Betray The Age

Windows That Power

2011-04-22T06:36:00.000-04:00

http://nyti.ms/gKVevb

The Future Is Here

2011-04-06T20:44:00.002-04:00

April 6, 2011

I dreamed of this future some time ago.
Back in Pittsburgh 1971
At Dusquesne University
We had a visitor from Ma Bell to talk about "the future"
He said that everyone would have their own TV channel
That media would dominate and be dispersed
Who was he, where is he now?
Where are we now?

Dr. Keyes taught us philosophy.
He was a minister.
He said that he would take the furry Yeeeck from under the bed
and show it to us.
He did.
One day he had a bandaid on his wrist, what was that?

Carnegie Mellon was down the road from us.
We went to dances and loved the band that played
the Steely Dan Song "Never Going Back To My Old School."
Steely Dan is hard to play; we asked them to play it again
They did.
CMU changed the world in ways I didn't know
what else will come out of their computer laboratories?

I used to bike to work every day
I shared a car with my wife
I used to hang my laundry to dry in the country air
I used to hang my laundry in the basement in the winter time
She didn't
She left
I didn't
I left

I burn pellets
I burn less oil than ever
I have low energy bulbs
I think I am doing something
I'm not

I'm happy at other people's and things expense
My therapist said that I should be happy for the money I spent
in New Orleans when I was in "the hole."
" It gives them jobs."
Instead of listening to jazz music I wanted to tear out the inside of damaged buildings
My heart was damaged on the inside and I couldn't

I turned my back on the future
I fell in love and am hopelessly, joyfully, in bliss.......

What now?

Macy said the Great Turning is happening.
I have not watched TV since June 2009
The Great Turning has not showed it face in the pages of the NY Times

Math Lessons For Locavores

2010-08-22T12:01:00.003-04:00

Here is a thought provoking piece from today's Times. Having been active in the locavore movement where I live, I have experience with the issues expressed in this piece. I like the message that the writer poses and that is " let's not ignore some of the larger problems" and does a good job of putting the energy used in agriculture into perspective. What are your thoughts?

"But the local food movement now threatens to devolve into another one of those self-indulgent — and self-defeating — do-gooder dogmas. Arbitrary rules, without any real scientific basis, are repeated as gospel by “locavores,” celebrity chefs and mainstream environmental organizations. Words like “sustainability” and “food-miles” are thrown around without any clear understanding of the larger picture of energy and land use.

The result has been all kinds of absurdities. For instance, it is sinful in New York City to buy a tomato grown in a California field because of the energy spent to truck it across the country; it is virtuous to buy one grown in a lavishly heated greenhouse in, say, the Hudson Valley."

Mike

The Future Always Comes

2010-07-29T20:08:00.001-04:00

The Future Alway Comes

How many times did we stand in front of the
black polished marble heart
and think about
when Mack would arrive here?

And today he gets ready
for tomorrow

Tonight the moon shined ever so handsomely
framed by clouds that never existed before
until I adored them tonight

I also saw a face in the moon as I drove that
ribbon of empty highway from
Castleton to West Rutland

This earliest of projective tests still toys with us
despite our smartness
We see what we want

Isn't it a bit unsettling? The weather?
It still feels like the middle of July as I remember it
Though no lightning bugs, they visited and left in June

For those who listen and watch
there is a change all around us

I think it came to me in a dream at Kathy's
While the wind came suddenly
with a pounding rain
and whipping trees

I was confused at first

But then it became recognizable
to those who listen and watch
My dream was that it had started

You know that when you strip away all of the distractions
When you calm yourself
and empty your mind of the clutter
there is a knowing
that our journey is so far out of step
that it must end

however, we see what we want...........

The future always comes.

Push To Eat Local Is Hampered by Shortage

2010-03-30T20:19:00.002-04:00

EAST MONTPELIER, Vt. — Erica Zimmerman and her husband spent months pasture-raising pigs on their farm here, but when the time came to take them to slaughter, an overbooked facility canceled their appointment.

With the herd in prime condition, and the couple lacking food and space to keep them, they frantically called slaughterhouses throughout the state. After several days they found an opening, but their experience highlights a growing problem for small farmers here and across the nation: too few slaughterhouses to meet the growing demand for locally raised meat.

It's Good To Be Back

2010-03-30T19:42:00.005-04:00

It's been an interesting year.

I have been completely distracted by my personal life during the past year or so. My partner of 32 years was unfaithful and we split in January of 2009. The first 6 months of 2009 were quite dark. The last 3 months of 2009 have been among the best of my life since meeting a new woman. The darkness pushed me into some interesting directions such as photography (I've become the house photographer for the local theatre) running,and some unintended adventures. Life can be quite the lesson.

I have pretty much neglected this blog as I have stepped back from interests in such worldly affairs. One can only keep their head in the sand for so long. I can't say that I regret terminating the local newspaper, firing the cable company, discharging netflix, and saying goodbye to Vonage. I have not become a recluse, however, I have removed much of the media clutter I suppose. Yoga has been a good trade I would say.

I started this blog in 2004; some things have changed. Who would have thought the corporate America would jump on the "green" bandwagon. It's everywhere you turn, some things with substance and some is just plain greenwash. Global economic contraction has delayed the wolves from the door as far as competition for energy. Perhaps it will buy us more time to "get it."

As for the future, lets surf the cosmic waves of insanity together and uncover a future worth living.

Best Regards

Mike

The Big Melt

2010-03-30T18:40:00.000-04:00

The gods must be furious.

It's the only explanation that makes sense to Jia Son, a Tibetan farmer surveying the catastrophe unfolding above his village in China's mountainous Yunnan Province. "We've upset the natural order," the devout, 52-year-old Buddhist says. "And now the gods are punishing us."

US headed for a massive decline in carbon emissions

2009-10-15T22:13:00.003-04:00

For years now, many members of Congress have insisted that cutting carbon emissions was difficult, if not impossible. It is not. During the two years since 2007, carbon emissions have dropped 9 percent. While part of this drop is from the recession, part of it is also from efficiency gains and from replacing coal with natural gas, wind, solar, and geothermal energy.

The U.S. has ended a century of rising carbon emissions and has now entered a new energy era, one of declining emissions. Peak carbon is now history. What had appeared to be hopelessly difficult is happening at amazing speed.

For a country where oil and coal use have been growing for more than a century, the fall since 2007 is startling. In 2008, oil use dropped 5 percent, coal 1 percent, and carbon emissions by 3 percent. Estimates for 2009, based on U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) data for the first nine months, show oil use down by another 5 percent. Coal is set to fall by 10 percent. Carbon emissions from burning all fossil fuels dropped 9 percent over the two years.

Read more

Seven Myths About Alternative Energy

2009-08-24T22:48:00.002-04:00

As the world looks around anxiously for an alternative to oil, energy sources such as biofuels, solar, and nuclear seem like they could be the magic ticket. They're not.

Read more....

Street Farmer

2009-07-06T21:51:00.002-04:00

"Like others in the so-called good-food movement, Allen, who is 60, asserts that our industrial food system is depleting soil, poisoning water, gobbling fossil fuels and stuffing us with bad calories. Like others, he advocates eating locally grown food. But to Allen, local doesn’t mean a rolling pasture or even a suburban garden: it means 14 greenhouses crammed onto two acres in a working-class neighborhood on Milwaukee’s northwest side, less than half a mile from the city’s largest public-housing project."

Read more....

Betraying the Planet

2009-06-30T06:31:00.003-04:00

So the House passed the Waxman-Markey climate-change bill. In political terms, it was a remarkable achievement.

But 212 representatives voted no. A handful of these no votes came from representatives who considered the bill too weak, but most rejected the bill because they rejected the whole notion that we have to do something about greenhouse gases.

And as I watched the deniers make their arguments, I couldn’t help thinking that I was watching a form of treason — treason against the planet.

To fully appreciate the irresponsibility and immorality of climate-change denial, you need to know about the grim turn taken by the latest climate research.

The fact is that the planet is changing faster than even pessimists expected: ice caps are shrinking, arid zones spreading, at a terrifying rate. And according to a number of recent studies, catastrophe — a rise in temperature so large as to be almost unthinkable — can no longer be considered a mere possibility. It is, instead, the most likely outcome if we continue along our present course.

Read More....

Moving People Sustainably?

2009-06-17T21:17:00.000-04:00

This Woman is Redefining Public Transportation

2009-06-16T20:16:00.002-04:00

Ask a friend to name a shared transportation option and he’ll probably mention that bus that rumbles past on the avenue or the commuter train that all the office jockeys pile into each weekday morning. But Robin Chase thinks the phrase is about to undergo a radical evolution. Almost ten years ago she founded car-sharing service Zip Car, which has proven a smashing success in urban areas across the country and is rumored to be going public next year. Now she’s put her visionary zeal behind GoLoco, a social networking site that encourage people to catch rides with each other (they take a 10 percent a fee if you choose to let them manage the financial arrangements.)

Thinking of your friends’ and neighbors’ cars as a personal transportation resource is the next wave in American mobility, Chase argues — an elegant response to rising costs, congestion and our existing road-heavy infrastructure.

Read More...

Vermonters Free to Air Their Clean Laundry

2009-06-15T20:13:00.003-04:00

Lyman Orton speaks on behalf of
the “Right to Dry” campaign at the
Statehouse in Montpelier, VT.

Middlebury, VT — Vermonters have long been known for their frugality, independence and common sense. More recently, residents have garnered a reputation for environmental consciousness and sustainability. All of these values have come to the fore in the “Right to Dry” provision recently passed by the Vermont legislature and spearheaded by Orton Family Foundation founder Lyman Orton.

Thanks to the new law, all residents in the State now have the right to dry their laundry on a clothesline—a right that, until last month, was prohibited by some condominium associations and housing complexes. Considering the significant energy consumption of a domestic dryer—which can account for more than 15 percent of a household’s energy bill—this simple measure has the potential to make a big impact.

Read More....

From a Failed Growth Economy to a Steady-State Economy

2009-06-05T00:46:00.002-04:00

USSEE lecture, June 1, 2009
Herman E. Daly
School of Public Policy
University of Maryland

"So—if we can’t grow our way out of all problems, then maybe we should reconsider the logic and virtues of non-growth, the steady-state economy. Why this refusal by neoclassical economists both to face common sense, and to reconsider the ideas of the early Classical Economists?

I think the answer is distressingly simple. Without growth the only way to cure poverty is by sharing. But redistribution is anathema. Without growth to push the hoped for demographic transition, the only way to cure overpopulation is by population control. A second anathema. Without growth the only way to increase funds to invest in environmental repair is by reducing current consumption. Anathema number three. Three anathemas and you are damned—go to hell!"

Read more...

Green Promise Seen in Switch to LED Lighting

2009-05-31T09:14:00.003-04:00

"..fast-growing trend that is redefining the century-old conception of lighting, replacing energy-wasting disposable bulbs with efficient fixtures that are often semi-permanent, like those used in plumbing.

Studies suggest that a complete conversion to the lights could decrease carbon dioxide emissions from electric power use for lighting by up to 50 percent in just over 20 years; in the United States, lighting accounts for about 6 percent of all energy use. A recent report by McKinsey & Company cited conversion to LED lighting as potentially the most cost effective of a number of simple approaches to tackling global warming using existing technology."

Read more...

Report: Carbon pollution to grow by 40 percent

2009-05-29T02:14:00.002-04:00

WASHINGTON - The amount of heat-trapping carbon dioxide seeping into the atmosphere will increase by nearly 40 percent worldwide by 2030 if ways are not found to require mandatory emission reductions, a U.S. government report said Wednesday.

The Energy Information Administration said world energy consumption is expected to grow by 44 percent over the next two decades as the global economy recovers and continues to expand. The biggest increases in energy use will come from economically developing countries such as China and India.

Read more...

