tagged w/ Environmentalism
-
This video is part of a longer presentation at the Humanist Institute in New York in 1989, and it demonstrates yet again that the broad outlines of the climate change story have been understood for decades by, well, intelligent men who are guided by science.
It's been a recurring theme in this series - that the science was essentially complete long before Al Gore, long before the IPCC, long before the Hockey Stick.This video is part of a longer presentation at the Humanist Institute in New York in... more
-
-
THE REAL NEWS NETWORK ~ http://therealnews.com/t2/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=74&jumival=6037
30,000 indigenous Ecuadorians fight for compensation against Texaco (now Chevron), accused of 3 decades of massive toxic dumping in the Amazon. The damage long done... We watch today as the indigenous people of that land stand up to Chevron to get restitution for their destroyed environment after Chevron's/Texaco's decades of open deliberate ecological misdeeds.
What do we all get in return?
We get to watch another text book example on how Large Corporations avoid doing the honorable thing and correct their past actions and misdeeds. We see a powerful corporation use every means possible to corrupt the legal the system, so Chevron can walk away from the ecological disaster destroyed lives and they created as they sucked-up $$$ billions of dollars of Ecuadorian Oil.
This is how Corporations Do Business...? = YES
This is how Corporations Should do Business...? = NO
We need to clean - up the way our Governments and our Corporations do business!
We need to DEMAND TRANSPARENCY and Personal Responsibility in both our Governments and in our Corporations.THE REAL NEWS NETWORK ~... more
-
-
-
-
mbk220
-
added this
-
1 year ago
- |
-
Shocking attitudes of seemingly normal people.
-
-
mbk220
-
added this
-
1 year ago
- |
-
The natural gas industry made Joe Todd an offer he couldn’t refuse.
He told them no, but New York State’s industry-drafted 2005 “compulsory integration” law made resistance pointless.
Todd had turned away a landman who tried last year to convince him to lease his property to a Denver-based gas driller. Then he received an official letter in January that said he had to surrender his subterranean property rights for a financial stake in the same Colorado driller’s new well operation less than a mile from his home in Big Flats, N.Y. He ripped up the letter and threw it in the trash.
The drilling started up anyway.The natural gas industry made Joe Todd an offer he couldn’t refuse.
He told... more
-
-
Top 10-selling eco friendly products that save consumers some cash and are good to your enviroment.Top 10-selling eco friendly products that save consumers some cash and are good to... more
-
-
Here is a link to my friend's YouTube website. Marc Ward is an authorized Marine Turtle Investigator who has spent many, many days trying to save sea turtles from extinction. The Sea Turtles Forever site on YouTube documents some of the organization's work, which includes collecting and analyzing tons of plastic debris that has washed ashore on the west coast of North America and Central America. Please visit this link and send it to all of your friends so that we might raise awareness and work together to save marine animals from death by plastic.
http://www.youtube.com/user/seaturtlesforeverHere is a link to my friend's YouTube website. Marc Ward is an authorized Marine... more
-
-
'Wear a hat' seems like reasonable advice for cold days outdoors, but what about at home? Understanding our physiology helps. For instance, the body pulls blood from our extremities in order to protect our brains. Warm up the old gray matter and it will send the blood supply - and its accompanying warmth - back to our hands and feet. Worried about the baby or the kids playing on a cold floor? Without turning up the thermostat you can keep them warm with a few simple decorating changes. http://greenlandlady.com/site/business/save-energy-wear-a-hat/'Wear a hat' seems like reasonable advice for cold days outdoors, but what... more
-
-
The Bicycle is a viable transportation option and Its use is growing!
-
-
Forgive this pre-amble of a rant, but perhaps with my financial background I find the FHFA's position on the PACE program particularly offensive. More importantly, it is backward. PACE was conceived by some brilliant minds in Berkeley as a vehicle to provide property owners - homeowners, multifamily and commercial - with the long term financing needed to install rooftop solar and other energy-efficiency retrofits.
The loan structure was intended to be exactly the same as those loans that allow homeowners to hook up to sewer, add sidewalks, etc., with a payback term up to 20 years to make the upfront cost of these systems feasible for just about any homeowner. The FHFA took the position that these loans could 'destabilize the housing market'. No, my friends, they are not joking. Who is the FHFA? The government agency that regulates Fannie Mae and Freddie Mae. Yes, the same one that let the housing mess fester without interference. See why I am stompin' mad? http://greenlandlady.com/site/business/defying-the-fhfa-fannie-freddie/Forgive this pre-amble of a rant, but perhaps with my financial background I find the... more
-
-
The world's population is graying at rate that few foresaw -- and the implications are terrifying. This dramatic pace is going to change the world as we know it -- politically, economically, militarily -- in ways you might not expect.
