5 Cost-Efficient Innovations
To Improve The U.S. Infrastructure
Much has been written about the poor state of infrastructure in the world’s wealthiest nation. From its roads and bridges to waterways and rail systems, the United States has issues requiring hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars to fix.
Innovation in the form of recycling or repurposing is being implemented as a cost- and environmentally-friendly way to improve segments of the U.S. infrastructure. Some companies and government entities are supporting the turning of outdated materials into useful pieces to the infrastructure equation. Amazon, for example, recently invested $10 million in a Closed Loop Fund project, which targets recycling infrastructure in the U.S.
“In this area of innovation, you consider a product’s whole life cycle, from cradle to grave,” says Barry Breede (www.koppersuip.com), author of Transforming the Utility Pole and chief innovation officer at Koppers Utility & Industrial Products. “It’s a closed-loop process, and the promise of these developments exemplifies the value and the validity of this kind of innovation.
“For smaller and mid-sized companies, corralling the resources to build a lasting innovation effort is not always an easy task. However, one potential upside is transforming how the business operates. You’re bringing value to the customers and, by contributing to the greater good through helping the infrastructure, you’re bringing value to the general public as well. A win-win.”
Here are five recycle/repurpose innovations that can assist the public infrastructure:
Spinning old tires into better roads. Many states don’t have the funding to maintain and repair roads. Magdy Abdelrahman, a civil engineering professor at North Dakota State, is experimenting with using recycled rubber from scrapped tires to help preserve asphalt on existing roads. This would also help the environment; “tire dumps,” which contain roughly 300 million discarded tires annually, can pose environmental concerns.
Building walls out of old utility poles. Old poles can be recycled and used as both agricultural and/or building materials. Fence posts and retaining walls are some of the common applications. “If a utility company is stockpiling whole poles, this could be a valid solution,” Breede says. “This is perhaps the most environmentally responsible wood disposal method - and at the same time it’s a boon for building.”
Turning bottles into bridges. Places in Europe have been constructing bridges with recycled plastic for a decade. The U.S. has two bridges made of 100 percent recycled plastics. “It makes sense to replace worn-out wood with plastic,” says Breede. “Plastics in construction generally have a longer lifespan. Plastic costs more initially but in the long run it pays for itself.”
Converting railroad ties and wood pallets into biomass fuel. “Untreated wood waste, as from pallets and reels you see all over America, makes for excellent biomass fuel,” Breede says. “Local and regional energy providers use biomass facilities as do energy-intensive private industries.” An energy plant in northwest Michigan, powered by renewable biomass fuel, produces much of it from used railroad ties.
Drawing methane from landfills. Landfills are not a forgotten wasteland. Breede says landfill recovery gas (LFG), an option in which methane gas is captured from landfills, helps produce electricity while reducing harmful emissions. “The methane gas is an energy source to power turbines and, in turn, the turbines generate electricity for the grid,” Breede says.
“Seemingly mundane products can be the backbone of our infrastructure system,” Breede says. “They may be taken for granted and forgotten, but the job of the innovator is to think about the questions others don’t ask, and hopefully develop solutions.”
About Barry Breede
Barry Breede (barrybreede.com), author of Transforming the Utility Pole, is the chief innovation and marketing officer at Koppers Utility & Industrial Products―a national leader in the sale of wood utility poles. He leads the company’s efforts in commercializing new business ventures, products, and services. Breede also assists Cox Recovery, a Koppers subsidiary providing utilities with environmentally-friendly methods of disposing of wood waste. A graduate of the University of Oregon, Barry has also worked extensively in the innovation area with several global companies including Electrolux AB, Umbro International, and Specialized Bicycles. Barry currently resides in Greenville, South Carolina.
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March is National Kidney Month:
Two Sisters Are Able to Attend College Thanks to Their Life-Saving Kidney Transplants
March 1, 2019 -- March is National Kidney Month, which is a month-long, awareness-raising grassroots effort to spread the word nationwide about the importance of kidney health. A Pacific Northwest transplant family knows all too well the life-saving difference healthy kidneys can make.
The Blankenship family of Puyallup, Washington, assumed the role of transplant family with very little warning. Theirs is the type of story that strikes fear in parents’ hearts. Jennifer and Robert were thrilled to meet their first daughter, Sydney, and were excited to continue to expand their family when daughter Allison (Allie) arrived next -- quickly followed by Katherine (Katie) the next year. They felt blessed to be raising a trio of talented daughters and lovingly stepped into their family of five whirlwind.
But their lives literally turned upside down in the spring of 2005 when then six-year-old Allie was diagnosed with moderate to severe kidney failure. The news struck fear in both Jennifer and Robert and the family’s ‘new’ normal became something unexpected. Jennifer recently looked back and wrote a first-person narrative of the family’s transplant journey to date and some of her thoughts are shared here:
When our middle daughter, Allison, was in Kindergarten she was diagnosed with Chronic Kidney Disease. We always thought she was just quiet and preferred sedentary activity. But we were blown away that in reality she was experiencing organ failure. Allison was so young at the time. She really did not understand much of what was going on except that she was going to have to get regular shots and blood draws. Her sweet response to that news was, ‘I guess, I’m going to need a lot of Band-Aids.’ Her sisters, Katie (then age 4) and Sydney (then age 8) did not understand what was happening. They were scared but were always trying to help.