Major Greenhouse Emitters and Solar Energy

2009-05-25T11:55:00.000-04:00

Obama in Health Insurance Industry Hip Pocket

2009-05-24T08:36:00.000-04:00

by Mike O'Brien

If I were to discontinue my TV cable, one show that I would miss would be Bill Moyers. He consistently hosts a program with thought provoking guests on a wide variety of current topics and often their voices are drowned out by the corporate media. This past week was one such time.

"....It's a Harris poll last fall. One out of 14 people think that the health insurance industry is honest and trustworthy. On the other hand, in Washington, they're in bed with the health insurance industry. Just as Wall Street and the banks have bought the Congress to get what they want in terms of the bailout, the health insurance industry has bought and influenced members of Congress and the President so much that they don't even consider the possibility of a plan that doesn't have a health insurance industry..."

The topic was concerning a single payer healthcare system and hosted the following guests:

Dr. David Himmelstein

Dr. David Himmelstein is associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and serves as the chief of the Division of Social and Community Medicine at Cambridge Hospital where he practices primary care internal medicine. He received his M.D. from Columbia University and completed internal medicine training at Highland Hospital/University of California San Francisco, and a fellowship in general internal medicine at Harvard.

Dr. Himmelstein was a founder of Physicians for a National Health Program and serves as co-director of the Center for National Health Program Studies at the Cambridge Hospital/Harvard Medical School. He co-edits PNHP's newsletter and is a principal author of PNHP articles published in the JAMA and the New England Journal of Medicine in conjunction with Dr. Steffie Woolhandler.

Dr. Sidney Wolfe

Sidney Wolfe, MD is acting President of Public Citizen and director of it's Health Research Group. In 1966 he began working at the National Institutes of Health where he did research on aspects of blood-clotting and on alcoholism. Dr. Wolfe met Ralph Nader in Washington, D.C. at a meeting of the American Patients Association, began advising Mr. Nader on health problems in America and helped in the recruitment of medical student volunteers who worked for Mr. Nader.

Since 1995 he has been an adjunct professor of Internal Medicine at the Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine. His medical degree is from Case Western University in Cleveland, Ohio and his internship and residency were in internal medicine. He is currently a member of the Society for General Internal Medicine. His awards include receiving the MacArthur Foundation Fellowship in 1990.

There appears nothing more diagnostic about the problems American's face in regards to the downside of our capitalist system. Clearly, corporate insurance companies have the power to dominate the political structure of America, insuring that dollars are funneled into the insurance industry coffers and not into providing healthcare to the American people.

The program can be streamed from here...

A Cautionary Video About America’s ‘Stuff’

2009-05-13T21:13:00.000-04:00

The thick-lined drawings of the Earth, a factory and a house, meant to convey the cycle of human consumption, are straightforward and child-friendly. So are the pictures of dark puffs of factory smoke and an outlined skull and crossbones, representing polluting chemicals floating in the air.Which is one reason “The Story of Stuff,” a 20-minute video about the effects of human consumption, has become a sleeper hit in classrooms across the nation.

The video is a cheerful but brutal assessment of how much Americans waste, and it has its detractors. But it has been embraced by teachers eager to supplement textbooks that lag behind scientific findings on climate change and pollution. And many children who watch it take it to heart: riding in the car one day with his parents in Tacoma, Wash., Rafael de la Torre Batker, 9, was worried about whether it would be bad for the planet if he got a new set of Legos.

Read more and view video..

Don't Worry, Be Happy

2009-04-21T21:57:00.000-04:00

What attracted me to Transition, as the movement is called, was the word resilience, with its implications of being skilled, being ready, being confident, and therefore being optimistic about The Day After Tomorrow. The word is all over Transition’s literature, all over its YouTube clips. It seemed such a superior word to green and sustainable and eco—once hot, now almost clichés, and subject to corruption by the market. But resilience, you can’t fake. A resilient person is who I want to be. And if I’m not inherently resilient, can I learn to be?

Read More.....

Guerilla Gardening: Eating The Suburbs

2008-12-27T16:15:00.001-05:00

I can not think a better article to represent this blog........Mike

The Age recently had an article on the emerging practice of "guerilla gardening", taking a look at the "Gardening guerillas in our midst". This concept seems to have steadily increased in popularity in recent years (admittedly from a very low base) as the permaculture movement's ideas have been propagated through the community.

Unlike the usual approach taken when trying to grow food in the suburbs - converting spare land on your own property (as discussed by aeldric previously and, more recently, in Jeff Vail's series on A Resilient Suburbia) - guerilla gardening involves cultivating any spare patch of urban land that isn't being used for another purpose, which could provide a substantial addition to the food growing potential of suburbia

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Transportation Renaissance Won't Happen With Detroit Bailout

2008-11-30T08:08:00.000-05:00

This morning I begin my Sunday morning like most other mornings by reading the New York Times and scanning the news. Today I read about the worsening US auto industry illustrated by a dealer in Quincy Florida and his struggle to stay open.Bruce Thomas has spent his life working and building his dealership to the point where he is the second largest employer in his hometown and where he has over the years support numerous charitable organizations. The future looks bleak for Bruce, the mayor of Quincy is worried about the impact of Bruce going out of business and people are scratching their heads wondering what happened.

For those of us who have been unhappy with the Big 3 since the oil embargo of the 70's (yes I am that old!), this downturn is hardly unexpected. It reminds me of the phrase "what do you do when you are climbing the ladder of success only to find out you are on the wrong wall?" This is where we find ourselves, and I have to admit that we told you so. So, now that I have a milisecond of satisfaction based on years of protest against Detroit, we are at a crossroads. What is the future for us? What path we take? Have we really woken up from this slumber, or are we still rubbing our eyes thinking about staying in the consensus trance?

I remember reading John Delorean's book "On a Clear Day You Can See Detroit" . This book was interesting reading in the late 1970's as it described an insiders view of General Motors. Unfortunately John's credibility took a big hit when he later failed in his car company building in Ireland, however, my memory of his book helped me understand the problems lurking in GM and in general the automotive industry.

One point that remains with me until this day is just how insular the top decision makers were at GM. John pointed out the president of GM surrounded himself with VP's who would never question the top dog, and in fact were "yes men." The Delorean book well illustrates how this management style and culture prevented GM from innovating and really adequately understanding the business environment in which they operated.
My gosh, does that ever apply today? It seems that nothing has changed since then.

Of course one could successfully argue that Detroit has made great strides in improving safety and quality because of Japanese competition. The dirty little secret here is that American management academic W. Edwards Deming taught the Japanese how to succeed after being ignored by US business interests after World War II. Perhaps that is where our current problem really started.

It seems that for the past several decades our auto manufacturers have built auto with short term profits in mind. In America, ain't it hard looking past the next quarter? Deming saw this mindset as poison for innovation and saw it as a deadly sin. We have become a victim of our own making it seems.

So now Detroit wants a bailout. My suggest is that we stop paying for the ladder upon which we climb. We must climb down and invest our dwindling resources and find a new wall upon which to climb. There are some big questions we must address. Will a system based upon individual transportation vehicles solve our current transportation and environmental problems? How can we most efficiently spend very limited public funds? What expenditure of public and/or private funds will provide the greatest job creation and employment?

As we look to a change with our new president there will be continued pressures to maintain the Detroit culture from the past. Will there be meaningful change requiring a serious reality check or will we continue to prop up an aging, outdated industry? If ever there was an opportunity for American to come to grips with our future it is now. Which ladder will Obama and Congress have us climb?

Climate Confusion: Who Wins?

2008-02-04T21:29:00.000-05:00

by Michael O'Brien

Climate change is the biggest challenge we face as a humans. Any serious student who analyses the information recognizes that the overwhelming consensus from scientists is that we have a very small period of time in which our efforts will have a positive impact for our planet and our children's future. For the past 10 years or so, there has been rigorous debate both by the scientific community and in the press about climate change. The debate is over, the issues have been discussed and now is the time for us to take responsibility for our future.

It is fascinating to watch the media feel the need to present the “other side” of this issue when there is discourse about climate change. My guess is that they feel vulnerable from the vocal skeptics or right wing talk show hosts so they include a dwindling number of scientists or spokespeople who argue against human causation. It seems there is an inordinate amount of air time devoted to this topic in proportion to the actual amount of credible evidence against human contribution towards climate change. This creates a real problems from a public perception perspective as the general public is falsely led to believe that human contributions are inconclusive. The result is that it leads to confusion about the nature of climate change and delays the necessary changes that we must make so that we do not rob a future away from our children. Unfortunately, confusion is a strategy that Exxon-Mobil has embraced as a public policy strategy. Confusion is thought to keep people from making change and therefore maintain the status quo. We saw the same tactics from the cigarette companies. When the truth came out about the “research” they sponsored it became apparent that it was entirely self serving. With climate change its deja vu all over again.

Open debate and dialogue is the stuff of democracy. As a witness to the debate between John McClaughry and Bill Mckibben in Manchester some months ago, I marveled at just how one sided the debate of climate change has become. As a regularly reader of John's postings in the Rutland Herald I seek to challenge my own assumptions and have looked to John to help me see myself and my world from a different perspective. As John Stuart Mill wrote in On Will, one must listen attentively to those that criticize our positions as we must assume that we are susceptible to make mistakes. Only then can we move forward with a certainty and conviction that the road we take is the right one. John has at times opened my eyes to a different and sometimes important perspective and I have developed a broader appreciation of some issues as a result. I was dismayed that John did not do that at the debate in Manchester. John's arguments were feeble attempts at throwing stones at the burgeoning data and information coming out of the scientific community. His paper tiger arguments did not stand up to the light of scrutiny. John clung to his arguments refusing to accept the evidence seemingly because it did not fit into his world view. I was saddened by the fact that John's motives were so transparent. In the course of the discussion, John's self interest in perpetuating his narrow free market agenda (his bread and butter) trumped any recognition of human survival or the threat to the human species. It is hard to take John seriously when he describes himself as being interested in the common good or wanting to maximize wealth and happiness. What is especially disappointing is that John touts his scientific background in an attempt to add validity to his message, yet betrayed that training for the sake of public relations. Good gracious, even Newt Gingrich has written that environmentalism knows no party and recognizes the need to not plunder our natural resources. I think that John could find comfort in entrepreneurial environmentalism from a philosophical point of view and for an area for business growth.

The definition of delusion is: despite overwhelming information to the contrary, a person continues to cling to a belief. I don't think that John is delusional, I do think that his role is to serve as a mouthpiece for a radical free market approach to solving problems. In this instance he represents those who wish to create confusion in regards to climate change. As we look around the state there is evidence that this confusion is bearing fruit for those with a laisez-faire policy towards taking aggressive action. One has to question our local leaders and those in positions of power and authority in state government in regards to creating actionable responses to the mandate we have received from the world community. Typically, those in power are reticent to take bold action as it often increases the risk of criticism or disfavor. Inherent in these positions is a significant level of inertia in making change. We ask them now to be bold because as Goethe as said “ Whatever you can do, or dream you can do, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it. Begin it now.”

To read more about the McClaughry-Mckibben debate..........

Our Automobile Future

2008-02-04T20:53:00.000-05:00

2008-Jan-18

by Michael O'Brien

Our Automobile Future

I write this letter as we come off the heels of the Bali Conference where world leaders met to discuss the issue of climate change. This important meeting did result in an agreement that has been described by Thomas Friedman as “incremental” change. Rajendra Pachauri, head of the prestigious United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change reported that “If there's no action before 2012, that's too late. What we do in the next two to three years will determine our future. This is the defining moment." Friedman discusses in his opinion in a New York Times op-ed article that the change we need has to be transformational. A little tweaking here and a little tweaking there is not going to protect ourselves from the predictable calamity that scientists say will occur. A case in point is automobile usage worldwide.