Not so long ago, we were warned that rising global population would inevitably bring world famine. As Paul Ehrlich wrote apocalyptically in his 1968 worldwide bestseller, The Population Bomb, "In the 1970s and 1980s hundreds of millions of people will starve to death in spite of any crash programs embarked upon now. At this late date, nothing can prevent a substantial increase in the world death rate." Obviously, Ehrlich's predicted holocaust, which assumed that the 1960s global baby boom would continue until the world faced mass famine, didn't happen. Instead, the global growth rate dropped from 2 percent in the mid-1960s to roughly half that today, with many countries no longer producing enough babies to avoid falling populations. Having too many people on the planet is no longer demographers' chief worry; now, having too few is.
It's true that the world's population overall will increase by roughly one-third over the next 40 years, from 6.9 to 9.1 billion, according to the U.N. Population Division. But this will be a very different kind of population growth than ever before -- driven not by birth rates, which have plummeted around the world, but primarily by an increase in the number of elderly people. Indeed, the global population of children under 5 is expected to fall by 49 million as of midcentury, while the number of people over 60 will grow by 1.2 billion. How did the world grow so gray, so quickly?
More at the article...The world's population is graying at rate that few foresaw -- and the... more
-
-
Going vegan isn't THAT hard, especially when you allow for the occasional slip up as I do. But because animal agriculture takes such a toll on our planet, it is a diet that all environmentalists should be taking into consideration. Are any of you thinking about going vegan?Going vegan isn't THAT hard, especially when you allow for the occasional slip up... more
-
-
Leading this refreshing on the sofa discussion Daniel Ben Ami author of ‘Ferraris for All’, explains ‘growth scepticism’. Young volunteers grappling with growth raise a wide range of questions from consuming less in the West to bankers, child labour, corruption and war. Daniel is clear: our having less will not make the poor rich; child labour is product of poverty not prosperity; corruption does not cause poverty it’s a symptom of it; bombing a country is unlikely to increase its prospects and political autonomy is key. A positive approach to economic growth he argues, not holding back and accepting ‘limits’ is key to increasing abundance for all globally.Leading this refreshing on the sofa discussion Daniel Ben Ami author of... more
-
-
trying this again - hopefully the video plays for you!
--
1% for the Planet is a non-profit that was founded by Yvon Choinard of Patagonia and his fly fishing pal, Craig Matthews of Blue Ribbon Flies. Member companies get certified every year to commit at least 1% of their top-line sales to environmental causes the want to support.
The movement has been flying pretty low under the radar since 2002, but for the last three years it's signed up over one new company every day to the cause -- in 38 countries around the world.
Watch this video and think about getting your company involved in this global movement for environmentally responsible businesses - www.onepercentfortheplanet.orgtrying this again - hopefully the video plays for you!
--
1% for the Planet is a... more
-
-
he New York Times
September 16, 2010
California Braces for Showdown on Emissions
By ADAM NAGOURNEY
LOS ANGELES — A ballot initiative to suspend a milestone California law curbing greenhouse gas emissions is drawing a wave of contributions from out-of-state oil companies, raising concerns among conservationists as it emerges as a test of public support for potentially costly environmental measures during tough economic times.
Charles and David Koch, the billionaires from Kansas who have played a prominent role in financing the Tea Party movement, donated $1 million to the campaign to suspend the Global Warming Solutions Act, which was passed four years ago, and signaled that they were prepared to invest more in the cause. With their contribution, proponents of the proposition have raised $8.2 million, with $7.9 million coming from energy companies, most of them out of state.
This latest embrace by the Koch brothers of a conservative cause jolted environmental leaders who are worried that a vote against the law in this state — with its long history of environmental activism — would amount to a powerful setback for emission control efforts in Washington and statehouses across the country.
“It would have big implications,” said George P. Shultz, the former secretary of state, who is a chairman of a campaign to defeat the ballot initiative. “That is one reason why these outside companies are pouring money in to try to derail the same thing. At the same time, the reverse is true: they put this fat in the fire and if we win, that also sends a message.”
