In this special episode of Dirty Jobs, Mike takes a look back at several of the dirty jobs he's done to help improve the environment. What he discovered is that "if you want to get clean and green you've got to get down with brown," because the people who are spearheading the efforts to save the environment are often covered in the color of the dirt they work in.
Mike's trip down memory lane starts at the future site of a retirement community where they drilled pipes down 200+ feet deep in the ground to install a geothermal heating and cooling system. The system works by pumping water through a closed loop system that exchanges heat from the earth's constant (55-60 degree) temperature and transfers that to the building - basically the earth is used as a condenser.
From there Mike looks back to his trip to Ontario Canada where he helped workers pull 140 year old timbers from a lake floor. The cold water preserved the slow growth timbers, which are greatly valued for their rare wood. In fact, they're worth anywhere from $7,000 to $8,000 for just one log. So later at the mill Mike sees the precision in which they're cut and dried to make use of every last bit of the logs.
Mike also looks back to the Winterlake Lumber Company in Colorado where wood is also being salvaged. At their plant shakes and shingles are made from substandard cedar that might otherwise be discarded or burned. Mike tries his hand at cutting the wood into shingles, while trying not to cut his off. Although it would have been easy, as he was using a 42 inch band saw, spinning at 1,000 RPMs.
Next, Mike reflects on his trip to Chehalis, WA to a dump where an estimated 90,000 tires have been illegally dumped. Thankfully the S&L Retread company is helping to pick those up and in the process they're making money. Mike first helped pull several tires out of them dump and then he headed back to the factory where he learned about how tires are re-treaded. He took out nails, buffed, shaped, sealed and then bonded the tires and essentially made them just like new.
Getting in touch with nature was certainly not a problem at the next job where Mike helped make a 100% natural, cobb home. Cobb is a mixture of clay, sand and straw and is made by combining all of the ingredients and stomping them together using your feet. A dirty job, but not compared to the next stage where he had to mix and then spackle on the cow manure plaster.
Mike was back to nature at Solstice Creek where he joined the crew from Heal the Bay to take down a dam so the steel head trout could travel upstream in order to mate. The work was very labor intensive. It involved breaking down the concrete using any means possible: jackhammer or sledge hammer and then hauling all of the pieces out.
MIKE ROWE'S 150th DIRTY JOB (6/9) Animal Barber Mike Rowe and the Dirty Jobs crew traveled to the Spring Brook Ranch in Kalispell, Montana to join forces with a Yak and Bison Rancher that put him to work in his 150th Dirty Job. It's a celebration of dirt as Mike and the crew go to work to help ranch hands comb and collect precious wool from both Yak and Bison. Mike then took on the dirty and somewhat dangerous job of tagging and weighing newborn Yaks out in the pasture. After Mike navigated his way out to the newborn Yaks and very protective mothers, it was his job to grab the newborn Yak, straddle it across the ATV and bring it to the waiting vet truck while trying to avoid the angry wrath of the mothers. After a very dirty day of wrangling Yaks and Bison, Mike celebrated the occasion of his 150th Dirty Job and shared a cake with The Spring Brook Ranch hands and his crew.
WIND FARM TECHNICIAN: (6/2) In this episode of Dirty Jobs Mike visits the Blue Canyon Wind Farm on the Slick Hills of Oklahoma. Here enough energy is produced to generate power for 83,000 houses
His first job of the day is actually getting to where the job is, which is the top of a 300 foot tall wind turbine. In order to do this Mike and his crew have to climb a ladder 241 feet straight up and bring all of their equipment with them. After many breaks and a lot of huffing and puffing they finally make it to the top they enter nacelle, which is the box the that holds the gears, the motor and the generator. Before working inside the nacelle Mike heads on top of it, where the view is spectacular. Mike's job up there is to be an inspector and make sure all of the instruments are secure and the fiberglass top are in working order and not damaged. High winds cut their time on top of the nacelle short, but there is work inside so the show goes on.
In order to get to his next job, Mike has to squeeze down into the "hole" or bottom of the nacelle. To have a little fun with Mike, one of the workers tells of his random encounter with a rattle snake while down in the hole. Though hard to believe he had the bite marks to prove it. Despite this Mike still heads down to take on his next task. Using just a rag and some cleanser Mike cleans up the oil and grease that has dripped off of the equipment. Even though they're very large, the parts used to operate the turbine are very delicate and could fail if not kept really clean.
The last job in the nacelle is to change the fluid filter in the gear box (which is the part used to spin the generator). First a bolt must be removed to drain out the old oil and then the filter is taken out. Mike does his best to help with this task, but can only offer so much help as he's too confined by the tight spaces. So he takes over lighting and shooting while a smaller and more experienced worker shows him how it's done, by doing it upside down.
CAVE CLEANUP: Mike does his part for the planet with a group of volunteers from the American Cave Conservation Association. He joins them in Sulphur Well, Kentucky where they are cleaning out a sink hole that has unfortunately been used as a garbage dump by some irresponsible people. Everything from electronics, to tires, to old clothes has been thrown into the hole and sadly there's a seemingly endless supply. First Mike helps volunteers load bags with the smaller trash items. Then he learns how to rig them to a haul line so they can be safely lifted out. From there it's on to the larger and heavier items, like the tub and washing machine that someone dumped. Mike is surprised that one could find all the parts needed for an apartment in such a place.
