Sep292008
Al Gore’s Challenge To America Remixed
Remixed with Stephen Stills tune “For What Its Worth” Visit WeCanSolveIt.org for more…
Sep272008
Alberta Tar Sands Reminds Of US Coal Mining Destruction
The Alberta Tar Sands reminds me very much of MTR – Mountaintop Removal Mining. The illustrious Boreal Forest is being clear cut and turned into a disgusting strip mine. Waterways and the general water table is being contaminated. CO2 is being pumped into the atmosphere at alarming rates. The entire ecosystem of this once pristine landscape is being extinguished all in the name of oil – and greed. As they state in the pod, the Boreal Forest is becoming a dumping ground of the United States. US independence from foreign oil runs right through the province of Alberta.
According to DeSmogBlog, “At least 90% of the fresh water used in the oil sands ends up in ends up in tailing ponds so toxic that propane cannons are used to keep ducks from landing in them. Producing a barrel of oil from the oil sands produces three times more greenhouse gas emissions than a barrel of conventional oil.”
Watch the pod. What do you think? Is this energy indepence? At what cost?
Sep182008
Al Gore To Buy PLENTY Magazine?
Ahh – my first true green magazine love. PLENTY Magazine. We’ve written about you in the past. My wife informed me of a rumor that PLENTY is being purchased by none other than Al Gore. After a little research, I found the article on Huff Po which led me to Conde Naste.
So is Al really buying PLENTY? Hrmmm…mums the word from PLENTY founder, but it looks like there is definitely some truth to the rumors.
[from Conde Naste Portfolio.com] Asked about the situation, Plenty founder Mark Spellun acknowledged there is a deal of some sort in the works but said it was “not correct” to say that Gore was buying the company. “That wouldn’t be quite accurate,” he said. Pressed on whether that means Gore is purchasing some sort of interest, however, either directly or through another entity, Spellun declined to comment further, saying an announcement would come next week.
I love me some PLENTY Magazine and I welcome the additional role of Al Gore involved. This is a perfect time for a 3 R’s giveaway. I’ll be reducing, reusing, and recycling by giving away a few gently – okay – well abused – issues of PLENTY – about the last 5 issues. Stay tuned.
Sep112008
Corn Refiners Assoc Lobbying for HFCS
I was talking to my wife last night and she brought up these commercials she happened to witness. Maybe the Corn Refiners Association is scared that people are becoming aware of HFCS. It is amazing how high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) has changed the food industry.
The commercials claim that HFCS is natural because it comes from corn. In April, the FDA debunked this. Even though the FDA has no regulations on the term natural, they still had this to say:
[From NutraIngredients.com] “The use of synthetic fixing agents in the enzyme preparation, which is then used to produce HFCS, would not be consistent with our (…) policy regarding the use of the term ‘natural’,” said Geraldine June.
“Moreover, the corn starch hydrolysate, which is the substrate used in the production of HFCS, may be obtained through the use of safe and suitable acids or enzymes. Depending on the type of acid(s) used to obtain the corn starch hydrolysate, this substrate itself may not fit within the description of ‘natural’ and, therefore, HCFS produced from such corn starch hydrolysate would not qualify for a ‘natural’ labeling term,” she concluded.
Watch the commercials below..and enjoy…I’m not a corn grower, but we definitely try not to purchase products with HFCS no matter how great they try to tell me it is. People weren’t as fat and the diabetes rate was much lower – I don’t think it’s by accident.
Sep42008
Energy Independence In US? Only If The Energy Is Clean
I’ve heard a few peeps the past few nights about “Real Energy Independence” and it was concluded with an embarrassing chant of “drill, baby, drill.” Are you kidding me? Really? I am all for energy independence – in fact I agree with Gore that it can be done in 10-15yrs – and I’ll even side with Pickens here and there – but I am not for energy independence if it means generating more CO2 from dirty industries like coal and oil by drilling new land and continuing to hurt the Appalachian communities and ecosystems. I am not even for corn-based biofuels. Look at the dead zone in the gulf from this.
Why isn’t anyone talking about our antiquated power grid? It’s an ancient, dilapidated, giant piece of crap that needs fixed - yesterday. If we need to rebuild the grid, why not do it in a responsible way? Rebuild the grid and allow for easy transport of renewable energy from wind and solar and whatever else we haven’t come up with. CLEAN energy needs to be talked about – NOW. The climate change isn’t getting any better at the moment!
More to write later – so start thinking about clean energy and your visions and post comments early and often!
WARNING: The following video may make you physically ill and embarrassed that people outside the US may see it.
Sep32008
Mother Nature to Man: “I’m Melting!”
The arctic is starting to feel like the Wicked Witch of the West, “I’m melting!” A 19-square mile chunk of ice broke free from from the Arctic ice shelf in northern Canada in early August. To put that in perspective, Manhattan, NY is roughly the same size.
[From the Chicago Tribune] Derek Mueller, an Arctic ice shelf specialist at Trent University in Ontario, told The Associated Press that the 4,500-year-old Markham Ice Shelf separated in early August and the 19-square-mile shelf is now adrift in the Arctic Ocean.
“The Markham Ice Shelf was a big surprise because it suddenly disappeared. We went under cloud for a bit during our research and when the weather cleared up, all of a sudden there was no more ice shelf. It was a shocking event that underscores the rapidity of changes taking place in the Arctic,” said Muller.
The loss of these ice shelves means that rare ecosystems that depend on them are on the brink of extinction, said Warwick Vincent, director of Laval University’s Centre for Northern Studies and a researcher in the program ArcticNet.
“The Markham Ice Shelf had half the biomass for the entire Canadian Arctic Ice Shelf ecosystem as a habitat for cold, tolerant microbial life; algae that sit on top of the ice shelf and photosynthesis like plants would. Now that it’s disappeared, we’re looking at ecosystems on the verge of distinction,’ said Muller.
So when is mankind as a whole going to start to care? It has yet to really effect the average person on a daily basis – but look at the drought maps – look at the temps – things are going to have to change – how screwed are my grandkids? I hate to even think about it.
Source: Chicago Tribune