Gene Karpinski, president of the League of Conservation Voters, who has been traveling California to rally support against the proposition, called it “by far the single most important ballot measure to date testing public support for continuing to move to a clean energy economy.”
The campaign against California’s greenhouse gas law comes as business groups have invested heavily across the country in trying to defeat members of Congress who voted for a cap-and-trade bill that also mandated emission reductions; the bill passed the House but failed in the Senate in the face of strong opposition from lawmakers in industrial states.
Traditionally, public support for environmental measures suffers during tough economic times. Here in California, backers of the initiative have seized on that anxiety — which is particularly acute in this state, with its 12.3 percent unemployment rate — in search of a victory.
“I believe the battle over cap and trade in America is taking place in California on Nov. 2 of this year,” said Dan Logue, a Republican assemblyman from north-central California who wrote the ballot initiative. He added: “What we’re saying is, this is not the time for political correctness. This is a time for putting America back to work; let the experiments happen later.”
The law in question, known as A.B. 32, mandates slashing carbon and other greenhouse emissions to 1990 levels by 2020, by forcing power companies and industries to cap their emissions and by slashing carbon in gasoline. Some oil industry leaders said it would force them to invest millions of dollars to comply, and asserted that it would force companies to cut jobs and raise the price of gas at the pumps.
Although the vast majority of the money being contributed to fight the law is coming from oil companies, the oil industry is clearly not united in opposition: some major California oil refineries, including Chevron, have notably stayed out of the battle so far.
The ballot initiative, known as Proposition 23, would suspend the law from going into effect as scheduled in 2012 until state unemployment falls to 5.5 percent or lower for at least four consecutive quarters. That has happened only three times over the last 40 years, state officials said; thus, the proposition could have the practical effect of killing the law.
“The company believes that implementing A.B. 32 will cause significant job losses and higher energy costs in California,” said Katie Stavinoha, a spokesman for Flint Hills Resources, the petroleum company in Wichita, Kan., owned by the Koch brothers. “What’s more, the company thinks it sets a bad precedent for other state and federal governments to do the same thing.”
That said, the issue hardly breaks cleanly along business lines, reflecting in part the diverse business environment in California, which has always had a strong research and development sector, powered by venture capitalists ready to finance cutting-edge technology. Many business groups have opposed the drive to suspend the greenhouse law, and the list of contributors backing the measure is notable for the absence of venture capitalists.
“There is a huge clean energy revolution going on: this is going to happen,” said Thomas F. Steyer, founder of Farallon Capital Management, a hedge fund in San Francisco, and a co-chairman with Mr. Shultz of the campaign to defeat the proposition. “If we’re not careful, it’s just not going to happen in the United States.”
Mr. Steyer has contributed $2.5 million to the effort to defeat the initiative and said he was prepared to contribute an additional $2.5 million.
Mr. Schultz said that since the passage of the law, “a whole industry is developing here, and I might say a lot of jobs are connected with it.”
“There’s been a virtual eruption of research and development activities of all kinds on alternate ways to produce and use energy,” he said.
In most years, this should not be a worrisome battleground for environmentalists. The greenhouse gas law enjoyed strong support from the public when it passed four years ago, according to polls. The roster of opponents to Proposition 23 includes Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, a Republican, who views the law as a defining accomplishment of his career here.
Early polling suggests that voters who know about the measure are evenly split.
Yet supporters said they were concerned that the proposition could slip through at a time when Democratic spirits are low. More significant is the question of how much more supporters of Prop 23 can raise to finance their campaign. Of the $8.2 million raised so far, $1 million came from the Koch firm, $4 million from the Valero Energy Corporation and $1.5 million from the Tesoro Corporation; both corporations are based in San Antonio.
“We have every reason to believe that they are going to put the money in to run a big television campaign in the most expensive media market in the country,” said Annie Notthoff, the California advocacy director for the Natural Resources Defense Council, an environmental group. “We certainly are expecting to have a fight on our hands.”
Supporters of the law, if nervous about the proposition, remain optimistic than they can beat it back at the polls in November, and hope that such an outcome would have the opposite effect nationally that opponents of the bill are seeking. “If the proposition loses, the lesson is going to be there’s no going back,” said Wesley P. Warren, director of programs for the Natural Resources Defense Council.