According to Elizabeth Kobert who wrote a article titled “Running on Fumes” for the New Yorker, she says that there are about 9 personal cars per 1,000 eligible people in China. In India, there are about 11 cars per 1,000 eligible drivers. The comparison becomes interesting when you factor in cars in the United States. Kobert says that we have 1,114 automobiles per 1,000 eligible drivers. These figures help us understand why the United States is the top consumer of fossil fuels and emitter of carbon. The really frightening aspect of all of this is knowing that both China and India's economies are on a substantial growth track that will forever change the above automobile ratios. They are hungry for all of the amenities that are synonymous with a comfortable modern life and driving is one of them.

The urbanization of China has been dramatic over the past decade. Peasants have left the countryside for jobs in urban areas and the promise of a better life. As a result, urban areas have sprung up almost overnight to accommodate the boom in manufacturing. With a population if over 1 billion people, China has over 200 cities with at least 1 million people. As they increase their income, they will have expendable income that will allow them to purchase automobiles. The future looks bright for car sales in China and India. Kobert argues that if China and India were to reach car ownership at just half the numbers of American drivers, those two countries would burn through 100 million barrels of oil a day. If they were to match the number of United States drivers, they would need 200 million barrels of oil a day. To the average person these numbers appear quite meaningless until you understand that the current total world consumption a day is about 86 million barrels of oil. This level of oil production has plateaued since December of 2005 and many are worried that we have begun the inevitable decline in our ability to pump oil at these rates.

This would all be just an interesting academic discussion if it weren't for the fact that 35 billion dollars was just sucked out of our economy due to the increase in fuel prices as we were heading into the Christmas holiday. Money spent on fuel is not money spent on the holiday. A recent poll by by Gfk Roper Public Affairs and Media reports that 27 million Americans will need to borrow money to pay their fuel bills this winter, 20 million of them will use credit cards to pay for heat to stay warm. This comes at a time when utility companies are expanding the payment options for households and for many this includes credit cards.

As we look forward, a prudent person would understand that we are facing several enormous dilemmas. First of all, the world must drastically reduce the amount of carbon we are releasing into the air. An increasing reliance on the internal combustion engine will obviously seal our fate. If we were to develop an alternative car right now that does not emit carbon it would take years to replace the current stock of vehicles. The average car stays on the road for 7 years. The hundreds of millions of vehicles on the road right now will be with us for years to come. As China and India add to their vehicle stock, it is likely that these vehicles will live out their life cycle as well.

Lastly, it is clear that if we continue to burn fossil fuels we will all be competing for a dwindling supply. The laws of economics tell us that prices will increase as demand outstrips supply. The future appears stark. The implications for increased military conflict to secure our energy future has already begun and will worsen as supply tightens.

Leadership on this issue has been treasonous. We must demand a transformational response from our leaders and from ourselves. The governor's plan to capitalize on the carbon credits that our forest might provide for us is a timid response to the long emergency headed our way. Though the internal combustion engine has transformed our society over the past decades the writing is on the wall. We must either immediately transform the car or severely curtail its usage, we cannot wait.

Why the era of cheap food is over

2008-01-01T15:44:00.000-05:00

Christian Science Monitor

Food prices worldwide hit record highs in 2006, and all the signs are that they will go on rising this year, and for the foreseeable future. The era of cheap food, the experts say, is over and we are going to have to get used to it. This is easier said than done for millions around the world, as evidenced by protests in Mexico over the cost of corn tortillas, and in Italy last September about the price of (wheat) pasta. Staff writer Peter Ford looks at why.

Read more....

Desperate times, desperate scientists

2007-12-18T20:42:00.000-05:00

Salon.com

Dec. 12, 2007 | How dire is the climate situation? Consider what Rajendra Pachauri, the head of the United Nations' prestigious Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), said last month: "If there's no action before 2012, that's too late. What we do in the next two to three years will determine our future. This is the defining moment." Pachauri has the distinction, or misfortune, of being both an engineer and an economist, two professions not known for overheated rhetoric.

In fact, far from being an alarmist, Pachauri was specifically chosen as IPCC chair in 2002 after the Bush administration waged a successful campaign to have him replace the outspoken Dr. Robert Watson, who was opposed by fossil fuel companies like ExxonMobil. So why is a normally low-key scientist getting more desperate in his efforts to spur the planet to action?

Read more

2007 data confirms warming trend

2007-12-13T19:35:00.000-05:00

BBC News

The UK's Hadley Centre and University of East Anglia conclude that globally, this year ranks as the seventh warmest.

The 11 warmest years in this set have all occurred within the last 13 years. For the northern hemisphere alone, 2007 was the second warmest recorded.

The findings come as the UN climate summit discusses carbon emission cuts.

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Study Details How U.S. Could Cut 28% of Greenhouse Gases

2007-12-01T16:05:00.000-05:00

By MATTHEW L. WALD
Published: November 30, 2007, NY Times

The report said the country was brimming with “negative cost opportunities” — potential changes in the lighting, heating and cooling of buildings, for example, that would reduce carbon dioxide emissions from the burning of fossil fuels even as they save money. “These types of savings have been around for 20 years,” said Jack Stephenson, a director of the study. But he said they still face tremendous barriers.

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Arctic ice loss: Northwest Passage now open, says space agency

2007-09-15T10:53:00.000-04:00

PARIS (AFP) - The Northwest Passage, the dreamed-of yet historically impassable maritime shortcut between Europe and Asia, has now fully opened up due to record shrinkage of Arctic sea ice, the European Space Agency (ESA) said on Friday.

It released a mosaic of images, taken in early September by a radar aboard its Envisat satellite, which showed that ice retreat in the Arctic had reached record levels since satellite monitoring began in 1978.

"We have seen the ice-covered area drop to just around three million square kilometres (1.158 million square miles), which is about one million square kilometres (386,000 sq. miles) less than the previous minima of 2005 and 2006," said Leif Toudal Pedersen of the Danish National Space Centre.

"There has been a reduction of the ice cover over the last 10 years of about 100 000 sq. km. (38,600 sq. miles) per year on average, so a drop of one million sq. km. (386,000 sq. miles) in just one year is extreme."

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New Jersey Sets National Precedent by Passing the Global Warming Response Act

2007-09-08T12:39:00.000-04:00

TRENTON - On the final day of votes before their summer break, the New Jersey Legislature overwhelmingly passed the Global Warming Response Act, A3301/S2114, (72-8 in the Assembly, 36-1 in the Senate). This ground-breaking legislation requires a mandatory reduction of the state’s global warming pollution to below 1990 levels by 2020 and 80 percent below current levels by 2050. These are the limits scientists say are necessary to avoid the worst impacts of global warming.

"Global warming is the most urgent environmental issue in our lifetime,” said Senator Buono, D-Middlesex. “This legislation sets up a comprehensive solution to global warming. It will reduce our dependence on foreign oil and increase energy efficiency, resulting in significant cost savings for both families and businesses.”

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Icequakes in Greenland Put on Pace

2007-07-15T19:50:00.000-04:00

Vlad Tarko, Senior Editor, Sci-Tech News

The icequakes in Greenland are caused by the motion of the glaciers and are most common in July and August when temperature is higher. But the seismologists from Columbia and Harvard have found that the total number of such "glacial earthquakes" have more than doubled since 2002.

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UN Calls for Pedal Power to Reduce Environmental Damage

2007-07-04T20:03:00.000-04:00

Agency France Presse, posted on Commondreams

KUALA LUMPUR - More bicycle riding and other lifestyle changes are urgently needed to reduce climate-altering carbon emissions that are damaging Asia’s health and could also threaten the economy, the World Health Organisation said Monday.
Climate change contributes directly or indirectly to about 77,000 deaths per year in the region, according to WHO estimates.

“So far the impact is on the health of the people. If the trend continues, it may have an impact on the economy,” said Shigeru Omi, WHO’s regional director for the Western Pacific.

“Of course the threat is there. We should not wait for that to happen,” he told reporters at the start of a four-day conference on the impact of climate change and health in Southeast and East Asian countries.

Omi said urgent action was needed because Asia’s share of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions was expected to grow larger with the rapid economic expansion of China and India.

“We have now reached a critical stage at which global warming already has seriously impacted lives and health and this problem will pose an even greater threat to mankind in coming decades if we fail to act now,” Omi said.

He said that in some countries environmental issues were not given the highest priority but “if we ignore the environment, humanity will suffer.”

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As Glaciers Melt and Rivers Dry Up, Coal-Fired Power Stations Multiply

2007-06-20T21:44:00.000-04:00

by Jonathan Watts / John Vidal, The Guardian UK

BEIJING - On a bad day - which can be hundreds in a year - the ancient city of Linfen in the northern province of Shanxi is environmental hell. Named by the World Bank last year as having the worst air quality on Earth, its 3.5 million people more often than not choke on coal dust; its soil and its rivers are covered with soot, and its Buddhas are blackened and shrouded in a toxic mist.

The cause is Linfen’s 196 iron foundries, its 153 coking plants, its unregulated coalmines, tar factories, steelworks and domestic homes, all of which burn cheap, easily accessible brown coal.

Shanxi is the centre of China’s vast and growing coal industry, which was pinpointed yesterday by Dutch government scientists as the major culprit, along with the cement industry, in the country’s sudden surge to the top of the world’s league of greenhouse gas emitters.

In the last six years, the Chinese coal industry, with reserves put at more than 1 trillion tonnes, has doubled production to more than 1.2bn tonnes a year. The country is now building 550 coal-fired power stations - opening at the equivalent of two a week - and in the five years to 2005, electricity generation rose 150%.

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Democrats Press Plan to Channel Billions in Oil Subsidies to Renewable Fuels

2007-06-18T21:20:00.000-04:00

by Edmund L. Andrews, NY Times, Posted on Commondreams

WASHINGTON - Senate Democrats are seeking a major reversal of energy tax policies that would take billions of dollars in tax breaks and other benefits from the oil industry to underwrite renewable fuels.
The tax increases would reverse incentives passed as recently as three years ago to increase domestic exploration and production of oil and gas. The change reflects a shift from the Republican focus on expanding oil production to the Democratic concern about reducing global warming.

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Carbon Emissions Exceed Highest Assumptions Used in Climate Change Studies

2007-05-22T19:38:00.000-04:00

Peter N. Spotts, Christian Science Monitor, Posted on Alternet.

Global emissions of carbon dioxide are growing at a faster clip than the highest rates used in recent key UN reports.

CO2 emissions from cars, factories, and power plants grew at an annual rate of 1.1 percent during the 1990s, according to the Global Carbon Project, which is a data clearinghouse set up in 2001 as a cooperative effort among UN-related groups and other scientific organizations. But from 2000 to 2004, CO2 emissions rates almost tripled to 3 percent a year - higher than any rate used in emissions scenarios for the reports by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

If the higher rate represents more than a blip, stabilizing emissions by 2100 will be more difficult than the latest UN reports indicate, some analysts say. And to avoid the most serious effects of global warming, significant cuts in CO2 emissions must begin sooner than the IPCC reports suggest. At the moment, no region of the world is "decarbonizing its energy supply," the analysis says.

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US Chided for Hindering International Efforts on Climate Change

2007-05-17T19:11:00.000-04:00

by Haider Rizvi, OneWorld.net

UNITED NATIONS - Disappointed with the U.S. role in international discussions on energy, environmental groups are making fresh calls for Washington to give up its isolationist approach and become part of ongoing global efforts to tackle climate change.

“It is time for the U.S. to acknowledge its responsibility to take immediate and comprehensive action,” said Jeffrey Barber of the Integrative Strategies Forum, a U.S.-based group that advocates sustainable development.

“Many U.S. citizens are embarrassed by how our government is avoiding its responsibility to take strong action on climate change and to take the lead in promoting sustainable energy,” Barber told OneWorld.

Barber and other proponents of sustainable development think the U.S. lack of initiative could hinder international efforts to address climate change.

Those who represented civil society groups in the UN meetings organized by the Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD) last week noted that the U.S. proposals were either minimal or had no meaningful substance.

