Solutions // Current TV

WIND POWER WITHOUT THE BLADES: BIG PICS

Noise from wind turbine blades, inadvertent bat and bird kills and even the way wind... more

covelogibbs
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1 month ago
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I Am the Spokesperson for #OWS: These Are Our Demands

Well written piece providing an example of the kinds of demands that the Occupy... more

paplanner
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3 months ago
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Water changes everything

When I started this blog several years ago these were the main areas of concern surrounding lack of access and potability of water in the world. And as with the climate crisis there have been many people out here talking about this and trying to educate people in doing what is necessary to provide this human right to all and warning of the consequences of not doing so. Unfortunately, though we have come some part of the way thanks to education, activism and the work of NGOs like Charity Water and others whose links I will also post here there is a long way to go.

As we are now seeing across the globe privitization is still trying to make more of a headway (even though we have seen initiatives in Germany, Italy and in the US in stopping this insidious move to control our global water supply) and moving to "commoditize" water in a market system sure to deprive the most poor of this basic human right even though it was declared so at the UN.

War is also playing a part. As a result of the tumultuous battles taking place in Libya the Great Manmade River Project started by Gaddafi (and this is not to be a political post so I will refrain from discussing opinions of him) which regardless of politics was and is an engineering marvel (I will post video on that here too) has been bombed and essentially shut down thereby cutting off water to more than half of Tripoli and other regions. Water is then still being used as a weapon of war which I find insidious regardless of who does it.

We are seeing as well increasing pollution levels in rivers, continued toxification of our oceans, acidification of our oceans, plastic garbage patches in our ocean's gyres that stretch for miles and on top of all of this, effects of a changing climate brought on by human activity that now threaten water supplies for billions of people worldwide and the systems that sustain our marinelife.

What are we to make of all of this? Are we finally reaching the point where more people will discover just how crucial water is to all of the systems that sustain us? If not, by the time critical mass is reached will it be beyond saving? For the next couple of weeks I will be writing and reporting on ways that we are affecting water and also ways we can save it. In the world we live in now water access has never been more of an urgent crisis.

That is why supporting organizations like Chartity Water are essential in working to provide equality, access and potability of water to the billions who now go without and that also includes adequate sanitation. It is unfathomable to believe that in the 21st century with all of the technological advances we have achieved that we still cannot provide basic sanitation and potable water for the people who live on this planet, even now as we explore other worlds. I say, let's take better care of the one we have now.

Please watch this video and look at the links to other organizations I will post here and reflect on what you can do to address this crisis locally and globally. Water is the one tie that binds us all. We cannot afford to lose it.

More at the link.When I started this blog several years ago these were the main areas of concern... more

JanforGore
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5 months ago
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24 Hours of Reality: Earth definitely in the balance

This past Wednesday and Thursday there was an event that took place that once again reiterated the urgency of a crisis that scientists have been warning us about for the last five plus decades. 24 Hours of Reality started at 8pm EST culminating in 23 subsequent hours from around the world in relaying to the over 8 million viewers the urgency of a crisis that warranted our attention all of those years ago. And I personally think it succeeded in doing just that. While in my own personal opinion I think some of the presenters could have been a bit more passionate about the information, it nevertheless was an effective tool in showing the reality of the consequences of the human forcings upon our natural processes that are now pushing this planet to a tipping point. Although, some complained of the monotony of the same presentation over and over and over again and I can also see that point. It actually might have been better to do a documentary on the effects of climate change globally with us actually seeing testimonials from people experiencing its effects (like the Inuit in Alaska) then have Al with the help of the scientists tie it all together along with the information on the well funded denier movement and a special segment on solutions and their availability to us right now. However, I still think the point was made.

There is definitely a need to remove the doubt which has been paid for by entities such as the Marshall Institute which was also instrumental in sowing seeds of doubt about missile defense, acid rain, effects of smoking and now seeds of doubt regarding the established and settled science behind global warming. And the established science that was discussed by the scientists on the panels put together for this event that spoke the facts about a world on the precipice regarding food, water and humanity, but with solutions that can still be implemented and are being implemented by the most unlikely among us were also informative.

A boy in Malawi who made a windmill out of old bicycle parts and other materials that wound up serving the needs of his community. The rise of solar in places like Sierra Leone and Kenya, as well as the international shift towards renewable energy even here in the US where wind energy has soared made the message clear: This is not a political issue, but a human one. Our ability to survive the effects of what we have now brought upon ourselves is indeed in the balance in the greatest test of the human spirit.

In watching this these were the messages: that this transcends politics and all of the other stigmatisms placed on the human condition. That we now must finally see that it matters not where you live, or your culture, or your beliefs, or your color, or your biases because this is a real crisis that calls upon our moral courage as citizens of this planet to make it right as best we can now possibly do. And that finally we must bring out into the light of day those who have been slinking in the darkness doing all they could to keep this truth from being believed for what it is and thus delaying action on a crisis of our environment and conscience that now sees our work made even harder.