Photo Caption: A ballot initiative seeks to suspend a law that would force the power industry in California to cap greenhouse gas emissions.he New York Times
September 16, 2010
California Braces for Showdown on Emissions... more
-
-
Wikinews via Washington Post - Wednesday, September 1, 2010
Starting today, it is illegal to manufacture or import 75W incandescent light bulbs in the European Union. The phaseout started last year when 100W light bulbs were outlawed. Bulbs of 60W will be phased out next year, and incandescent lighting of all types will be phased out in 2012.
The phase-out of incandescent light bulbs is part of the EU's strategy to cut greenhouse gases by 20% by 2020. Replacing the old lamps with more efficient models is expected to reduce energy consumption for lighting by 60% in the EU, equivalent to saving 30 million tons of CO2 pollution every year.
Although energy-saving bulbs were available since 1998, their relatively high purchase price has inhibited take-up. When the decision for the ban was taken in 2008, it was estimated that around 2,000 to 3,000 jobs would become redundant in the light bulb industry, in particular affecting Hungary and Poland. However, the European Commission also assumed that halogen production and savings of 5-10 billion euro from energy bills could be injected back into the economy to create new jobs.
In its editorial yesterday, the conservative The Washington Times harshly criticized the ban, labelling it a result of "bureaucratic irritation" and a "war on Edison's greatest invention". General criticism of such bans includes panic buying prior to phase-out, environmental impacts of the mercury which is contained in small amounts in all fluorescent lamps, and increased upfront costs for the consumer.
Brazil and Venezuela started to phase out incandescent light bulbs in 2005, Switzerland in 2009, while Russia and Canada are planning it for 2012. The United States is scheduled to begin a phaseout similar to the European one from 2012.Wikinews via Washington Post - Wednesday, September 1, 2010
Starting today, it is... more
-
-
Langhe, in the north of Italy, is internationally known for its wines (i.e. Barolo and Barbaresco), foods and landscapes. Langhe Doc focuses on the transformation of this region and its unique landscape, following three stories of "resistance" to it.Langhe, in the north of Italy, is internationally known for its wines (i.e. Barolo and... more
-
-
1. Torch Cock Block
2. Take Back our City
3. Heart Attack
4. The Motherfuckin NLG
5. Gord Hill breaks it down.1. Torch Cock Block
2. Take Back our City
3. Heart Attack
4. The Motherfuckin NLG... more
-
-
Building engineers and real estate agents have seemingly become interchangeable in owners’ minds, as economics dominate hiring and retention decisions in property management. For the superintendent accustomed to keeping the building humming, the leasing, sales and paperwork expectations can be overwhelming. For the real estate agent more in tune with people management, standard building maintenance is a heavy responsibility. Of course, in this economy we are all becoming highly adaptable, but there can be a learning curve for anyone pulling double-duty. This article demonstrates that building economic performance can be enhanced with green management, even on a budget.
http://greenlandlady.com/site/business/green-property-management-on-a-budget/Building engineers and real estate agents have seemingly become interchangeable in... more
-
-
From: http://dcbureau.org/20100810782/Natural-Resources-News-Service/qyoure-killing-meq-how-whales-and-dolphins-sacrifice-for-national-security.html
The largest international naval exercise in the world off the waters of Hawaii known as the 2010 Rim of the Pacific or RIMPAC exercise involved 14 nations including South Korea, Thailand, Colombia, Peru and Malaysia with a total of 32 ships, five submarines, more than 170 aircraft and 20,000 personnel.
One of the primary threats the month-long series of exercises were designed to address comes from quiet diesel-engine submarines, which national security experts say North Korea, Iran and other potential adversarial nations possess. The best way to detect something as quiet as a submarine running nearly entirely on battery power – as opposed to a noisy nuclear sub – is with high-intensity active sonar, which sends out pulses of mid-frequency sound as loud as a rocket blast underwater.
The general consensus, with which courts over the past decade have largely agreed, says high-intensity mid-frequency sonar can kill whales and dolphins. The National Marine Fisheries Services – part of the National Oceanic and Atmosphere Administration – explicitly allows Navy sonar tests and training exercises to result in the deaths of specific numbers of whales and dolphins as long as they have a negligible impact to the population.
It’s under an exception to the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972 that NOAA authorized the Navy this year in the waters around Hawaii to inadvertently harass thousands of marine mammals and kill up to 20 whales and dolphins among 10 different species during the course of its sonar exercises, including RIMPAC. (See attached)
Similar authorizations exist for training grounds bordering the entire west, east and gulf coasts of America including the Mariana Islands and Alaska, several of which the Navy is in the process of expanding.From:... more
-
