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ABC deems Al Gore's Alliance for Climate Protection advert too 'controve...
Tell me now who really runs these networks. Controversial is merely a replacement for TRUTHFUL. It is a KNOWN FACT that oil lobbyists buy policy in Washington DC. The Iraq invasion is about OIL. Exxon can pull in billions of dollars in profits on the backs of working Americans all the while denying that global warming is manmade and that isn't controversial? Coal, which kills is not controversial? So, what is to be done about this BS? We can't even get a good enough boycott going in this country anymore to make these networks feel it where they should feel it: in their ratings and in their wallets. Well, I am boycotting ABC, all of their affiliates, and Disney and their products. Anyone who wants to join in please feel free because unless we do something networks will continue to get away with this blatant bias. This is not a political issue it is a moral issue. This is not about some ridiculous political grudge against Al Gore. This even goes beyond Al Gore. THIS IS ABOUT THE SUSTAINABILITY OF THIS PLANET! This is about truth. ABC has now shown it has no morals and should be treated as such. And yes, I'm angry. Outrageous so many others aren't.
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From the article:
The ABC network has refused to air an advert produced by Al Gore's environmental group, ruling that its charge of US government favouritism to the oil industry is too "controversial" for television.
The TV commercial, part of the WE campaign run by Gore's Alliance for Climate Protection, was submitted for airing after this week's presidential debate between Barack Obama and John McCain - both of whom have vowed to limit greenhouse gas emissions if elected.
But ABC concluded that the advert violated its internal policy against "controversial" content during network-sponsored programmes, network spokeswoman Julie Hoover told the Guardian.
"All of our advertising is reviewed on a case-by-case basis, and the context of this particular ad was determined not to be acceptable per our policy on controversial issue advertising," Hoover said.
The WE campaign has since attracted more than 170,000 supporters to an online petition drive asking ABC to reconsider its decision.
The script of the advert is similar in tone to political speeches made by Obama and McCain during the election season. An unseen narrator states that climate change can be combated through wind and solar power as well as "end[ing] our dependence on foreign oil".
Over an image of a young child playing with blocks, the narrator continues: "So why are we still stuck with dirty and expensive energy? Because big oil spends hundreds of millions of dollars to block clean energy. Lobbyists, ads, even scandals. All to increase their profits, while America suffers."
An ABC email published on the blog of Grist magazine stated that the advert was rejected due to its split-second shot of the US Capitol building.
"Per our guidelines, national buildings may be used in advertising provided the depictions are incidental to the advertiser's promotion of the product or service," the email stated. "Given the messages and themes of this commercial, the image of the Capital [sic] building is not incidental to this advertising."
Cathy Zoi, chief executive of the WE campaign, called ABC's decision "outrageous" in light of US networks' frequent airing of adverts from Chevron, Exxon Mobil and other oil companies.
"As our country faces deep economic problems, we need to be able to have an honest debate about the root causes of our problem," Zoi wrote in an email to supporters of Gore's group on Wednesday. Tell me now who really runs these networks. Controversial is merely a replacement for TRUTHFUL. It is a KNOWN FACT that oil lobbyists ... more -
What UK jury verdict means for anti-coal, climate activists
Will this verdict set the precedent for climate activists to stand up more vigorously in protesting climate change and the plans of coal and oil companies? I sure hope so. It is time for governments to be made aware that people are onto them. That when they say they want renewable energy we know they mean "clean coal" and nuclear and not TRUE renewable energy because it doesn't bring them $$$$$$$ in their campaign coffers. We are on to their lies and their smoke and mirror tactics to keep to the status quo... and we aren't going to be silent any longer. If scaling a chimney to write a warning will save one life from the effects of climate change or cancer, I will do it myself. This is also an issue of Democracy as well as environment. These plants being built are without the consent of the governed and part of deals made behind closed doors, and therefore, the governed have every right to protest them for the betterment of the whole, their families, and this planet. For these companies to continue to build coal plants knowing what they do to our health and our environment knowing there are cleaner, safer, better ways is simply willful negligence.