These are messages we must take to heart, and to our pens, and our modems, and our voices, and our votes. There is no contestation of these facts. Every national scientific academy in the world agrees that this is happening and that we humans are primarily responsible for these shifts and changes by our actions. Every scientific institution whose scientists publish in the peer reviewed journals agrees that this is happening and is primarily driven by human activity.

The Earth revolves around the sun, gravity keeps you grounded and CO2 traps heat. And when more of it goes into our atmosphere than is within the natural envelope that keeps our temperature comfortable for our existence and the balance of our ecosystems, it traps more of the sun's infrared rays thus warming the lower atmosphere and raising temperature. This combines with other greenhouse gases in our atmosphere such as water vapor, methane, nitrous oxide and sulfur dioxide from the burning of fossil fuels, land usage, deforestation etc. and it amplifies the effects of the forcings upon the atmosphere resulting in patterns that lead us to water evaporation, droughts, sea level rise, glacier melt, floods, storms, as well as species invasion, extinction and the spread of diseases. And the more we continue to treat the atmosphere as an open sewer the more we amplify these effects now to the point where we have actually managed to oversaturate the hydrologic cycle which explains in part the severity and frequency of the global events that we have experienced costing us lives, agriculture, water quality, economies and biodiversity.

The atmosphere like our water is a public trust, a public commons if you will. Not to be used as a dumping ground at the whim of those who have the money to do so. We all need to be able to breathe the air and be confident that we and other species will all be assured equality in the quality of our air, water and other life sustaining resources. However, this is not happening presently and it needs to be addressed now.

And for me the one man who has been able to articulate this message in the way it needs to be articulated is Al Gore. For over thirty years he has been out here telling us about the findings of scientists like Roger Revelle, Charles Keeling and the world we would find ourselves in if we did not heed these findings and warnings. It was why he decided to seek public office all those years ago hoping that once this was seen it would be of primary importance. And here a bit over thrity years later here we are still at that fork in the road.

Only now, it is not just some faraway scenario of the future that we can afford to place at the bottom of the pile. It is a present danger to our continued existence because it is not just a rainstorm here and there or a heatwave every once in a while. It is about the total shifting of the patterns of the climate system that sustains our ability to feed ourselves, house ourselves and provide for our sustenance. It is about our morality, our humanity and our ability to come together without seeing the labels that have to this point restricted our humanity. It is about providing a cleaner healthier environment for us and for those to come in order to preserve that climate system and the other systems that depend on it as we do.

But as we all know, certain interests with their money and political ties have been working overtime to keep their status quo at any cost and work to smear anyone who dares challenge it, but challenge it we must if we are to have a future. And this is just one reason why I love this man so much. His unwavering passion, perseverence and courage to do what is right in the face of what seems like insurmountable odds and hatefilled rancor. It is truly a testamount to a man who has transcended it because he sees the higher purpose to it. This is what we all must strive for. For this is not an illusion, it is reality. A reality of our making and a reality we can make even better in seeing at last our true purpose on this planet.

This is my comment which can be found here:
http://progressivesforgore.blogspot.com/2011/09/earth-definitely-in-balance.html

Videos of the event can be seen on the Climate Reality Project site since it seems they are not allowing sharing outside of the site.This past Wednesday and Thursday there was an event that took place that once again... more

JanforGore
added this
5 months ago
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71 comments

Revisiting Health Care Reform

Now that all the hoopla has calmed down about health care reform, I thought it was a... more

joeeddy
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7 months ago
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Why I Am Not a Liberal?

I do not label myself a liberal. As being a student of political philosophy, I have understood one thing for sure, that you can't entirely label a person's whole gamut of thoughts and opinions about everything under the sun into one segment and say he or she belongs to this stream of thought. A person's thought might suggest colours of one division in a whole continuum more than that of another, but to rule out completely would be making a slight error in judgment.

There are liberal conservatives and conservative liberals; hence there goes the mixing of ideas. It is only for the sake of debate that tags are put on issues and said that they are of concern or importance to one group or certain groups more than to some others. That if approached with this or that political or social ideal, we can solve the matter.
Even starting within a single premise in a whole structure of a complete theory, ideas do build up and develop in ways that are confusing as to where they should exactly belong.
If anything, I call myself a free-thinker, opened to ideas and possibilities. This very notion makes anyone a liberal. Now, what conservative would not say the same thing? It is merely the words that limit and trap our actual thoughts, sometimes conveying what we really think and feel and sometimes denying us the very function they are meant for.

To a question of whether liberal thinking is a panacea for all ills of human society, I would say, we should not hurry in becoming secure in an assumption that liberal thought is the very thing to give all answers and solutions. This very process of "thesis and antithesis" and then generating some synthesis is a method that has granted us progress, both in economics and structural sense. At the end of the day, we are all humans, whether we belong to any spectrum of political ideals. We tend to deal with issues keeping our moral and spiritual beliefs along with our civic and rational approaches intact, so that we remain ideological beings, regardless of what ideology we conform to. The very struggle of doing what "ought" to be done makes us humans and sometimes the struggle is what is it is that ought to be done which then creates contest of solving issues.