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Warming Triggers ‘Alarming’ Retreat of Himalayan Glaciers

2007-05-12T19:29:00.000-04:00

Tim Johnson,McClatchy Newspapers,posted on Commondreams

KAROLA PASS, Tibet - The glaciers of the Himalayas store more ice than anywhere on Earth except for the polar regions and Alaska, and the steady flow of water from their melting icepacks fills seven of the mightiest rivers of Asia.

Now, due to global warming and related changes in the monsoons and trade winds, the glaciers are retreating at a startling rate, and scientists say the ancient icepacks could nearly disappear within one or two generations.

Curiously, there’s little sense of crisis in some of the mountainous areas. Indeed, global warming is making the lives of some high-altitude dwellers a little less severe.

Here at the foot of the towering Nojin Gangsang mountain, an ice-covered 23,700-foot peak, herders notice the retreat of the glaciers but say they feel grateful for the milder winters and increasing vegetation on mountain slopes in summers.

But for people living in the watershed of the Himalayas and other nearby mountain ranges along the Tibetan Plateau, glacial melt could have catastrophic consequences.

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Climate Change: Why We Can't Wait

2007-04-23T20:41:00.000-04:00

James Hanson, The Nation

This is an adaptation of a talk delivered February 26 at the National Press Club. Comments relating to policy are Dr. Hansen's personal opinion and do not represent a NASA position.

There's a huge gap between what is understood about global warming by the relevant scientific community and what is known about global warming by those who need to know: the public and policy-makers. We've had, in the past thirty years, one degree Fahrenheit of global warming.

But there's another one degree Fahrenheit in the pipeline due to gases that are already in the atmosphere. And there's another one degree Fahrenheit in the pipeline because of the energy infrastructure now in place -- for example, power plants and vehicles that we're not going to take off the road even if we decide that we're going to address this problem.

The Energy Department says that we're going to continue to put more and more CO2 in the atmosphere each year -- not just additional CO2 but more than we put in the year before.

If we do follow that path, even for another ten years, it guarantees that we will have dramatic climate changes that produce what I would call a different planet -- one without sea ice in the Arctic; with worldwide, repeated coastal tragedies associated with storms and a continuously rising sea level; and with regional disruptions due to freshwater shortages and shifting climatic zones.

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Arctic Sea Ice is Shrinking in ‘Downward Spiral’

2007-04-05T19:07:00.000-04:00

Winter sea ice in the Arctic has failed to reform fully for the third year in a row. Scientists said yesterday that the area of ocean covered by Arctic ice at the end of the winter months was lower only in March 2006.

Researchers fear that the floating sea ice is now on a downward spiral of shrinkage that cannot recover fully even during winter because of warmer temperatures.

Walt Meier of the US National Snow and Ice Data Centre in Boulder, Colorado, which released the satellite data yesterday, said: “We’re seeing near-record lows and higher-than-normal temperatures. We expect the downward trend to continue in future years.”

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Top Scientists Warn of Water Shortages and Disease Linked to Global Warming

2007-03-12T07:05:00.000-04:00

Top Scientists Warn of Water Shortages and Disease Linked to Global Warming

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

WASHINGTON, March 11 (AP) — The harmful effects of global warming on daily life are already showing up, and within a couple of decades hundreds of millions of people will not have enough water, top scientists are likely to say next month at a meeting in Belgium.

At the same time, tens of millions of others will be flooded out of their homes each year as the earth reels from rising temperatures and sea levels, according to portions of a draft of an international scientific report by the authoritative Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

Tropical diseases like malaria will spread, the draft says. By 2050, polar bears will mostly be found in zoos, their habitats gone. Pests like fire ants will thrive.

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The Big Green Fuel Lie

2007-03-05T21:55:00.000-05:00

by Daniel Howden in Sao Paolo, lndependent/UK

The ethanol boom is coming. The twin threats of climate change and energy security are creating an unprecedented thirst for alternative energy with ethanol leading the way.

An ethanol plant is seen by sugar cane fields in Piracicaba, Brazil, Friday, March 2, 2007. Just an hour's drive outside this traffic-choked metropolis where U.S. President George W. Bush kicks off a Latin American tour Thursday, sugar cane fields stretch for hundreds of kilometers, providing the ethanol that fuels eight out of every 10 new Brazilian cars.

That process is set to reach a landmark on Thursday when the US President, George Bush, arrives in Brazil to kick-start the creation of an international market for ethanol that could one day rival oil as a global commodity. The expected creation of an "OPEC for ethanol" replicating the cartel of major oil producers has spurred frenzied investment in biofuels across the Americas.

But a growing number of economists, scientists and environmentalists are calling for a "time out" and warning that the headlong rush into massive ethanol production is creating more problems than it is solving.

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UK Plans to Cut CO2 Doomed to Fail - Scientists

2007-03-05T21:48:00.001-05:00

by James Randerson, UK Guardian

An independent scientific audit of the UK's climate change policies predicts that the government will fall well below its target of a 30% reduction in carbon dioxide emissions by 2020 - which means that the country will not reach its 2020 milestone until 2050.

The report condemns government forecasts on greenhouse gas emissions as "very optimistic" and projects that the true reduction will be between 12 and 17%, making little difference to current CO2 emission levels.

The report is based on an analysis of the government's attempts to meet climate change targets. The authors argue that because much policy is based on voluntary measures, the predicted outcomes cannot be relied upon. It is released on the day the environment minister, David Miliband, delivers a speech on the UK's transition to a "post-oil economy".

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China About to Pass US as World's Top Generator of Greenhouse Gases

2007-03-05T21:35:00.000-05:00

by Robert Collier, San Franciso Chronicle

Far more than previously acknowledged, the battle against global warming will be won or lost in China, even more so than in the West, new data show.

A report released last week by Beijing authorities indicated that as its economy continues to expand at a red-hot pace, China is highly likely to overtake the United States this year or in 2008 as the world's largest emitter of greenhouse gases.

This information, along with data from the International Energy Agency, the Paris-based alliance of oil importing nations, also revealed that China's greenhouse gas emissions have recently been growing by a total amount much greater than that of all industrialized nations put together.

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Study Questions Prospects for Much Lower Emissions

2007-02-19T17:50:00.000-05:00

WASHINGTON, Feb. 14 — As Democratic leaders in Congress prepare to put climate change legislation on the agenda, some in the utility industry are arguing that it will take decades of investments and innovation to get substantial reductions in their emissions of greenhouse gases.

A Path to Reduced Emissions Electric power companies, which emit about one-third of America’s global warming gases, could reduce their emissions to below the levels of 1990, but that would take about 20 years, no matter how much the utilities spend, according to a new industry study.

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Boycott America?

2007-02-11T15:55:00.000-05:00

The fact that humans have contributed to the current problem of global warming is “unequivocal” according to the recent report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Webster’s definition of “unequivocal” tells us: not equivocal; unambiguous; clear; having only one possible meaning or interpretation; absolute; unqualified; not subject to conditions or exceptions. This is the most definitive information we have on the issue of global warming and ends the speculation about causal effects of our activities.

Doubters will now have to get down to the business of securing our future. There is no more “us and them” in regards to our next evolutionary step and all indications are that we must act quickly and decisively. The damage we have created up until now will be felt for the next 1.000 years and so too will be the significance or our future actions or inactions.

History has called on us with challenges in the past and we have risen to the occasion. Reducing our carbon output will require extraordinary cooperation amongst business, government, and citizens. This action is needed within the current context of the government’s escalated push against the notion of “the commons. ” We must revive our notion of the common good if we want a future worth living in. It does not help that our national identity has changed from being a “citizen” at the beginning of the 20th century to that of a “consumer” 100 years later. We have become individual mindless pacman consuming units. The trail of debris from the ever-manic hyper-vigilant pacman has never been seen. Perhaps the IPCC report will in effect slap night vision goggles on us before sitting down to our gaming console as we peek into our future in the 21st century. We also must not heed the advice of vested interests when they tell us “ pay no attention to that man behind the curtain.” There is no turning back. The IPCC report has neatly removed the curtain to reveal the reality of what Pogo taught us,“ we have met the enemy and he is us.”

As the reality of George Bush’s failed policies permeate our national psyche and we catch up to what the rest of the world already knows, what will their reaction be? Parts of the European Union are light years ahead of us in regards to moving towards a more energy sustainable future. The reaction to our recalcitrant behavior towards global warming has isolated and alienated us from the rest of the world. At what point does the notion of “buying American” become shameful? Increasing hostile dependence with our trading partners will further erode our brand value as other competitive markets develop in this global economy. All of this of course is moot when we relocalize and reinvigorate our economy for a healthy future. Until we discover these answers, the likelihood of “ Boycott America” builds.

Mike

Millions to Go Hungry, Waterless: Climate Report

2007-01-30T22:45:00.000-05:00

by Rob Taylor, Reuters, Posted on Commondreams

Rising temperatures will leave millions more people hungry by 2080 and cause critical water shortages in China and Australia, as well as parts of Europe and the United States, according to a new global climate report.

By the end of the century, climate change will bring water scarcity to between 1.1 and 3.2 billion people as temperatures rise by 2 to 3 Celsius (3.6 to 4.8 Fahrenheit), a leaked draft of an Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report said.

The report, due for release in April but detailed in The Age newspaper, said an additional 200 million to 600 million people across the world would face food shortages in another 70 years, while coastal flooding would hit another 7 million homes.

"The message is that every region of the earth will have exposure," Dr Graeme Pearman, who helped draft the report, told Reuters on Tuesday.

"If you look at China, like Australia they will lose significant rainfall in their agricultural areas," said Pearman, the former climate director of Australia's top science body, the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization.

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Electric cars the answer for the future -- and the present

2007-01-27T09:46:00.000-05:00

By Candace Page
Free Press Staff Writer

MONTPELIER -- Electric cars will "inevitably" replace gasoline-powered vehicles in coming decades, a Vermont researcher told lawmakers Wednesday, and the state can take steps now to prepare for and help speed the transition to a cleaner transportation system.

"The plug-in hybrid is the car of the future," Prof. Steven Letendre of Green Mountain College testified, "but this isn't futuristic stuff. These cars are out there now. Companies are taking the (Toyota) Prius hybrid and altering them to plug into the electric grid. They'll get 100 miles to the gallon."

Letendre was one of three speakers on the fourth day of a legislative inquiry into climate change and the ways Vermont can reduce its contribution to the greenhouse gases blamed for global warming.

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A Coalition for Firm Limit on Emissions

2007-01-23T07:11:00.000-05:00

By FELICITY BARRINGER, NY Times

WASHINGTON, Jan. 18 — Ten major companies with operations across the economy — utilities, manufacturing, petroleum, chemicals and financial services — have banded together with leading environmental groups to call for a firm nationwide limit on carbon dioxide emissions that would lead to reductions of 10 to 30 percent over the next 15 years.

Introduction of this group, which includes industry giants like General Electric, DuPont and Alcoa, is aimed at adding to the recent impetus for Congressional action on emissions controls and the creation of a market in which allowances to emit carbon dioxide could be traded in a way that achieves the greatest reduction at the lowest cost.

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Behold the Rise of Energy-Based Fascism

2007-01-21T00:00:00.000-05:00

The Pentagon is helping to create a grim future for all of us: a struggle for energy primacy abroad and Big Brother at home.

By Michael T. Klare, Tomdispatch.com., post on Alternet.

It has once again become fashionable for the dwindling supporters of President Bush's futile war in Iraq to stress the danger of "Islamo-fascism" and the supposed drive by followers of Osama bin Laden to establish a monolithic, Taliban-like regime -- a "Caliphate" -- stretching from Gibraltar to Indonesia. The President himself has employed this term on occasion over the years, using it to describe efforts by Muslim extremists to create "a totalitarian empire that denies all political and religious freedom." While there may indeed be hundreds, even thousands, of disturbed and suicidal individuals who share this delusional vision, the world actually faces a far more substantial and universal threat, which might be dubbed: Energo-fascism, or the militarization of the global struggle over ever-diminishing supplies of energy.