Photo credit:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/8068270@N04/2414246369/
From the article:
The Maidstone verdict has changed all that and could prove a turning point both for the protest movement and industrial policy. It gave the clear political message that 12 people with - one must assume - no great scientific knowledge, had listened to the evidence of one of the best scientists in the world and concluded that climate change is now so serious and so urgent an issue that it is legally justifiable for people to invade a power station and do £30,000 worth of damage.
Out of the blue, the environmentalists say, the legitimacy of the government to pursue an expanding coal policy has been undermined and it may have become impossible for E.ON, the German owners of Kingsnorth, to go ahead with a new plant without fitting a £500m carbon capture and storage plant to collect and dispose of the greenhouse gases.
What is particularly galling for the backers of coal-fired power stations is that, because of the amount of damage alleged to have been done at Kingsnorth, the case went to a jury rather than a magistrate. The crown prosecution service and many corporations know that campaigners who challenge the law by non-violent action are being regularly acquitted by juries. In the past decade, prosecutions of protesters against GM crops, incinerators, new roads and nuclear, chemical and arms trade companies have all collapsed after defendants argued that they had acted according to their consciences and that they were trying to prevent a greater crime. Greenpeace itself has a four-nil record against the crown using the same defence and was widely known to be seeking a jury trial to present complex arguments about coal and climate change.
"They were pretty confident that a jury would listen to them more than the government," said one lawyer yesterday. "It gives them a platform. I doubt that we will see another climate change jury trial for many years."
"We are seeing a pattern emerging. The public is increasingly speaking through the courts," says Martyn Day, a partner with Leigh Day solicitors, which specialises in environmental cases. "These cases are a good guide to public mood and politicians should take close heed of them. It shows that society is greatly concerned about what is happening with the environment and that it is suspicious of government and business when they say they are acting responsibly.
"We're looking at a society which is far more in tune with the environment than in the past. Politicians and companies have not understood that most people now understand the issues. There's a feeling that government and the authorities have not been paying sufficient heed, and that the courts are righting the balance," he said. Will this verdict set the precedent for climate activists to stand up more vigorously in protesting climate change and the plans of co... more -
Google Earth - United Nations Environment Programme - UNEP - dried- , dring lakes
You can see the Google Earth updated UNEP pictures about the dried- , dring lakes, demaged environment:
1. Green River (USA, Wyoming)
2. Everglades (USA, Florida)
3. Las Vegas city (USA)
4. Lake Al Wahda (Marocco)
5. Lake Manantali (Mali, Africa)
6. Walvis Bay (Namibia)
7. Ijsselmeer (Amsterdam)
8. Atatürk Dam (Turkey)
9. Lake Chad (Chad)
10. Three Gorges Dam (China)
11. Shenzhen city (China)
12. Aral Sea (Kazakhstan)
13. Lake Chapala (Mexico)
14. Lake Chora Basa (Mozambique)
and more on Google Earth (Global awarness button on left side)
Some hungarian Google developers updating the map. You can see the Google Earth updated UNEP pictures about the dried- , dring lakes, demaged environment: ... more -
Dried lakes on Google Earth - UNEP - United Nations Environment Programme - Dead s...
You can see the Google Earth updated UNEP pictures about the dried- , dring lakes, demaged environment:
1. Green River (USA, Wyoming)2. Everglades (USA, Florida)3. Las Vegas city (USA)
4. Lake Al Wahda (Marocco)5. Lake Manantali (Mali, Africa)
6. Walvis Bay (Namibia)7. Ijsselmeer (Amsterdam)8. Atatürk Dam (Turkey)
9. Lake Chad (Chad)10. Three Gorges Dam (China)11. Shenzhen city (China)
12. Aral Sea (Kazakhstan)13. Lake Chapala (Mexico)
14. Lake Chora Basa (Mozambique)
and more on Google Earth (Global awarness button on left side)
Some hungarian Google developers updating the map. You can see the Google Earth updated UNEP pictures about the dried- , dring lakes, demaged environment: ... more -
Peruvian Switzerland Melting Under Climate Change
Peru's Cordillera Blanca, a snow-topped northern mountain range sometimes called the "Peruvian Switzerland," is slowly disappearing because of climate change, a key issue on the table of a Latin America-EU summit being held in Lima this week.
