Green Life at the Fair

So... summer's over. I know because the Minnesota State Fair ended yesterday.

State law says school can't start before the fair is over. People here say things like, "I can't believe the fair starts tomorrow!" (i.e. "I can't believe a few days of livestock showings, Whac-a-Mole games, and fried food on a stick is all that stands between us and six months of -40-degree weather!") One of the public radio hosts even said, on the night before it started, "It's State Fair Eve!!!"

So it's a big deal. And it's a heckuva lot of fun. I went over this weekend, partaking of delicacies like a grilled chocolate sandwich, and all-you-can-drink milk for $1. I went to see the prize-winning pumpkin (834 pounds), and a whole bunch of newborn piglets. I missed checking out the butter booth in the dairy building where the dairy queens of the fair--the finalists for the title of Princess Kay of the Milky Way--each have their busts carved in 90-pound blocks of butter on display.

I also went over to check out the "Progress Center", the headquarters for all things green. Outside the center was a single, full-sized wind turbine blade, planted in the ground like a statue. It was absolutely immense--123 feet long--and elegantly shaped, twisting slightly as it thinned to the tip.

According to the stats printed at its base, the single blade weighed six tons, as much as an African elephant. When in place, at the top of a wind turbine, the tip would rise more than 389 feet into the air, taller than the Statue of Liberty. A turbine made of such blades would produce 1.5 megawatts, which would offset 90,000 tons of CO2 over its 20-year lifetime.

Other highlights from the center included an exhibit showing off how much trash the average Minnesota family of four generates in a year: four tons. The model heap must have been 15-20 feet across and equally tall. It would certainly take up most of my backyard. Thirty-two percent of that is packaging.

One way to reduce all of that trash is by composting... which a Progress Center exhibit described in terms a Minnesotan could really understand: "microbe hotdish".

Hmm... I'll hold out for the more appetizing kind now that winter is just around the corner.

(Image: J. Marshall. For more images of the Minnesota State Fair, check out this NYT slideshow.)

Comments

[Hugh]

I'm amazed at the stats for a 1.5-megawatt turbine keeping CO2 out of the atmosphere - but unfortunately, it's mostly the disappointed kind of amazement. (Is that "all" we get for our 1.5 MW?) Still, keeping large, unwieldy numbers straight in our minds (and in perspective) is exactly what we need to be reminded to do.

90,000 tons over 20 years sounds like a valiant blow against climate change, but we are putting about 30,000,000,000 tons into the air every single year. To offset that we'll need to get a lot of turbines (about 6.7 million) off the showroom floor and into action. It's enough to make me cry into my grilled-chocolate sandwich.

[Dave]

Since nearly one third of the waste is packaging, is that why all food must be served on a stick? I guess that thousands of plates and wrappers are saved by fish on stick, spaghetti and meatballs on a stick, etc. However, there might be a small increase in napkin consumption.

http://blog.nola.com/judywalker/2007/09/foodsicles_minnesota_state_fai.html