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Vegetarian is the New Prius

2007-01-20T23:37:00.000-05:00

by Kathy Freston, Huffington Post, posted on Commondreams

Last month, the United Nations published a report on livestock and the environment with a stunning conclusion: "The livestock sector emerges as one of the top two or three most significant contributors to the most serious environmental problems, at every scale from local to global." It turns out that raising animals for food is a primary cause of land degradation, air pollution, water shortage, water pollution, loss of biodiversity, and not least of all, global warming.

"According to the UN report, it gets even worse when we include the vast quantities of land needed to give us our steak and pork chops. Animal agriculture takes up an incredible 70% of all agricultural land, and 30% of the total land surface of the planet. As a result, farmed animals are probably the biggest cause of slashing and burning the world's forests. Today, 70% of former Amazon rainforest is used for pastureland, and feed crops cover much of the remainder. These forests serve as "sinks," absorbing carbon dioxide from the air, and burning these forests releases all the stored carbon dioxide, quantities that exceed by far the fossil fuel emission of animal agriculture. "

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100-Mile Diet: Your Body Will Thank You

2007-01-11T21:10:00.000-05:00

By Jeff Nield, The Tyee. Posted on Alternet

Is eating locally through the winter more a matter of survival than of pleasure or good health? The surprising answer is an emphatic "no." Vancouver-based registered holistic nutritionist Paula Luther is an adherent of year-round local eating for the sake of nutrition. "If we look at what's in abundance right now, we have lots of squash, carrots, things like that, which are actually beneficial at this time of year," she says. These winter foods are rich in beta-carotene, antioxidants, vitamin A -- just the sort of nutrients our bodies need to fight off colds and maintain energy levels for the season.

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Dire Warning From China's First Climate Change Report

2006-12-27T12:24:00.000-05:00

Agence France Presse, posted on Commondreams

Temperatures in China will rise significantly in coming decades and water shortages will worsen, state media has reported, citing the government's first national assessment of global climate change.

"Greenhouse gases released due to human activity are leading to ever more serious problems in terms of climate change," the Ministry of Science and Technology said in a statement.

"Global climate change has an impact on the nation's ability to develop further," said the ministry, one of 12 government departments that prepared the report.

In just over a decade, global warming will start to be felt in the world's most populous country, and it will get warmer yet over the next two or three generations.

Compared with 2000, the average temperatures will increase by between 1.3 and 2.1 degrees Celsius by 2020, the China News Service reported, citing the assessment.

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By 2040, Greenhouse Gases Could Lead to an Open Arctic Sea in Summers

2006-12-13T06:53:00.000-05:00

By ANDREW C. REVKIN, NY Times

New studies project that the Arctic Ocean could be mostly open water in summer by 2040 — several decades earlier than previously expected — partly as a result of global warming caused by emissions of greenhouse gases.

The projections come from computer simulations of climate and ice and from direct measurements showing that the amount of ice coverage has been declining for 30 years.

The latest modeling study, being published on Tuesday in the journal Geophysical Research Letters, was led by Marika Holland of the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colo.

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The Cost of an Overheated Planet

2006-12-12T06:51:00.000-05:00

Steve Lohr, NY Times

The iconic culprit in global warming is the coal-fired power plant. It burns the dirtiest, most carbon-laden of fuels, and its smokestacks belch millions of tons of carbon dioxide, the main global warming gas.

James E. Rogers, chief executive of Duke Energy and chairman of a leading utility trade group, at an electrical substation in Charlotte, N.C.
So it is something of a surprise that James E. Rogers, chief executive of Duke Energy, a coal-burning utility in the Midwest and the Southeast, has emerged as an unexpected advocate of federal regulation that would for the first time impose a cost for emitting carbon dioxide. But he has his reasons.

“Climate change is real, and we clearly believe we are on a route to mandatory controls on carbon dioxide,” Mr. Rogers said. “And we need to start now because the longer we wait, the more difficult and expensive this is going to be.”

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Moonbase Planned While Earth is in Peril

2006-12-05T20:45:00.000-05:00

According to NBC news today, NASA is in the planning stages of building a moonbase. The moonbase is a step towards a mission to Mars. Though it appears that a base to the moon may be possible, the news broadcast indicated that there is no master plan or funding for a future Mars mission.

I for one have never been fond of the NASA program. I have also never bought the marketing ploy that the billions spent on space exploration have brought us wonderful inventions that have greatly improved our lives. I would like to know which of the religions practiced in this country espouse the worship in material goods over the helping of the poor and disadvantaged? I seek knowledge, understanding and enlightenment concerning the ethics that drive us to spend vast public funds on "space exploration" at the expense of our most vulnerable. Is this a shining example of a representative democracy?

James E Hansen, the eminent NASA scientist has clearly stated that if we do not DRASTICALLY reduce our carbon emissions in the next 10 years, there will be cycle in place in which nothing we do will matter. We have a very small window to correct this problem since more than a year has passed since his statement. We need an Apollo mission to save earth and we need it now. It is imperative that those scientists at NASA redirect their sights towards where their feet are and begin to tackle the enormous task of developing an infrastructure that has 0 carbon emissions. Otherwise, the outrageous waste of time and resources on space flight resembles nothing more than the symphony playing on the deck of the Titanic.

Mike O'Brien

Taming King Coal

2006-12-03T22:36:00.000-05:00

NY Times

China will surpass the United States as the world's largest emitter of carbon dioxide by 2009, a decade ahead of previous predictions. A big reason is the explosion in the number of automobiles, but the main reason is China's ravenous appetite for coal, the dirtiest of all the fuels used to produce electricity. Already, China uses more coal than the United States, the European Union and Japan combined. Every week to 10 days, another coal- fired power plant opens somewhere in China.

What's frightening about this for those worried about the long-term consequences of warming is that nearly all of these plants are being built along traditional lines, burning pulverized coal to make electricity. And what's sad about it is that there's a much cleaner coal-burning technology available. Known as IGCC - for integrated gasification combined cycle - this process coverts coal into a gas before it is burned.

These plants produce fewer of the pollutants that cause smog and acid rain than conventional power plants do. More important, from a global warming perspective, they also have the potential to capture and sequester greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide before they enter the atmosphere.

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Crude Impact

2006-12-03T21:27:00.000-05:00

CRUDE IMPACT is a powerful and timely story that explores the interconnection between human domination of the planet and the discovery and use of oil.

This new documentary film exposes our deep-rooted dependency on the availability of fossil fuel energy and examines the future implications of peak oil - the point in time when the amount of petroleum worldwide begins a steady, inexorable decline.

Journeying from the west African delta to the heart of the Amazon rainforest, from Washington to Shanghai, from early man to the unknown future, CRUDE IMPACT chronicles the collision of our insatiable appetite for oil with the rights and livelihoods of indigenous cultures, other species and the planet itself. A thought-provoking story of discovery, sorrow, outrage, humor and ultimately, hope.

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Energy Use Can Be Cut by Efficiency, Survey Says

2006-11-30T07:34:00.000-05:00

Steve Lohr, NY Times

The growth rate of worldwide energy consumption could be cut by more than half over the next 15 years through more aggressive energy-efficiency efforts by households and industry, according to a study by the McKinsey Global Institute, which is scheduled to be released today.

The energy savings, the report said, can be achieved with current technology and would save money for consumers and companies. The McKinsey report offers a long list of suggested steps, including the adoption of compact fluorescent light bulbs, improved insulation on new buildings, reduced standby power requirements, an accelerated push for appliance-efficiency standards and the use of solar water heaters.

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Carbon Emissions Show Sharp Rise

2006-11-29T21:28:00.000-05:00

by Richard Black BBC

The rise in humanity's emissions of carbon dioxide has accelerated sharply, according to a new analysis.

The trend towards increased energy efficiency is levelling off.

The Global Carbon Project says that emissions were rising by less than 1% annually up to the year 2000, but are now rising at 2.5% per year.

It says the acceleration comes mainly from a rise in charcoal consumption and a lack of new energy efficiency gains.

The global research network released its latest analysis at a scientific meeting in Australia.

Dr Mike Rapauch of the Australian government's research organisation CSIRO, who co-chairs the Global Carbon Project, told delegates that 7.9 billion tonnes (gigatonnes, Gt) of carbon passed into the atmosphere last year. In 2000, the figure was 6.8Gt.

"From 2000 to 2005, the growth rate of carbon dioxide emissions was more than 2.5% per year, whereas in the 1990s it was less than 1% per year," he said.

The finding parallels figures released earlier this month by the World Meteorological Organization showing that the rise in atmospheric concentrations of CO2 had accelerated in the last few years.

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What Did You Buy?

2006-11-25T08:49:00.000-05:00

Well, Black Friday has come and gone. Buy Nothing Day seems to take on more of an urgency for me this year. Oh it's not that I didn't feel the crush of impending doom last year, I did. This year we have seemed to turn a corner of sorts in regards to public awareness (note I did not say "acceptance") of global warming. There appears to be varying degrees of understanding of just what is going on here with the public and the numbers of deniers seem to be going the way of many of our animal species. ExxonMobil continues to use it's mighty power in the media to keep those oil I.V's firmly attached. It is going to be a hard realization for those of us who have become dependent upon big media for their information to understand that the enemy is us. Uncle Al's movie Inconvenient Truth did seem to help. I was somewhat comforted to see that upon a visit to my local video store none of the dozen or so DVD's of Inconvenient Truth were available, all rented. Something IS going on around here.

This year it appears to be generally accepted on many college campuses that global warming is real and that the future could be very nasty. Students seeking higher education are coming out with increasingly higher and higher debt and are willing to go to the bank to make up the difference in unprecedented numbers. They are investing in their future believing that it will pay off. Perhaps they will get it enough to help change our world for the better. If you count the number of "Sustainability Directors" on campus you will find at least some college officials understand that for their institutions to continue business as usual will kill us all.

I did honor "Buy Nothing Day" while at the same time trying hard to keep my relationships positive with those in my life who are still caught up in the "sale frenzy" that stores try to elicit from vulnerable shoppers. My approach to the futility of this yearly ritual is to have the long view. Wanting us all to wake up and try to figure our way out of this mess, is, of course, where I go when I think about what world my kids and grandkids will inherit. But wanting it now, without the necessary re-evaluation of all the things that make communities’ sustainable what we need?

For those of us who invest a good chunk of time trying to understand the complex issues of creating long-term and sustainable wealth in our community we can be a challenge to live with. Keeping those relationships strong and intact is what helps keep our community more sustainable. Yet there are the many and varied actions that we take each day that demand to be re-examined if we want to create a future worth living for our children. For me, taking the longer view with family about destructive consumerist habits is much like raising teenagers. You have to carefully pick your battles. Deciding ahead of time, what the issues are that you will put your energy into in terms of educating, cajoling, and humoring can be helpful. It is equally helpful to know what you can let go of, knowing that over time the obvious will become more of a national imperative.

I say this all with considerable trepidation. Recent news about global warming provides us with two high-profile disaster warnings that will take your breath away. Sir Nicholas Stern has predicted that climate change will cause the most massive market failure in history. As a result of a major study, the journal Science published information that it is likely there will be a near-total collapse of global fisheries within the next 40 years. Eminent NASA scientist Dr. James E. Hansen has publicly stated that we have about 10 years left to reduce our carbon releases, after that period of time, nothing we do will be likely to help.

