Living amongst the peeps of the midwest, we often forget that drought is prevalent in the United States. I believe that I recently heard a statistic where 38 states will experience drought in 2009. If you don’t live in a drought zone, water is still a precious resource. Conserve it. It’s spring. It’s supposed to be wet – and it definitely is where I live. Check out this US Drought Map for the past 12 weeks.
T Boone Pickens wrote an editorial that appeared in papers on Tuesday morning. In it, he applauded the new stimulus package that was approved last week. “The American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan has $90 billion of investments and incentives for energy efficiency in buildings and homes, renewable electricity and other clean-energy programs that could potentially create 500,000 jobs while reducing energy use and saving oil.” I’m actually on-board with what Pickens says next. He lists what he feels should be the top three priorities to come out of the stimulus package.
1) Fix the grid. The current energy grid is archaic and outdated. The new grid must be reliable, efficient, and have the ability to handle the transmission of new alternative energy sources.
2) Develop “smart grid” technology. A smart grid uses digital technology to efficiently deliver electric at a cost savings.
3) Reduce our foreign-oil dependency and develop a clean, alternative transportation fuel infrastructure.
They really boil down to two main points: a) fix the grid by updating it to this century and beyond and b) develop new alternative fuel sources for transportation. If we can fix these two things, then the United States can be well on it’s way to energy independence. People on the east coast could be receiving power from a solar concentrator in Arizona. Wind power could be delivered across the grid without much degredation. Tidal power, algae power, cowshit power, whatever could be delivered across the country if the grid were sufficient. Now we have that opportunity.
This leads to things that are available and could be even more readily available like smart meters. Meters that will give you real-time residential pricing on your kilowatt. Meters that can shut down your air conditioner for periods of time to save energy.
All in all – I liked the piece that Pickens put out. It didn’t overtly push his plan. I hope that some people who are already invested in this dream read it, too.
It was the first interview with the Energy Secretary since Obama took office and he didn’t sugar coat it. To quote the Grist book, people need to wake up and smell the planet, yo. “Climate change is real and it’s going to F us up – so pay attention peeps,” Chu said. Okay – so maybe that isn’t a direct quote.
In a worst case, Chu said, up to 90 percent of the snow pack could disappear in the Sierras by the end of the century, sucking the bulk of California’s water supply nearly dry. That’s sheer death for the agriculture of California.
Chu said the threat of warming is keeping policymakers focused on fossil-fuel alternatives, even though gasoline prices fell over the past six months from historic highs. But he said public awareness needs to catch up. He compared the situation to a family buying an old house and being told by an inspector that it must pay a hefty sum to rewire it, or risk an electrical fire that could burn everything.
“I’m hoping that the American people will wake up,” Chu said, and pay the cost of rewiring.
Source: Chicago Tribune
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-warming_04feb04,0,5830664.story
Yesterday, President-elect Obama announced the nomination of a Nobel Prize winner to be our new energy secretary. No, it wasn’t Al Gore. It was physicist Steven Chu. Wait? A scientist? In the cabinet? That’s so…what’s the phrase? European? Smart? Common-sense? UnBushlike?
“His appointment should send a signal to all that my administration will value science,” Obama said Monday at a Chicago news conference. “We will make decisions based on facts, and we understand that the facts demand bold action.”
Very interesting words after the past 8 years of blindness and environmental corruption. A scientist is holding a top-spot in government – not a lawyer. After a period where NASA scientists were censored and EPA reports were hidden and lied about.
In addition to Chu, Obamaramadingalingadingdong also appointed Carol Browner to be the coordinator of energy and climate change policy (Kyoto for the next generation anyone? Lets giddy up). Lisa Jackson who ran than the NJ EPA is new EPA Administrator. He also named a council on Environmental Quality – former deputy mayor of LA, Nancy Sutley. Bring it on!
Here’s an excerpt from an RFK, Jr. speech from a couple years ago to give you and idea of where we were with the Bush administration:
…most insidiously, they have put polluters in charge of virtually all the agencies that are supposed to protect Americans from pollution. President Bush appointed as head of the Forest Service a timber-industry lobbyist, Mark Rey, probably the most rapacious in history. He put in charge of public lands a mining-industry lobbyist, Steven Griles, who believes that public lands are unconstitutional. He put in charge of the air division of the EPA, Jeffrey Holmstead, a utility lobbyist who has represented nothing but the worst air polluters in America. As head of Superfund: a woman whose last job was teaching corporate polluters how to evade Superfund. The second in command of EPA is a Monsanto lobbyist.
The New York Times reported a couple of weeks ago that the second-in-command of the Council on Environmental Quality, which is in the White House directly advising the president on environmental policy, is a lobbyist for the American Petroleum Institute. His only job was to read all of the science from the different federal agencies to make sure they didn’t say anything critical and to excise any critical statements about the oil industry.
“In the next few years, the choices that we make will help determine the kind of country and world that we will leave to our children and our grandchildren.” Obama also went on to discuss climate change and the imminent dangers we face.
So maybe there is a light at the end of the tunnel.
Keeping my fingers crossed!