I don't label myself a liberal or put myself in particular with any stream of thought, because aim is to give get solutions and put them on work. It is merely for debating and "political means" to garner any discussion on this thought is right and should be applied or that one would do.

To answer whether liberal thought can solve issues, I would say moderation would be good between both sides of the continuum and things should be dealt with as they come of, and not with any politically structured approach. Because essentially as humans, we have an instinct to do what we feel and think is right and that comfort of feeling and thinking can come from any approach.I do not label myself a liberal. As being a student of political philosophy, I have... more

sidrahzaheer
added this
7 months ago
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2 comments

The New Manhattan Project

The Manhattan Project, which began as a small research program in 1939, eventually... more

joeeddy
added this
8 months ago
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0 comments

Inviting YOU to Decode Cancer!

Above, Dr. Burzynski and his cure with antineoplastons: http://burzynskimovie. com/... more

lookatmypix
added this
8 months ago
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2 comments

Car that runs on nothing but water unveiled in Japan.

The Japanese company Genepax presents its eco-friendly car that runs on nothing but... more

covelogibbs
added this
11 months ago
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176 comments

Simple solution to Wisconsin budget crisis

Easy as pie. This guy should replace Scott Walker.

Apocalipstick
added this
12 months ago
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1 comment

Electricity Generating Dance Floors and Piezoelectric Roadways

Even if the planet doubled the amount of solar and wind power available tomorrow,... more

worrg
added this
1 year ago
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0 comments

Abu Dhabi Energy Summit Will Host Global Tweetup

On January 19th, LiveOAK Media will join forces with clean energy firm Masdar to host... more

bethbot
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1 year ago
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0 comments

We are in throes of Second Great Depression

All economic indicators are down, not only in the U.S. but in all developed economies,... more

Wagner_Rios
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1 year ago
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0 comments

20 Free Online Data Storage & Online Filing Solutions

Your best bet is go with an online storage system that allows you to save data and... more

eva2
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1 year ago
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0 comments

Weekly Mulch: When will America be free from BP?

by Sarah Laskow, Media Consortium blogger On July 4th, Americans are supposed to... more

MediaConsortium
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1 year ago
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0 comments

Voraxial Oil Spill Solution

Oil Spill Recovery, The Gulf Oil Spill Solution with the Voraxial® Separator... more

julesrs007
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1 year ago
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2 comments

Top Kill, List Your Ideas to Solve the BP Oil Leak & Spill

What are some possible solutions to the BP oil catastrophe? Do you have any? If so... more

JuliusBC
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1 year ago
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56 comments

Twelve (Imperfect) Ways to Clean the Gulf

It’s been nearly seven weeks since oil from BP’s deep-ocean Macondo well began gushing into the Gulf of Mexico. Over that time, the public has, understandably, become increasingly frustrated with industry and government efforts to prevent damage to wildlife and wetlands. There is the growing sense — reflected in last week’s discussion of using nuclear weapons to stop the leak and a viral video about using hay to sop up the mess — that somehow, somewhere there are more innovative and effective measures for containing and cleaning up the oil.

But I can tell you, based on 21 years’ experience analyzing and observing oil spills, that the best minds in the business are already doing all they can. No special techniques that would work well to clean up the oil in this situation aren’t being tried or planned. There simply are no foolproof solutions.

Once oil spills into water, responders must race against time and the forces of physics, chemistry and biology to minimize the harm to life in the sea and on land. Oil spreads quickly into a hair-thin sheen and begins to evaporate, dissolve and travel with the winds and currents. Strategies to chemically disperse the oil, vacuum it away, sponge it up, burn it or divert it from especially sensitive areas all have their benefits — and their drawbacks.

So decisions about how to respond to a disaster of this magnitude involve evaluating the tradeoffs and the net long-term benefits to the environment. Efforts to spare marsh birds may hurt fish; a wetland may be protected, but only by diverting oil to a sandy beach; attempts to clean up the oil may involve trampling marshes or polluting the air.

The best strategy, of course, is to prevent spills in the first place. The second best strategy is to do everything possible to clean them up. And that seems to be what is happening.

The chart below summarizes the various cleanup efforts being undertaken or proposed in the gulf and along the coast.

— DAGMAR SCHMIDT ETKIN, an environmental risk consultant, who is advising the State of Louisiana and Mobile County, Ala., on the BP spill

IDEAS FOLLOW---
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2010/05/31/opinion/20100606opchart.html?ref=opinionIt’s been nearly seven weeks since oil from BP’s deep-ocean Macondo well... more

remanns
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1 year ago
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0 comments

Moore's Law of online data growth - The Coming Data Explosion

One of the key aspects of the emerging Internet of Things - where real-world objects... more

worrg
added this
1 year ago
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0 comments

Six Things To Do About the BP Gulf Disaster

Instead of sitting helplessly on the sidelines, here are six things every American can... more

SusanGleason
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1 year ago
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