All of this gloom and doom can in fact instill as sense of futility. We have all heard or thought, "What I do won't really matter." This pervasive myth perhaps is the greatest obstacle for most in our community who remain concerned with what we are doing to the earth. The reality is that this thinking is the exact opposite of what we need to do. One thing we can do is begin to change how we think about the materials we bring into our homes. If we begin to think about the true cost of an item besides it's monetary pricetag, then we are well on our way to making a real difference. The true cost of an item has to include the fossil fuels used to create it including the power used by the machinery, the plastics taken from petroleum, fuels used to transport by rail, truck or air, the energy required to use to product and lastly disposal. Reducing the heating of our homes, becoming wiser about our personal transportation, and reducing our electric consumption are within our means and is a start we can all do now. Supporting locally produced food and products will also strengthen our economy, support local families, and lessen our impact on the natural world. So to become good ancestors means that we take action now. When our grandchildren sit down with us someday and ask, " did you know about global warming? Did you do anything to stop it? " You will be able to tell them the truth.

Pace of Global Warming Causes Alarm

2006-11-21T19:23:00.000-05:00

'Very different and frightening world' coming faster than expected, scientists warn

by Seth Borenstein, Associated Press, posted on Commondreams

"...Just five years ago biologists, though not complacent, believed the harmful biological effects of global warming were much farther down the road, said Douglas Futuyma, professor of ecology and evolution at the State University of New York in Stony Brook. "

"I feel as though we are staring crisis in the face," Futuyma said. "It's not just down the road somewhere. It is just hurtling toward us. Anyone who is 10 years old right now is going to be facing a very different and frightening world by the time that they are 50 or 60."

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USA: Wanted for Crimes Against the Planet

2006-11-18T09:59:00.000-05:00

Center for American Progress. Posted November 16, 2006. Posted on Alternet

World temperatures are rising to levels not seen in at least 12,000 years. Greenland's ice mass is melting at "what what NASA calls a 'dramatic' rate of 41 cubic miles per year." And unless climate change is reined in, "extreme drought could eventually affect one-third of the planet." More than 5,000 activists, scientists, and diplomats understand these facts and have gathered in Nairobi, Kenya for the annual two-week U.N. Climate Change Conference, which is now in its final three days. As U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan wrote in a Washington Post op-ed, "The stakes are high. ... Yet too often climate change is seen as an environmental problem when it should be part of the broader development and economic agenda." The Bush administration and the 109th Congress haven't understood these stakes. Hopefully, the 110th Congress will. Incoming Senate Environment and Public Works chairwoman Barbara Boxer (D-CA) recently said, "Time is running out, and we need to move forward on this." The Bush administration's chief climate negotiator, however, promised conference participants that the White House would continue to do as little as possible.

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City Approves ‘Carbon Tax’ in Effort to Reduce Gas Emissions

2006-11-18T09:53:00.000-05:00

Katie Kelly, NY Times

BOULDER, Colo., Nov. 14 — Voters in this liberal college town have approved what environmentalists say may be the nation’s first “carbon tax,” intended to reduce emissions of heat-trapping gases.

The tax, to take effect on April 1, will be based on the number of kilowatt-hours used. Officials say it will add $16 a year to an average homeowner’s electricity bill and $46 for businesses.

City officials said the revenue from the tax — an estimated $6.7 million by 2012, when the goal is to have reduced carbon emissions by 350,000 metric tons — would be collected by the main gas and electric utility, Xcel Energy, and funneled through the city’s Office of Environmental Affairs .

The tax is to pay for the “climate action plan,” efforts to “increase energy efficiency in homes and buildings, switch to renewable energy and reduce vehicle miles traveled,” the city’s environmental affairs manager, Jonathan Koehn, said.

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Study Sees ‘Global Collapse’ of Fish Species

2006-11-03T07:30:00.000-05:00

by CORNELIA DEAN, NY Times

If fishing around the world continues at its present pace, more and more species will vanish, marine ecosystems will unravel and there will be “global collapse” of all species currently fished, possibly as soon as midcentury, fisheries experts and ecologists are predicting.

The scientists, who report their findings today in the journal Science, say it is not too late to turn the situation around. As long as marine ecosystems are still biologically diverse, they can recover quickly once overfishing and other threats are reduced, the researchers say. But improvements must come quickly, said Boris Worm of Dalhousie University in Nova Scotia, who led the work. Otherwise, he said, “we are seeing the bottom of the barrel.”

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Dawn of the "Solar Salon" in US Living Rooms

2006-11-01T20:09:00.000-05:00

by Timothy Gardner,Reuters posted on Commondreams

Solar power is likely to get more attention as governments look at ways to cut emissions of gases that cause global warming. Ministers from almost 190 governments meet in Nairobi from November 6 to November 17 for annual U.N. talks about ways to speed up the fight against global warming.Solar power is likely to get more attention as governments look at ways to cut emissions of gases that cause global warming. Ministers from almost 190 governments meet in Nairobi from November 6 to November 17 for annual U.N. talks about ways to speed up the fight against global warming.

Environmentalists and many financial analysts envision a not-too-distant future when the 35 cent per kilowatt hour cost of power from solar panels will halve to equal the average cost of power from fossil fuels.

"Whether it's 2010, 2012, or 2015, I think everyone can see the writing on the wall," said Jesse Pichel, solar industry analyst with investment bank Piper Jaffray in New York. When costs become equal, "solar power demand is infinite," he said.

David Smith, an analyst at Citigroup in New York wrote in a research report in October that solar power has "crossed the tipping point and is on the cusp of a significant expansion between now and 2010."

Environmentalists and many financial analysts envision a not-too-distant future when the 35 cent per kilowatt hour cost of power from solar panels will halve to equal the average cost of power from fossil fuels.

"Whether it's 2010, 2012, or 2015, I think everyone can see the writing on the wall," said Jesse Pichel, solar industry analyst with investment bank Piper Jaffray in New York. When costs become equal, "solar power demand is infinite," he said.

David Smith, an analyst at Citigroup in New York wrote in a research report in October that solar power has "crossed the tipping point and is on the cusp of a significant expansion between now and 2010."

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Budgets Falling in Race to Fight Global Warming

2006-10-30T06:09:00.000-05:00

By ANDREW C. REVKIN, NY Times.

“Houston,” Charles F. Kutscher, chairman of the Solar 2006 conference, concluded in a twist on the line from Apollo 13, “we have a solution.”

Hold the applause. For all the enthusiasm about alternatives to coal and oil, the challenge of limiting emissions of carbon dioxide, which traps heat, will be immense in a world likely to add 2.5 billion people by midcentury, a host of other experts say. Moreover, most of those people will live in countries like China and India, which are just beginning to enjoy an electrified, air-conditioned mobile society.

The challenge is all the more daunting because research into energy technologies by both government and industry has not been rising, but rather falling.

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China: Largest Urban Migration In History

2006-10-29T21:34:00.000-05:00

Recently I came upon a startling fact. China is in the midst of a vast urban migration. It seems that Chinese peasants are flocking to industrialized areas in the search for higher income and opportunity. As a result, China now has over 200 cities with 3 million inhabitants or more. Cities have sprung up out of nowhere as companies relocate to China to capitalize on the cheap labor.

China is also in a huge growth spurt and its energy useage is soaring as a result. From reports, there seems to be little in the way of pollution control. This disturbing trend is occurring as people in the US are starting to come out their deep sleep about global warming. The implications appear grave.

One question to think about is this: If we in the United States are able to control our carbon release, what about developing countries such as China? Clearly the US with 5% of the world's population using 25% of its energy any reduction we make will be extremely helpful in preserving the planet's future. What about China? China continues to depend a great deal on coal and reports indicate that they continue to build vast numbers of new ones. Will are actions in curbing our carbon releases be dwarfed by China's march into modernization?

I am also concerned about what might happen to the rural people's attachment to nature as they leave their close relationship with the earth behind in search of the good life and consumption that urban living might promise them. Removing themselves, as many Americans have done, from a bond with the natural world will not support them in to coming to terms with the choices that must be made if we are to survive industrialization. In the terms of human history, industrialization has been an experiment. The word is not in yet on whether or not it has succeeded. Clearly, it has ravaged our world in gargantuan ways. A burning question that will be addressed whether we like it or not is: will our addiction to money and power prevent us from taking the necessary steps in preserving our future?

Ticonderoga Burn

2006-10-29T18:02:00.000-05:00

I guess the test burn is likely to happen at the International Paper mill in Ticonderoga New York. The state environment board authorized a two week test burn of tires which could provide about 10% of the energy needed by the plant. As the plant is located just across Lake Champlain, the prevailing winds will carry the emissions to Vermont locations. Bad enough, International Paper has declined to outfit the plan with state-of-the-art pollution control technology (electorstatic precipitatior) that would filter out toxic particulate matter. It is my understanding that Vermont has offered to help pay for this equipment, however, there ain't no takers at International Paper.

According to the NY state Waste Tire website, there are about 24.7 million waste tires in landfills throughout the state and that these comprise about 85% of all discarded tires in the state. What is not clear, is just how many tires are discarded in the empire state on a yearly basis, where will they go, and what are the plans to get rid of them? It might appear that perhaps that State of New York has a strong and powerful vested interest in the burning at Ticonderoga.

This additional insult to breathing Vermonters is nothing new. In previous articles, Vermont has been identified as the "tailpipe" for the industrial midwest carrying toxic chemicals and particulate to our bucolic state. And it goes way back........ If you research the nuclear testing in the early decades of the nuclear bombs, they have wind patterns showing the path of the fallout. The path is concentrated just before hitting the western part of Vermont as it flows "through the tailpipe" across Vermont.

So I guess we can't think that coming to a rural state of Vermont, with "clean air", no billboards, loads of farmland, and plenty of open land can remove us from contamination. Truth be told, we do have better outcomes in regards to cancer rates that our city cousins, however, the industrial creep cannot be avoided.

So, should you think that this piece is a bit of overeaction, how would you then describe the reaction of Vermont Department of Health? They will be tracking healthy statistics from Rutland,Addison and Burlington Counties, prior to the burn,during the burn and after the burn to monitor any health problems. There is serious concern that this release could erode the quality of Vermont air and water.

I just have to wonder what the long term effects will be if this burning continues. Unfortunately, history has shown too often, that when a business makes decisions about its bottom line versus the health of the community, that powerful feduciary responsibility to its stockholders wins out.

MOB

A Law to Cut Emissions? Deal With It

2006-10-28T08:51:00.000-04:00

by Jane L Levere, NY Times

In August, Peter A. Darbee, chairman, chief executive and president of PG&E, owner of Pacific Gas and Electric, broke rank with his peers by supporting a measure in California that would reduce greenhouse gas emissions, which are widely blamed for global warming. Mr. Darbee discussed his decision and other initiatives in an interview on a recent visit to New York.

"Rather than sitting there and denying that global warming is a problem and climate change is a problem, my reaction was to accept it and to go with the flow to understand the trend, and then say, how can I position PG&E to deal with that challenge, and then how can I turn a challenge into an opportunity."

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Global Warming Study Predicts Wild Ride

2006-10-22T21:42:00.000-04:00

By Seth Borenstein, Associated Press, posted on Commondreams

In a preview of a major international multiyear report on climate change that comes out next year, a study out of the National Center for Atmospheric Research details what nine of the world's top computer models predict for the lurching of climate at its most extreme.

"It's going to be a wild ride, especially for specific regions," said study lead author Claudia Tebaldi, a scientist at the federally funded academic research center.

...."The changes are very significant there," Tebaldi said. "It's enough to say we're in for a bad future."

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Climate Change Inaction Will Cost Trillions: Study

2006-10-13T20:25:00.000-04:00

by Jeremy Lovell, Reuters

Failing to fight global warming now will cost trillions of dollars by the end of the century even without counting biodiversity loss or unpredictable events like the Gulf Stream shutting down, a study said on Friday.

But acting now will avoid some of the massive damage and cost relatively little, said the study commissioned by Friends of the Earth from the Global Development and Environment Institute of Tufts University in the United States.

