Al Gore’s Challenge To America Remixed

Remixed with Stephen Stills tune “For What Its Worth”  Visit WeCanSolveIt.org for more…

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?

(more…)

Current TV Look At World Without Water

Lake Meade, Nevada, USA

China

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

Climate Change ala 1958 – Unchained Goddess

North Pole Is Now An Island: Massive Ice Melt

Well, it happened.  Chalk one up for the scientists.  The North Pole is now an island.  There were warnings that this might happen – years before originally ever thought.  You could sail a boat in open water all around the North Pole.  The Northeast and Northwestern passages are open.  What was once merely a pipe dream is now a reality.  You could sail from England to China through Canadian waters directly through the newly melted channels.  For the first time in the history of mankind, the North Pole could be circumnavigated.  Now tell me that global warming and the climate crisis is bullshit.  There is no way that man has not had a hand in this.  This is not the product of underground lava and hot springs.  The magnitude is too large.

An article from The Independent UK reads:
Four weeks ago, tourists had to be evacuated from Baffin Island’s Auyuittuq National Park because of flooding from thawing glaciers. Auyuittuq means “land that never melts”.

The article goes on to talk about how 9 – yes – 9 polar bears were seen stranded on floating ice – trying to swim 400 miles to land, yet Sarah Palin thinks that Global Warming science is unreliable and is suing the government about the polar bear being endangered.

Get this – they originally thought that global warming would catch up to us and this melting would not be seen until 2070 – over 60 years from now.  All of this is quite amazing to me – the rapid rate of decline in the polar ice cap.  Various water issues are going to come to the forefront in the near future.  Maybe the average joe will start to think about someone other than themselves and how the planet is not here for them to abuse.  I really feel that many people unknowingly abuse the planet.  They’ve never been taught otherwise.  It’s frustrating, but I guess that is one of the reasons I have this blog – to start talking about it.  Sure, I generally talk to those who are “in the know,” but I have to hope that others – who aren’t crazy green zealots like myself read this on occasion, too.

Here is a video from earlier this summer:

Source: The Independent UK

Cheney Wanted Cuts In Climate Change Testimony

The story out of Washington tonight is that Cheney and the White House wanted certain climate change testimony cut.  Why?  Because they felt that Jason Burnett’s, head of the CDC, testimony would force them to further regulate greenhouse gases (GHG).  The White House said that certain deletions in testimony were made because of the science – flaws in the science.  In reality – this administration has so many friggin hands in their pockets from the different lobbies that they will do everything in their power to deny any proof of climate change.    I wonder what McBush thinks of all of this…

From the Chicago Tribune:

Burnett, until last month a senior adviser on climate change at the Environmental Protection Agency, wrote that Cheney’s office was deeply involved in getting nearly half of the CDC’s original draft testimony removed.

The White House, at the urging of Cheney’s office, “requested that I work with CDC to remove from the testimony any discussion of the human health consequences of climate change,” Burnett wrote.

Burnett also described in greater detail than previously reported the White House’s refusal in December to accept a draft EPA finding concluding that carbon dioxide, the leading greenhouse gas, is endangering human health. 

After he sent the e-mail with the draft finding attached, he said he received a telephone call from the White House asking that he “send a follow-up note saying that the e-mail had been sent in error.”

“I explained that I could not do that because it was not true,” Burnett wrote.

Source: Chicago Tribune

Earth Day: Chicago Green Drinks Edition

How did I spend the actual Earth Day, April 22?  At work, of course.  I wish I could tell you that I attended some rally or something.  I fed my worms at my desk an apple core – that should keep them happy for a while.  How did I spend my Earth Day evening?  I attended Chicago Green Drinks with well over 100 other folks.  It was standing room only tonight.  Let’s just put it this way, if the speaker had pyrotechnics and the place caught on fire – my charred corpse would still be there (with a Fat Tire beer in hand).

Tonight was a special Green Drinks and one that I have been looking forward to for a long time.  I kinda felt bad going without my wife, but she was unable to attend because we didn’t have a babysitter and the event is all the way in the city and I was already there for work.  Why have I been looking forward to this one?  Sadhu Johnston was speaking.  He is the Deputy Mayor of Chicago and the first Chief Environmental Officer for the City of Chicago.

This is the third time I’ve seen Sadhu speak in person.  The first was at the Green Festival last year.  I’ve also seen him on Sara Snow’s show on Discovery Health.  The topic for the evening was the “state of the environment” for the City.  What have they been working on, what’s coming up, etc.  So let’s get in to the meat of the presentation.

