Maybe not specifically to this incident, but most environmental incidents can be connected to one or more of these.

The second one comes up more often and it surprises me that it’s such a hot topic for people. It’s the use and proper disposal of compact fluorescent bulbs. It starts with complaints that the government is regulating the type of bulbs they can purchase. Then we go deeper into the pros and cons of reduced energy use and costs versus the disposal of mercury containing bulbs. It usually goes deeper into whether the disposal of mercury into our landfills justifies the reduced greenhouse gasses. I like it when they get upset with me for not having the answer.

A one-day RCRA class isn’t going to have the answers, because there isn’t a solution to satisfy everyone. In fact, the class is often unsettled when they realize that the issue is even deeper than they originally thought. If you can find the perfect balance of science, technology, society, politics, money, and NIMBY, then you win.

The National Environmental Professional

The people, places, and thoughts that make up the environmental professional lifestyle