ORIGINALLY POSTED November 23, 2007
But I love the soft sweater made from those cute cuddly sheep in China. Why don’t you want me to buy cashmere? How will people know that I like to spend money? All valid questions. The problem is that there is so much demand for cashmere here in the U.S. that the land is being over-grazed. There are way too many sheep on one small portion of land in China. The landscape is becoming a dustbowl. The goats have very pointy hooves which poke holes through the salty crust releasing the finer sand beneath.
Why should you care about the dustbowls in China caused from the sheep that shed their coats to make you feel better? Because its going to affect you in the long run. Cashmere is not cotton. You can’t just plant more next year. If the goats have nothing to eat because they’ve chewed all of the prairies to a nub then we have a problem. China’s grasslands are turning in to deserts. The environmental impact, other than the goats eating so far down to the roots that the plants are damaged forever, is the creation of the dustbowls.
There is a huge increase in the number of dust storms. The dust gathers in the atmosphere mixing with the other China industrialized pollution creating huge orange clouds that are toxic. China officials warn residents not to go outside or open their windows during these times because they are so bad. The dust caused by these goats does not just stay in China, though. Its coming to a window near you.
From a Chicago Tribune article, “We had one storm in East Asia which we called the perfect dust storm,” said Barry Huebert, an oceanographer at the University of Hawaii. “There are good images of it following over the Pacific as a yellow plume. When it got to Colorado, it reduced visibility enough to make the national news. It continued east, and the last measurement was in the Canary Islands” off the west coast of Africa. ”
The reason we should care is that China has some of the dirtiest air in the world. The more it become industrialized, the worse it becomes. Also cited in the article are the statistics on the death rate in China directly related to air pollution. Roughly 300,000 people die each year in China of diseases linked to air pollution, according to a Chinese research institute.
Wow. All of this pollution for your vanity.
Source: Chicago Tribune
Led Zeppelin – Kashmir
The Hidden Cost of Cashmere
Times are tough – money is hard to come by – and winter is roaring it’s head. How about something for nothing? SCREAM to be GREEN doesn’t do giveaways very often, but I think this is a great one. We’re giving away a one year subscription to YES! Magazine. Just look at the covers above and see their commitment to the environment and sustainability! Sustainability, climate change (with Bill McKibben no less), locavores, oil, water battles, etc. Cozy up in a warm blanket with this gem of a magazine. Did I mention that YES! is printed on 100% post consumer waste recycled paper? It is.
From their FAQ:
What is YES! magazine all about?
We focus on a different topic each quarter, each one on opportunities for social change toward a more just, sustainable, and compassionate world. Recent issues have focused on redefining the “good life,” great urban places, preserving and reclaiming water resources, rethinking elderhood, finding alternatives to oil dependence.
Here is an example of some of the great material available in Yes! Magazine.
“Christmas With No Presents?”
by Colin Beavan, No Impact Man
“No Impact Man,” Colin Beavan, suspected the holidays would be just as merry without all the stuff — and he was right! Beavan and his small family have committed to living a no-net-environmental-impact lifestyle in the middle of New York City, and blogs about the adventure at NoImpactMan.com. Here he shares his very merry Christmas story — minus the stuff.
Related stories in the Sustainable Happiness issue:
* “Be Happy Anyway”
by Sarah van Gelder and Doug Pibel
The economic boom didn’t bring us (or the planet) happiness. So maybe there’s an upside to the downturn.
* “10 Things Science Says Will Make You Happy”
by Jen Angel
In the last few years, psychologists and researchers have been digging up hard data on a question previously left to philosophers: What makes us happy? Here are 10 scientifically proven strategies for getting happy.
* “Happiness Test”
by Stephen Post and Mike McCullough
Researchers say thankful people tend to be happy people. YES! offers this test to find out your gratitude score.
The rules are simple. Leave a comment by 11:59PM CST, December 12, 2008 and one random lucky winner will be picked to receive a one year subscription to Yes! Magazine. If you read Yes! Magazine, we’d love to hear from you, too – enter the contest and let us know what you think.
Also – I encourage you all to follow Yes! Magazine on Twitter, too. You can follow me, too – I’d love the company.
After the earlier “Greening of China” we happen to be watching 60 Minutes on CBS. Tonight they had a story on following the toxic trail of e-waste. It’s amazing and appalling all at the same time. The conditions that poor Chinese farmers are put through for $8/day. The children are filled with lead in their bloodstream. The soil and water is too contaminated to drink. People are inhaling carcinogenic toxins on a regular basis. All for $8.
I would like to note that many major US computer manufacturers will take back their e-waste and are committed to ethically and properly dispose of their e-waste in the US. Please do your homework when recycling your e-waste. Check the Basel Action Network for more information on responsible e-waste recycling.
Here’s a great 10min piece on e-waste recycling in poor communities across the world.
Fears of global warming and climate change often carry the argument that populous nations are being industrialized. China is in the middle of the industrial revolution. The more wealth the country brings in, the more the people start driving and acting more like traditional westerners. At least in the midst of this industrial revolution, some corporations are taking measures to mitigate their environmental footprint.
Remixed with Stephen Stills tune “For What Its Worth” Visit WeCanSolveIt.org for more…