Next Mike is asked to repel down the side of the sink hole in order to get at the trash that got stuck and didn't make it to the bottom. Initially he jokes about people that can't "competently litter," but that all subsides as he is warned about all of the dangers involved with repelling into the 100ft wide by 75ft deep sink hole. Nevertheless, Mike does a great job and does a thorough job of cleaning trash from the sides. Sadly, the days work is only a small dent is all that is left to be done so he pleads with viewers not to litter
PRINTING PRESSMAN: Mike makes a stop at the San Francisco Printing Company to learn all about the newspaper printing. One of the many papers printed at the SF Printing company is the Guardian that just happens to be doing a feature on Mike. The first thing Mike learns about is how a "proof" (created by the press department) is used as the example for which the rest of the newspaper copies are compared. First, Mike will load in the plates from which his image and the words will be transferred onto a rubber blanket and then the paper. A total of four plates are used and each contain a different color (black, red, yellow, blue). When run through the press the colors are chemically etched onto each plate allowing for beautiful images and graphic to be printed. The images don't always turn out perfectly on the first try, especially when a newcomer like Mike is on the job. On his first test run the ink is a bit smeared so he has to go back to make sure the plates are lined up correctly. After a little trial and error with the colors they eventually get it right and print the full order.
This message has been edited. Last edited by: DJModChickie,
You have mentioned the height of the wind turbine; however, even though I was nauseated to see how high the crew was, I would be really interested to know the length of each of the turbine propellers....the camera men were dwarfed by them.
The turbines Mike was working on were V80's and the others in the video were NM72's. The number indicates the blade swept area diameter in meters. So the V80 has an 80m (240ft) swept area, and each blade is roughly 39m long (117ft), the lost meter (3 feet) is to account for the hub that the blades connect to.
quote:
Originally posted by cidhoney: You have mentioned the height of the wind turbine; however, even though I was nauseated to see how high the crew was, I would be really interested to know the length of each of the turbine propellers....the camera men were dwarfed by them.
Oh and to correct, the Turbines might have parts with French sounding names, but they are in fact made by Vestas Wind Systems in Denmark. Which to be obvious is in Europe, so they probably borrow heavily from European English to name it's parts.
In this episode, right after the segment in which Mike picked up garbage in the sinkhole he referred to litterbugs as "pigs".(I agree.) However, in the segment immediately following he got a coffee, put his coffee cup on the newspaper dispenser, gets the newspaper and walks off leaving the cup on top of the dispenser. What gives???
Although I like all of the "Dirty Jobs" that Mike does, I especially enjoyed tonight's segment PRINTING PRESSMAN because I am a printing pressman. Mike didn't get as dirty as I think he should have or I have been in my 12 years as a pressman. "Hanging" plates and "Dipping" ink is just the tip of the iceberg. I think Mike should give taking out the safety guards and cleaning them a try. "His Dirtyness" would be quite pleased. On a side note, I can relate to the injuries that can occur. I used to work on a 'Community' press like the one that was featured on tonight's episode. While loading one of the rolls of paper under one of the printing units, it ended up falling off the 75lb cart shooting it back into my ankle breaking it.
Part of the show also featured the cleaning of a sink hole. As usual, Mike is clever, well-spoken, and honest. I was thrilled by his remarks about human pigs being too lazy to throw their trash in an authorized area. This is becoming a real plague on society and I don't consider myself an environmentalist. However, I grow weary of lazy people who are so self-absorbed that they don't consider consequences prior to acting. Well, those human pigs should be ashamed. Secondly, if there's a significant fine imposed, that should deter future behavior. As for Mike, keep up the good work!
Any show that ends with Mr. Rowe shirtless and possibly pant-less is certainly wothy of an Emmy. Not sure what category, but if they have one for pure viewing pleasure, that's it.
I'm so glad to see Kalispell featured on Dirty Jobs. Should have just done a whole Kalispell Episode, but it's still awesome to see Kali on a national (Worldwide?) TV show. Can't forget to mention that it was Mike's 150th episode.
I would like to know what Mike and the crew thought of their stay in Kali
here's something kind of interesting to think about, or at least i think so :-)
If you really think about it, brown does come before green, because if we didn't have dirt most anything green would not grow which pretty much means no complex life forms...
It is good to see a program that really tells it like it is. that for all the cheap shots, inuendos, snide remarks made by the Greens so few really go out and do something about it. That being green does not stop with recycling. Does not stop with hybred cars and bicycling. that it does not stop with picking up cans on the side of the road. It does not stop by being smug and self satisfied for going to some "green" charity auction. AND green does not mean you can afford more carbon points then someone who makes less than you a year.
I loved the attitude and the tone of spokesman, Mike Rowe. Sadly this program will not be shown in schools, or gatherings where Mike's words might be heard and understood. The ideas will be shunned as only so much nonsense. But the word will be spread, slowly and perhaps be understood.
Keep it up and 'we' would shake you hand, BUT we have seen where it's been ! Lolokoa, WA