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The 'Poison Plastic' Retailers Won't Talk About

2006-10-12T07:04:00.000-04:00

By Lois Gibbs, AlterNet

PVC plastic (commonly used in toys, shower curtains, bags, shoes and more) has been linked to cancer and birth defects -- so why won't big-box stores like Target stop selling it?

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God Is Green

2006-09-23T08:39:00.000-04:00

By MATTHEW SCULLY, NY Times

More out of habit than considered judgment, Wilson believes, many religious people and especially conservative Christians tend to brush off environmental causes as liberal alarmism, vaguely subversive, and in any case no concern of theirs. Wilson’s book is a polite but firm challenge to this mind-set, seeking to ally religion and science — “the two most powerful forces in the world today” — in an ethic of “honorable” self-restraint toward the natural world.

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Two billion homes could be free from escalating electricity costs

2006-09-10T09:54:00.000-04:00

Greenpeace

Dresden, Germany — Two billion households worldwide could realistically be powered by solar energy by 2025, according to a joint report launched today by the European Photovoltaic Industry Association (EPIA) and Greenpeace (1). The report concludes that thanks to advances in technology, increasing competition and investment in production facilities, solar power has now become a serious contender in the electricity market; able to provide low-cost, clean, CO2 emission free energy.

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Global warming march

2006-09-09T21:15:00.000-04:00

A BAGPIPER HERALDS the end of the 50-mile walk across Addison and Chittenden counties to raise awareness of global warming. The five-day event attracted marchers of all ages.
Independent photo/Angelo Lynn

By ANGELO LYNN AND HARRIETTE BRAINARD, The Addison Independent

“What we’ve just done (getting the candidates to sign the pledge) is an achievement beyond our wildest hopes when we first started out five weeks ago,” environmental author and Ripton resident Bill McKibben told the crowd of supporters at Monday’s rally. In response, the crowd — as it had done several times during speeches by candidates and rally-organizers — roared with its enthusiastic approval.

The pledge, McKibben explained in an on-line daily journal, raised the bar in Vermont politics “to the point where anyone wishing to be taken seriously needs to champion an 85 percent reduction in carbon emissions by 2050, the rapid phase-in of 40-mile-per-gallon cars, and a national plan to get 20 percent of our power from renewables by 2020.

“As crucial,” he continued, “we demonstrated that at least for Vermont voters this was not a second- or third-tier issue — it was as crucial to getting elected as your position on jobs or the economy or all the things the political pros always call the real issues.”

THE PLEDGE:

"Scientists say we must begin to significantly reduce our emissions within the next 10 years if we are to avoid the most serious impacts of global warming. That is why I support the goal set by Senator Jeffords in his global warming bill -- an 80 percent reduction in global warming pollution by mid-century. To achieve that goal we need to start an energy revolution. I will work to promote global warming solutions, such as a national renewable energy standard of 20 percent by 2020 and an increase in mileage standards to 40 miles per gallon."

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Marchers Hoping To Heat Up Action on Global Warming

2006-09-03T17:06:00.000-04:00

by Kevin O'Connor, Rutland Herald

RIPTON — Bill McKibben can't recall more than 200 Americans ever launching a five-day walk calling for government action on global warming. And so he deemed what happened in his Vermont town Thursday to be historic.

"It's perhaps the largest single demonstration yet in this country against global warming," the Middlebury College environmental scholar said. "It's time to start summoning the political will to do something."

McKibben, whose book "The End of Nature" was the first about climate change written for a general audience, joined walkers from throughout Vermont and as far away as California to kick off a symbolic march seeking national movement on the planet's hottest environmental issue.

Participants assembled at the Robert Frost trail on Route 125 in Ripton to start a 49-mile walk north to Burlington, where a Labor Day rally will ask statewide political candidates to support the goals of a Global Warming Pollution Reduction Act just introduced by U.S. Sen. James Jeffords, I-Vt.

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Bill McKibben: A Deeper Shade of Green

2006-08-24T19:44:00.000-04:00

Bill McKibben: A Deeper Shade of Green

By Bill McKibben, National Geographic

This is the year when we finally started to understand what we are in for. Exactly 12 months ago, an MIT professor named Kerry Emanuel published a paper in Nature showing that hurricanes had slowly but steadily been gaining in strength and duration for a generation. It didn't attract widespread attention for a few weeks—not until Katrina roared across the Gulf of Mexico and rendered half a million people refugees. The scenario kept repeating: Rita choking highways with fleeing Texans; Wilma setting an Atlantic Ocean record for barometric lows; Zeta spinning on New Year's Day. Meanwhile, other data kept pouring in from around the planet: Arctic sea ice melting past an irrevocable tipping point; thawing permafrost in northeastern Siberia creating so much methane that lakes didn't freeze even in the depths of boreal winter; the NASA calculation that 2005 had been the warmest year on record.

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Extinction: Bye Bye, Birdie ...

2006-08-07T19:34:00.000-04:00

By Sarah DeWeerdt, World Watch. Posted August 7, 2006.

Lonely, except that in one sense it has lots of company: species that are lost, or nearly so, are increasingly common because human activities are driving them to extinction 1,000 times faster than the normal rate, according to the just-released report, Global Biodiversity Outlook 2. The report echoes the United Nations' Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, published last year, and proclaims that a "sixth mass extinction" is under way, the worst loss of species since the dinosaurs died out 65 million years ago.

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A New Way to Ask, 'How Green Is My Conscience?'

2006-06-25T22:21:00.000-04:00

By CHRISTINE LARSON, NY Times

"Call them green upgrades: easy ways for consumers to help the environment without changing their behavior. Such upgrades have been proliferating: Skiers, for example, can spend an extra $2 at some resorts to offset the pollution produced in a drive to the mountains; the money goes to environmental organizations. On Web sites like TerraPass.com or CoolDriver.org, drivers can total a car's pollution for a year and direct a corresponding sum to clean-energy projects. "

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Air Conditioning: Our Cross to Bear

2006-06-23T07:46:00.000-04:00

About 5.5 percent of the gasoline burned annually by America's cars and light trucks -- 7 billion gallons -- goes to run air-conditioners. That's equivalent to the total oil consumption of Indonesia, a petroleum-rich country with a population size comparable to ours. Four states -- California, Arizona, Texas and Florida -- account for 35 percent of that extra fuel consumption Fifty-six percent of refrigerants worldwide are used for air-conditioning buildings and vehicles. North America, with 6 percent of the world's people, accounts for nearly 40 percent of its refrigerant market, as well as 43 percent of all refrigerants currently "banked" inside appliances and 38 percent of the resultant global-warming effects.

Finally, in counting costs, it's important to consider not only fuel and refrigerants but also the materials -- steel, copper, plastics and a lot more -- that have gone into building up the nation's colossal tonnage of air-conditioning capacity.

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Panel Supports a Controversial Report on Global Warming

2006-06-23T07:33:00.000-04:00

By ANDREW C. REVKIN, NY Times

An influential and controversial paper asserting that recent warming in the Northern Hemisphere was probably unrivaled for 1,000 years was endorsed Thursday, with a few reservations, by a panel convened by the nation's pre-eminent scientific body.

More broadly, the panel examined other recent research comparing the pronounced warming trend over the last several decades with temperature shifts over the last 2,000 years. It expressed high confidence that warming over the last 25 years exceeded any peaks since 1600. And in a news conference here on Thursday, three panelists said the current warming was probably, but not certainly, beyond any peaks since the year 900

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Pollution From Chinese Coal Casts a Global Shadow

2006-06-11T08:50:00.000-04:00

By KEITH BRADSHER and DAVID BARBOZA, NY Times.

Unless China finds a way to clean up its coal plants and the thousands of factories that burn coal, pollution will soar both at home and abroad. The increase in global-warming gases from China's coal use will probably exceed that for all industrialized countries combined over the next 25 years, surpassing by five times the reduction in such emissions that the Kyoto Protocol seeks.

The sulfur dioxide produced in coal combustion poses an immediate threat to the health of China's citizens, contributing to about 400,000 premature deaths a year. It also causes acid rain that poisons lakes, rivers, forests and crops.

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Who Killed The Electric Car

2006-06-10T09:10:00.000-04:00

Coming soon: Cars that get 100 miles per gallon

2006-06-09T22:02:00.000-04:00

Coming soon: Cars that get 100 miles per gallon

Last modified: April 25, 2006, 4:00 AM PDT
By Michael Kanellos
Staff Writer, CNET News.com

A car that doesn't need gas, or at least not much, is getting slightly more realistic all the time.

A few small companies will start to offer services and products for converting hybrid cars like the Toyota Prius that currently get around 50 miles per gallon into plug-in hybrids that rely more heavily on electrical power and can get about 100 miles per gallon.

"I get about 99 miles to the gallon," said Felix Kramer, founder of The California Cars Initiative (CalCars), who owns the eighth Prius converted into a plug-in hybrid. "When gasoline costs $3 a gallon, driving most gasoline cars costs 8 to 20 cents a mile. With a plug-in hybrid, your local travel and commuting can go down to 2 to 4 cents a mile."

In general, plug-in hybrids have much larger battery packs than standard hybrids--in prototypes, the extra batteries fill up the space where spare tires now reside--and much smaller gas motors. The batteries can be recharged by plugging the car into any wall socket.

Under 34 miles per hour, the electric motor effectively powers the car on its own, said Kramer. Over that--and during bursts of acceleration--the gas motor begins to help incrementally. The gas motor also takes over when the battery conks.

"Sixty-five percent of drivers will not use gas on a daily basis. The only time you ever use gasoline is when you go on vacation or go skiing," said Andrew Frank, a professor of mechanical engineering at the University of California at Davis who has made plug-in hybrids out of stock Mercury Sables and a Chevy Suburban. The Suburban has been tested on General Motors' off-road track.

"It would do the same thing as a conventional Suburban, including towing a trailer," he added.

It all comes down to cost
But conversion won't be cheap--at least initially. California's EDrive Systems will charge around $10,000 to $12,000 to install the extra lithium batteries needed to turn a standard Prius into a plug-in hybrid when its service begins later this summer.

At that price, and with gas at $3 a gallon, it would take around 160,000 to 200,000 miles of driving to break even. As a result, conversion services today are really being sold more as a luxury option or status symbol.

But some groups are looking to the do-it-yourself crowd for a cheaper solution. Canada's Hymotion, which already converts fleets of hybrids for corporate customers, will charge about $9,500 for a kit aimed at consumers that it will start shipping in October. And Hymotion can convert more than just the Prius.

CalCars is working with independent inventors to bring the price of a DIY kit based around an open blueprint to about $3,000.

"Our goal for the build kit is this summer, but making this happen will be a volunteer project--as are most open-source efforts--so I'm not in a position to promise," Kramer said.

Mass manufacturing, though, could lower the prices dramatically over time. Frank estimates that a plug-in hybrid with a 60-mile range (meaning the car can run on electricity alone for up to 60 miles) might cost only $6,000 to $7,000 more to mass manufacture than a conventional car in a few years. A standard hybrid currently goes for about $3,000 more than gasoline-driven cars.

To get to that point, however, battery technology, which tends to progress slowly, will need to improve. Auto manufacturers will have to improve the transmissions and other components that go into a hybrid.

The high cost is one of the primary reasons that major auto manufacturers have been lukewarm to the concept of plug-in cars, engineers at large auto manufacturers have said. Finding ways to stash the battery without compromising passenger or cargo room is another.

Nonetheless, some automakers have shown interest. DaimlerChrysler will produce 40 plug-in versions of its Sprinter minivan for testing the concept. No commitment has been made to turn it into a product.

Pollution-free
Over several years, the cars also can pave the way toward nearly pollution-free cars, said Frank. Because gasoline consumption is modest, it will likely be possible to build plug-in hybrids that burn ethanol rather than gas.

For electricity, the cars could harvest solar power from solar panels installed in garages or houses. Although electric motors don't pollute, electricity gets generated in coal-burning plants, one of the largest sources of greenhouse gases.