The threat of losing a child to a disease is gut-wrenchingly painful. It is as if you come untethered from the rest of your life. Somehow doctor appointments, lab visits, medical testing and providing comfort to all three of our daughters completely took over our lives. We also started experiencing the financial difficulties that are connected to organ failure. We were terrified. Our biggest question at the time was, “What if we cannot afford to get any of our girls the medical care they need?”
As Allie’s kidney disease progressed, Jennifer and Robert started meeting with the transplant team at Seattle Children’s Hospital. In late October 2007, upon a transplant social worker’s urging, Jennifer called the Children’s Organ Transplant Association (COTA) to learn more about fundraising for transplant-related expenses. COTA uniquely understands that parents who care for a child or young adult before, during and after a life-saving transplant have enough to deal with, so COTA’s model shifts the responsibility for fundraising to a community team of trained volunteers. COTA is a 501(c)3 charity so all contributions to COTA are tax deductible to the fullest extent of the law, and funds are available for a lifetime of transplant-related expenses. On November 1st the Blankenship’s became part of the COTA Family.
Our friends and family rallied around us, working with COTA to plan fundraisers that would help alleviate our financial fears so we could focus on caring for our daughters. Allison became frail and weak and her physical growth slowed. It was quite noticeable. She barely complained as her daily medication intake increased to 42 pills. By the time she turned eight years old, we could wait no longer and her kidney transplant was scheduled with me as her living donor.
In December 2007, Katie and Sydney stayed with our best friends, while I was taken to one hospital and Allison to another. Robert stayed with Allison at Seattle Children’s Hospital waiting for my kidney to be harvested and delivered to her operating room. After the transplant Robert and Allison remained at Children’s for almost two weeks. Upon Allie’s discharge, Robert returned to work and I stayed home from my job for several weeks to heal and to manage Allison’s extensive post-transplant care.
As Allison recovered and grew stronger, she had to drink a lot of water for her little body. We would encourage her by reminding her that she never had to go on dialysis because she got a transplant and water (lots of water) would keep her new kidney healthy. Even at her young age she understood. Allison grew up drinking lots of water and never complaining when taking her immunosuppressant medications.
After some time, the Blankenship family returned to their busy routines and the three sisters all experienced full childhoods. Jennifer was simply happy to embrace ‘busy’ and to live a somewhat normal life with one daughter who was post kidney transplant. However almost a decade after Allie’s transplant, a completely unexpected telephone call disrupted the Blankenship family’s ‘new’ normal once again
When we got the call that our youngest daughter, Katherine, needed an appointment to discuss bad renal lab results, we immediately thought they had the wrong daughter. Allison was the one with kidney disease – not Katherine. But after our confusion cleared we took Katie in for further testing. On May 5, 2016, we were told Katie was in End Stage Renal Failure and would likely need to be put on dialysis within a matter of weeks. It was a mixed blessing that we knew what that meant in the long term. Katie’s first questions were: Can I still go to college someday and can I still volunteer at Girl Scout Camp this summer? Katie’s diet was immediately restricted and we started discussing dialysis. Because dialysis had always been what we worked to avoid with Allison, Katie had some serious concerns about what would happen next. Within a week of her diagnosis of kidney failure, Katie was diagnosed with Celiac Disease. The two diets conflicted making her nutrition management a major challenge. There were no arguments from Katie as she adjusted to the diets and medications. She was an expert already having seen her sister go through it all … but the knowledge of what was to come was a mixed blessing.
One bright spot during these difficult days was the reassurance that given COTA’s lifetime commitment, we were able to focus on caring for Katie rather than the fear of how to pay for the mountain of financial challenges ahead.
In March 2017 a COTA representative travelled to Puyallup, Washington, to work with new volunteers and to offer a ‘refresher course’ for those volunteers who had raised funds for COTA in honor of Allison B nearly a decade earlier.
For almost two years, we tried to find Katie a living donor who was able to donate a kidney. While we waited, as happens to most kidney patients, her health further declined rapidly. Before we knew it, Katie was having surgery to prepare for peritoneal dialysis. All through the journey, COTA was there to help us manage the financial end of this hurdle. Katie stopped going to school and spent much of her time sleeping or resting on the couch. She was activated on the deceased donor list as we continued our search and tried to find a possible living kidney donor. Then one day, on the way to Seattle Children’s for our dialysis training, we got the call. There was a kidney available. On September 29, 2017, Katie received her new kidney … and her second chance at life. The gift of life is a miracle our family cherishes every day. We are grateful beyond words to the donor and his/her family.