The glaciers making up the range -- declared a natural world heritage site by UNESCO -- have steadily been shrinking, said Marco Zapata, the head of the glaciology unit of Peru's National Institute for Natural Resources.
He explained that between 1948 and 1976, the Cordillera Blanca has diminished by nine meters, and between 1977 and now by around 20 meters.
The time left for tourists to see the spectacular zone is limited, and depends on temperature variations, he said.
Zapata added: "It is known that the shrinking process of the glaciers is irreversible and nothing can be done."
A 1989 evaluation found that Peru had more than 3,000 glaciers in an area of 2,041 square kilometers. Just eight years later, the area had been cut by a quarter, to 1,595 square kilometers.
A clear example of what is happening can be seen on the Pastoruri mountain, a 5,240-meter-high peak that each year attracts 60,000 tourists. "It is turning into an ice-capped mountain, because the snow is rapidly shrinking," Zapata said.
In 1995, the perimeter at the snowline was 1.8 square kilometers. By last year, that had eroded to just 1.1 square kilometers.
Huascaran National Park, where the Cordillera Blanca is situated, contains 663 glaciers including the 6,768-meter-high Huascaran summit itself, along with 296 lakes and 41 rivers.
But Jean Ortiz, who heads the running of the park, said global warming was seriously changing the face of the reserve, where many high-altitude plants and animals were becoming rarer or had disappeared entirely.
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The greatest treasures on this Earth are melting way. Our children will not get to see them. This is so very sad to me. Some days I feel hopeful, and others I feel discouraged. This is one of those days I feel discouraged. It doesnt seem like people on the whole have what it takes to fight this. Too set in our ways, too selfish, too apathetic, too political in our views, with too much wealth and power concentrated in the hands of those who really don't care and actually hope to benefit from it all at the expense of the poor. So the Earth melts while we concern ourselves with the trivialities of our media driven world. Discouraging. Peru's Cordillera Blanca, a snow-topped northern mountain range sometimes called the "Peruvian Switzerland," is slowly ... more -
World CO2 levels at record high, scientists warn
The concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has reached a record high, according to new figures that renew fears that climate change could begin to slide out of control.
Scientists at the Mauna Loa observatory in Hawaii say that CO2 levels in the atmosphere now stand at 387 parts per million (ppm), up almost 40% since the industrial revolution and the highest for at least the last 650,000 years.
The figures, published by the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) on its website, also confirm that carbon dioxide, the chief greenhouse gas, is accumulating in the atmosphere faster than expected. The annual mean growth rate for 2007 was 2.14ppm – the fourth year in the past six to see an annual rise greater than 2ppm. From 1970 to 2000, the concentration rose by about 1.5ppm each year, but since 2000 the annual rise has leapt to an average 2.1ppm.
Scientists say the shift could indicate that the Earth is losing its natural ability to soak up billions of tons of carbon each year. Climate models assume that about half our future emissions will be re-absorbed by forests and oceans, but the new figures confirm this may be too optimistic. If more of our carbon pollution stays in the atmosphere, it means emissions will have to be cut by more than currently projected to prevent dangerous levels of global warming.
Martin Parry, co-chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's working group on impacts, said: "Despite all the talk, the situation is getting worse. Levels of greenhouse gases continue to rise in the atmosphere and the rate of that rise is accelerating. We are already seeing the impacts of climate change and the scale of those impacts will also accelerate, until we decide to do something about it."
· Martin Parry will be speaking at the Guardian Planning for Climate Adaptation conference on May 19 The concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has reached a record high, according to new figures that renew fears that climat... more -
NASA's top climatologist about Global Warming
Dr. James Hansen, NASA's top climate scientist, speaks about global warming. We are really near the tipping point.
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Carl Sagan: Pale Blue Dot
When reflecting on the current state of our world and the environment, I always go back to Carl Sagan's Pale Blue Dot speech because the words are so very true. And I believe that once we read them and take them seriously we will reach the higher consciousness we need to reach in order to solve our problems. This interpretation of his words is one I particularly appreciate. When reflecting on the current state of our world and the environment, I always go back to Carl Sagan's Pale Blue Dot speech beca... more
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TheTipping point
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TheTipping point