Solar isn't as farfetched as it sounds, Frank said. Studies show that most cars are on the road for only three hours a day and could be charged the remaining hours. Installing solar panels on garage roofs and homes will take a bit of capital, but the costs of making and installing solar technology are expected to go down over time as well.

"We can't switch from where we are today overnight. It will take 20 years or more to take the PHEV (plug-in hybrid electric vehicle) to get into our society," Frank said. Nonetheless, "we can greatly reduce the amount of liquid fuel we use for transportation," he said.

One Farm Town's Drive for Energy Independence

2006-06-04T07:59:00.000-04:00

by Monica Davey, NY Times

The State of Indiana first brought the idea to Reynolds last year, calling it BioTown, in an experiment Gov. Mitch Daniels acknowledged could be viewed as a bit of "a stunt." But in the ensuing months and as the price of gasoline soared, Reynolds adopted the notion as its own, and residents began speaking passionately of an end to their reliance on foreign oil and of the potential electricity they could envision in the more than 150,000 pigs that wander nearby.

Since November, nearly 100 of the community's residents have begun driving cars that can run on ethanol-based fuel, as has the employee who drives one of the town's three vehicles. The other two town cars have been replaced with diesel vehicles, so they can run on bio-diesel fuel like vegetable oil.

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The Greener Guys

2006-05-30T06:57:00.000-04:00

By JAD MOUAWAD, NY Times

Americans are increasingly recognizing that the effects of carbon emissions on global warming are a serious problem, but there are no rules in the United States regulating heat-trapping gases comparable to those that most other developed countries have adopted under the Kyoto Protocol. Some United States businesses, though, are responding for a variety of reasons anyway: to satisfy customers or shareholders who worry about the environment, to improve their public image or to drive down their energy costs. In addition, some states and local authorities have stepped in to try to curb their contributions to global warming.

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Automakers ramp up Indian factories

2006-05-17T08:26:00.000-04:00

By TERENCE CHEA The Associated Press, published in the Rutland Herald

Last year, about 1.2 million cars and light trucks were sold here. That number is expected to increase by about 9 percent annually over the next five years, according to J.D. Power and Associates, a global market research firm based in Westlake Village, Calif.

The Indian market is still tiny compared to that of the U.S., where about 17 million vehicles were sold last year. But with a population of 1.1 billion and an economy that has averaged 8 percent growth over the past three years, it has a lot of room to grow.

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G.E., Betting on the Future, Finances a Solar Farm in Portugal

2006-04-30T08:53:00.000-04:00

By CLAUDIA H. DEUTSCH, NY Times

The sheep that have long grazed on 150 acres of farmland in Serpa, Portugal, will soon have to share their space with the world's largest solar energy plant.

Next month the PowerLight Corporation, using $75 million of the General Electric Company's money, will begin installing the first of what will be 52,000 solar panels, capable of generating 11 megawatts of electricity — enough to light and heat 8,000 homes.

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Blame Everyone but the Culprit

2006-04-26T07:12:00.000-04:00

With gas prices at an all-time high, Democrats, Republicans and President Bush are all quick to point blame. But they're ignoring the biggest offender: all of us.

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ABC World News Tonight on Climate Change

2006-04-23T08:57:00.000-04:00

The Great Turning

2006-04-20T22:33:00.000-04:00

David Korten argues that corporate consolidation of power is merely one manifestation of what he calls "Empire": the organization of society through hierarchy and violence that has largely held sway for the past 5,000 years. Empire has always resulted in misery for the many and fortune for the few, but now it threatens the very future of humanity. Korten points to global terrorism, climate change, and rising poverty as just a few of the signs that Empire has become unsustainable and destructive.

The Great Turning offers a new framework with which to understand our current predicament, grasp the potential of this historic moment, and take action for the future of our planet, our communities, and ourselves.

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America's Eating Disorder

2006-04-20T07:01:00.000-04:00

By Blair Golson, Truthdig. Posted on Alternet

"It was a gathering sense that Americans -- myself included -- had gotten deeply confused and worried about what they were eating and unsure where to turn. To read the newspaper over the last couple of years is to read one story after another that makes you wonder if the way you've been eating all these years is such a good idea -- for yourself or the planet or the animals.

Just reading the coverage of mad cow disease was an incredible educational experience. For example, we read that you've got to stop feeding cows to cows. It's like, "What? We've been feeding cows to cows?" And we've got to tighten up those rules about feeding chicken litter to cows. "We've been feeding chicken crap to cows?"

If you read those stories, it made me realize that the system by which we're producing our food is not one I feel very good about participating in. So I began looking into the food chain and alternatives to the main industrial food chain -- doing what I think of as a series of food detective stories, and much of what I learned in these detective stories was astonishing to me, and forced me to re-approach the way I shop for food and go about eating it."

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Climate Change Shattering Marine Food Chain

2006-04-11T22:14:00.000-04:00

by Stephen Leahy, Inter Press Service

BROOKLIN, Canada - The loss of reefs will have a catastrophic impact on all marine life.

One-third of the coral at official monitoring sites in the area of Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands have recently perished in what scientists call an "unprecedented" die-off.

Extremely high sea temperatures in the summer and fall of 2005 that spawned a record hurricane season have also caused extensive coral bleaching extending from the Florida Keys to Tobago and Barbados in the south and Panama and Costa Rica, according to the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Coral Reef Watch.

High sea temperatures are also killing parts of Australia's 2,000-kilometre-long Great Barrier Reef, the world's largest living reef formation. As summer ends in the Southern Hemisphere, researchers are now investigating the extent of the coral bleaching. Up to 98 percent of the coral in one area has been affected, reported the Australian Institute of Marine Science last week.

"The Great Barrier Reef has been living on this planet for 18 million years and we've undermined its existence within our lifetimes," says Brian Huse, executive director of the Coral Reef Alliance, a U.S.-based NGO dedicated to protecting the health of coral reefs.

"Twenty percent of Earth's reefs have been lost and 50 percent face moderate to severe threats," Huse told IPS.

The economic value of reefs globally is estimated at 375 billion dollars, he says.

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Alpaca farm runs on cow power

2006-04-06T09:27:00.000-04:00

Vermont Guardian

New England’s largest alpaca farm is teaming up with Vermont’s largest voluntary renewable energy program, CVPS Cow Power.

“We’re putting CVPS Cow Power to work at Cas-Cad-Nac Farm,” said co-owner Ian Lutz, who with his wife Jennifer runs the 250-head alpaca farm in central Vermont. “We’re strong supporters of sustainable, Vermont-scale agriculture, so it’s a natural decision for us to become Cow Power customers.”

CVPS Cow Power is the nation’s only direct farm-to-consumer renewable energy program, creating a market for farmers who want to process cow manure and other farm waste to generate electricity, according to CVPS officials. More than 2,500 CVPS customers have enrolled in the program, which provides farms with new manure management opportunities, environmental benefits, and income.

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I-91 towns work to cut car emissions

2006-04-06T09:18:00.000-04:00

By DANIEL BARLOW Southern Vermont Bureau, Rutland Herald

BRATTLEBORO — More than 26,000 cars travel Interstate 91 through this town every day and each one leaves behind carbon monoxide from its exhaust.

So Brattleboro is joining with other I-91 border towns, such as Hartford, Conn., and Northampton, Mass., to develop new transportation models that can be implemented on the local and regional scale to reduce emissions that cause greenhouse gases.

The project is organized by ICLEI, an international association of governments that has worked on sustainability issues since 1990.

Officials with that organization say they hope the model developed by Brattleboro and the four participating towns can be repeated elsewhere.

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Antarctic Air is Warming Faster Than Rest of World

2006-03-31T19:26:00.000-05:00

by Mark Henderson, Times/UK, Posted on Commondreams.org

AIR temperatures above the entire frozen continent of Antarctica have risen three times faster than the rest of the world during the past 30 years.

While it is well established that temperatures are increasing rapidly in the Antarctic Peninsula, the land tongue that protrudes towards South America, the trend has been harder to confirm over the continent as a whole.

Now analysis of weather balloon data by scientists at the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) has shown that not only are the lower reaches of the Antarctic atmosphere warming, but that they are doing so at the fastest rate observed anywhere on Earth.

Temperatures in the troposphere — the lowest 8km (5 miles) of the atmosphere — have increased by between 0.5C and 0.7 C (0.9F and 1.3F) per decade over the past 30 years.

This signature of climate change is three times stronger than the average observed around the world, suggesting that global warming is having an uneven impact and that it could be greater for Antarctica.

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Problem: Foreign Oil, Answer: Blowing in the Wind?

2006-03-31T19:14:00.000-05:00

Turbines spin at a wind farm in Daban, northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Region, March 1, 2005. Wind turbines may one day replace hydropower as China's second-largest source of electricity, if the country continues with a drive to boost renewable generation. Wind energy is emerging as a centerpiece of the new energy economy because it is abundant, inexpensive, inexhaustible, widely distributed, clean, and climate-benign,'' meaning that it does not add to global warming, said Lester Brown, president of the Earth Policy Institute. REUTERS/China Newsphoto
by Abid Aslam, Oneworld.net, posted on Commondreams.org

WASHINGTON - Alongside the war in Iraq, Americans worry most about U.S. dependence on foreign oil, a leading pollster said Thursday.
While most appeared fatalistic over problems like job outsourcing, around half said the government can do something about energy dependence, according to a survey run by Daniel Yankelovich, funded by the Ford Foundation, and published by the Council on Foreign Relations in its journal Foreign Affairs.

Environmentalists appeared to validate that sentiment, separately highlighting rapid growth in homespun energy alternatives and urging policymakers to boost support for the sector.

Almost 90 percent of the 1,000 Americans canvassed in January for the Confidence in U.S. Foreign Policy Index said dependence on foreign energy jeopardized national security.

Forty-six percent gave policymakers a failing grade for their efforts to wean the nation off foreign oil and natural gas.

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Food, sustainability, and the environmentalists

2006-03-27T22:53:00.000-05:00

Posted by Tom Philpott, Grist Magazine

What he was asking me, in essence, was, "can sustainable farming feed the world?" To which the only wise response is, "can unsustainable farming feed the world -- for long?"

To an extent, the problem is one of semantics, centering on the definition of "sustainable." To many green types, places like Whole Foods and Wild Oats teem with "sustainably produced" stuff -- everything from T-shirts to apples, chicken and eggs, even versions of Twizzlers and TV dinners. But the great bulk of it falls under the rubric of industrial-organic -- like the wares on offer at Wal-Mart, only a little less so, these goods depend on a culture of cheap and plentiful crude oil and labor.

The cheap-oil problem has certainly gained traction among greens. Blogs devoted to "peak oil" abound; this very blog seems like one at times. Most of these discussions, though, devolve into sniping about biofuels and hybrids. It's important to wonder how we'd get around in an era of super-high oil prices.

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My Saudi Arabian breakfast

2006-03-27T22:39:00.000-05:00

by Chad Heeter, from Tomdispatch.com, posted on Energy Bulletin.

For decades, scientists have calculated how much fossil fuel goes into our food by measuring the amount of energy consumed in growing, packing, shipping, consuming, and finally disposing of it. The "caloric input" of fossil fuel is then compared to the energy available in the edible product, the "caloric output."

What they've discovered is astonishing. According to researchers at the University of Michigan's Center for Sustainable Agriculture, an average of over seven calories of fossil fuel is burned up for every calorie of energy we get from our food. This means that in eating my 400 calorie breakfast, I will, in effect, have "consumed" 2,800 calories of fossil-fuel energy. (Some researchers claim the ratio to be as high as ten to one.)

But this is only an average. My cup of coffee gives me only a few calories of energy, but to process just one pound of coffee requires over 8,000 calories of fossil-fuel energy -- the equivalent energy found in nearly a quart of crude oil, 30 cubic feet of natural gas, or around two and a half pounds of coal.

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