Our gratitude also extends to COTA for providing a lifeline through our daughters’ transplant journeys, which has allowed us to focus on the priority of family. Reality continues to throw roadblocks -- like job loss and broken down cars. But with COTA we know, whatever comes our way, we will make it through to the other side.
Today, Allison attends Central Washington University where she is pursuing a degree in music education. She just recently sent her parents a message saying she had made the honor roll. Her hope for the future is to complete college, become a music teacher and be surrounded by good people while living a healthy life. Katie is finishing her senior year and has just applied to the University of Washington with a goal of helping others with her interest in psychology.
According to Jennifer and Robert, “COTA was there as we prepared for Allison’s kidney transplant. COTA helped coordinate a group of friends to raise money for transplant-related expenses. COTA supported our volunteers by answering questions, providing trainings, maintaining financial records and always being encouraging. They gave legitimacy and respectability to the fundraising efforts. COTA provided support for transplant-related medical expenses, which made it possible to keep our home functioning throughout both girls’ transplants. Every dime was accounted for and we were always kept informed. As things returned to normal, COTA kept in touch and helped whenever we needed it. When our second child was diagnosed, COTA was there and ready to help again. COTA has worked hand-in-hand with us through every step of this journey. COTA has proven to be entirely trustworthy, caring, and supportive … for a lifetime!
We are thankful for COTA’s support that has helped us through this journey and made possible for us to focus on our family. We have so much love and appreciation for our friends and family, now including our COTA family, who have helped us along the way. There are simply not adequate words. Kidney failure is a lifelong experience; we have every hope we will weather the storms as they come and be a support to others along the way. We are able to be at peace about finances because we know that COTA will be there for the difficult times, which we know will come. We, like our girls, have learned that life is a gift … and we try to appreciate every moment.
March is designated National Kidney Month to raise awareness about the prevention and early detection of kidney disease. In the United States, kidney diseases are the ninth leading cause of death. More than 30 million Americans have kidney disease, and many do not know it. There are more than 95,000 people waiting for kidney transplants, with close to 600,000 people in the United States suffering with kidney failure. More than 3,000 new patients are added to the kidney waiting list each month; 13 people die each day while waiting for a life-saving kidney transplant. Every 14 minutes someone is added to the kidney transplant list. You can visit www.RegisterMe.org to learn more about registering to be a life-saving organ donor.
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Trump and Kim, Act II
by Mel Gurtov
475 words
Trump was correct to describe denuclearization last June as a lengthy “process” that one summit meeting could not achieve. However, the second summit, in Hanoi at the end of February 2019, again showed that personal diplomacy divorced from an engagement process that incorporates flexibility and give-and-take raises the risk of failure. The Hanoi summit ended early without agreement, as Trump was unwilling to end sanctions in return for the closing of North Korea’s main (but not only) nuclear enrichment plant at Yongbyon. As it is, Trump played with a weak hand: Besieged by investigations at home, and the riveting public testimony of Michael Cohen that coincided with the summit, Trump may have had less maneuvering room than usual to make a deal. (Trump acknowledgedthe impact, saying: “I think having a fake hearing like that and having it in the middle of this very important summit is really a terrible thing.”)
Had a better process preceded the summit, agreement might have been possible step-by-step, including time points for establishing diplomatic relations, freezing or reducing North Korea’s nuclear weapons in a verifiable way, and gradually easing US and South Korean sanctions. Indeed, early reports indicate that Kim might have been open to establishing a US liaison office in Pyongyang.
In short, there is no objective reason why these talks should have failed. The North Koreans believed that after the first summit in Singapore, they had taken the first steps in confidence building, enough to justify an end to sanctions, and some US analysts agreed. But Trump’s hard-line advisers, wedded to the demand for “complete, verifiable, irreversible denuclearization” (CVID), saw to it that the administration added to sanctions and rejected South Korean proposals for easing their own. (“They do nothing without our approval,” said Trump) In a sense, Pompeo and Bolton may have sabotaged the talks.
On the eve of the second summit, Donald Trump said: “I don’t want to rush anybody. I just don’t want testing. As long as there is no testing, we’re happy.” Well, Kim made him happy; the North’s nuclear weapons and missile testing moratorium will continue. But that left Kim’s entire bomb and missile inventory intact, allowed for accumulation of more fissile material, and also accepted that North Korea will continue research and development of nuclear weapons and missiles of various ranges. Testing, of course, is essential to determining the reliability of weapons, but for now, as Kim has said, the DPRK is confident it has the nuclear and missile strength it needs.
Hard to say where we go from here. Both sides have adopted an all-or-nothing approach, which probably means that while the North Koreans forego weapons tests, they will continue to refine the weapons they have and the Americans will persist with sanctions that are not working and that the Russians and Chinese are undermining. Denuclearization, however understood, is more remote than ever.
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Mel Gurtov, syndicated by PeaceVoice, is Professor Emeritus of Political Science at Portland State University.