The City of Chicago announced today a program to start collecting and recycling pharmaceuticals.  Currently, since pharmas are controlled substances, they have to be collected in a controlled environment.  I can just imagine a drop-box in the middle of the city and homeless folks walking around with issues from the little blue pills they took.  Yes – I just painted that picture in your head.  So to get the party started, the collections will be held at police stations throughout the city.  There haven’t been any major retailers who have agreed to collect these items – meaning Walgreens, CVS, etc.

Energy - On Saturday, you may recall from my posts that we attended what the city is calling “mega events.”  These are large scale household recycling events.  More than 3,500 people showed up.  That’s insane – but so great!

Sadhu also reported that the City is getting 20% of its power from green sources.  On top of that, they have a proposal out for a 1megawatt solar installation at a city pumping station. 

Climate Change – 70% of Chicago’s energy spent is on buildings.  20% is on mobile (buses, cars, etc).  They hope to reduce these emissions 80% by 2050.  That’s an enormous undertaking and is going to take a lot of little steps.

There is a program underway to help retrofit older buildings.  Many new buildings are already being LEED certified and building green.  You can get expedited permits if you build within sustainable standards.  The Merchandise Mart is one of the first old buildings to sign on.  If you’re not from here, the Merchandise Mart is so large that it has its own zip code.  They have realized a 12% reduction in energy which is amounting to approx. $12 million in savings.  If you don’t think the little things matter – listen to this.  They found that something as simple as cleaning their dust mop heads has saved them time, energy, and man power.  A clean mop works better and they don’t have to mop as often.

The last climate change intiative that Sadhu spoke of is called “transit oriented development.”  This is simply building housing and communities around transportation nodes.

There were more facts and figures and Q&A.  Many people are concerned over residential recycling in the city.  First off, the blue bag program doesn’t work.  Everyone is aware of that.  There is a bin system that is being rolled out, but it’s slow going due to infrastructure and just plain logistics.  Residents can get a grant of $75/year to help offset the cost of hiring a private company to haul your recycling waste.  If you live in an apartment building, this can make it very affordable and thus reduce your garbage going out to the curb.

Overall, I was happy that I attended the event.  I always enjoy Green Drinks and it’s enlightening to go and see so many people show up.  You really feel part of a community and know that Chicago is serious about the environment.  We’re one of the greenest cities in the country and getting better all the time.  Going to the event also affords me the opportunity to read and blog on the train while going home (like right now).

Al Gore Denounces Global Warming

In a shocking turn of events, Al Gore has decided to change his views on Global Warming.  He believes the scientists are all wrong and they are just making this “nonsense” up to make money, the same as he did.  In a statement released this morning, Gore says “I thought that the science was compelling enough that I could lead the country into believing this crap.  I saw a cash-cow sitting in front of me and now I’m rich, bitch!”  He went on to say “I can’t believe that I had so little resistance to “the facts” about global warming.  Who cares about a bunch of friggin polar bears in the Antarctic?  I know that I could have milked this for years to come, but I just didn’t feel right and I’m rich enough already.  I mean, come on - like melting polar ice caps means anything to me.  I’ll be dead by the time I see ‘climate change.’  I even had Oprah telling people to change a light bulb and the world would be a better place!  Haaa.  Suckers.”

 It will be interesting to see how the world takes this news!

UPDATE (10:30pm): Well – as you know – April Fools!  Thanks for being loyal readers.

My Baby Tree, Google Earth, and WWF

Google, Google, Google.  How I <3 ye.  Earlier this month we talked about how Google Earth is teaming up to show the effects of mountaintop removal mining.  Now we get to talk about something from the Google Earth Blog.  My coworker, Bridget sent me this on Facebook. The original WWF – World Wildlife Federation – has a new site called My Baby Tree.

Big deal – another charity planting a friggin tree  – dime a dozen (or is that greendimes a dozen? - yes – cheap horrible ecogeek joke).  So you go to their site and buy a tree which will be planted in the Sebangau National Forest in Central Kalimantan, Indonesia.  You can feel good for helping reforest the planet.  But wait, there’s more!  If you’ve never used Google Earth, it’s a sweet program that  you install on your computer (originally called Keyhole if you’re keeping score at home) – so slightly different from Google maps.  People can give you files to open in Google Earth which will take you to a specific spot – KML files.   So you buy a tree and the WWF gives you a KML file when the tree is planted so you can virtually watch the growth of the forest you helped create.

P.S. I have to apologize for the lack of posts this week.  I’ve been down-and-out with the flu.  Boo flu!

See how MyBabyTree.org works:

Source: Google Earth Blog, Bridget from work