Every week Daily Kos diarists write dozens of environmentally related posts. Many don't get the readership they deserve. Helping improve the odds is the motivation behind the Green Diary Rescue. In the past seven years, there have been 232 of these spotlighting more than 13,092 eco-diaries. Below are categorized links and excerpts to 51 more that appeared in the past seven days. That makes for lots of good reading during the spare moments of your weekend. [Disclaimer: Inclusion of a diary in the rescue does not necessarily indicate my agreement with or endorsement of it.] |
Green Diary of the Week
Water, water everywhere and not a drop to drink: Drought/flooding in Marshall Islands—LaughingPlanet: "How would you like to have both a drought and flooding at the same time, and then add 6-8 foot storm surges that rock your coast line and flood your airport? Of course this is all happening under the specter of having to abandon your nation within the coming decades if projections are accurate. Not good. Marshall Islands Minister-in-Assistance to the President, Tony de Brum, who is responsible for climate change issues, called for a new surge of political commitment and international leadership to stave off further climate disasters from battering his country, and other vulnerable countries like it. 'From drought to deluge, my people are suffering an escalating climate crisis. Thousands of my people in the north are thirsty and hungry, thousands of us here in the south are now drenched in seawater. As I said to the US emergency team this morning, "Welcome to Climate Change".'"
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Americans for Prosperity sends out alarming mailer to fight solar power in Georgia—Lefty Coaster: "Americans for Prosperity (bankrolled by the Koch Brothers) is getting the members of the Tea Party all riled up against solar power in Georgia using direct mail packed with alarming lies about huge rate increases to come if Georgia Power would include a mandate to transition to providing some target percentage of renewable power in their 20 year plan being formulated now. [...] The reality is the costs of solar power have been dropping precipitously recently. The bright spot for the U.S. solar market in 2013: home roof tops: The utility market, in which solar power projects are built for utilities or for selling power to utilities, will likely set a record by installing 2.3GW of solar panels in 2013. The first quarter of this year saw the completion of 24 utility scale projects. The average price for a utility system dropped 26 percent year over year to reach $2.14 per watt during the first quarter of 2013."
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Obama said that we should make climate action a "prerequisite for our vote." But do Dems get that?—Liberty Equality Fraternity and Trees: "During his climate speech last Tuesday, Barack Obama affirmed the importance of climate change as an election issue: Remind everyone who represents you, at every level of government, that there is no contradiction between a sound environment and a strong economy — and that sheltering future generations against the ravages of climate change is a prerequisite for your vote. Let's look at the 2014 Senate elections in that context."
More rescued green diaries can be found below the fold.
The Great Outdoors
The Daily Bucket: Cool Clouds—PHScott: "If you follow the Safety Performance Summary [for the Nine Mile Point Nuclear Generating Station] you see a page of plant performance indicators. There are all green—good to go. I suppose I could poke around and read more and find things to be concerned about, but like the rest of us along the shore, we don't think about it. Being a boiling-water reactor, there is a constant vapor cloud which becomes a point of reference. You judge fog and storm clouds by the steam."
White pine butterfly (Neophasia menapia) on daisy
[The Daily Bucket - Red, White, and Blue]—
Milly Watt: "Here are some July wildflowers from the Olympic National Park of WA. On this Independence Day, let us remember our dependence on maintaining a healthy natural environment to sustain us. Let us celebrate our interdependence that leads to healthy communities."
The Daily Bucket: Down the Beach Aways—PHScott:
"Swamp milkweed - these grow way down in our bit of swamp behind the dunes but this one found a spot right next to a park-mowed field along the road in."
A sustainable 4th of July—: "The maintenance funding effort for the [green] bus is almost completed. Please help pay the remainder of the bill so we can be on the road demonstrating sustainable disaster relief techniques and promoting energy independence in time for the July 4th weekend. Kent found more worn out parts and needs an additional $1,500 bucks to fix or replace them. So we are heading to Kent's Custom Diesel Monday morning to check on large Marge and to shoot some new video of the work in progress and to thank Kent for keeping the costs down as much as possible without overlooking anything critical."
The Daily Bucket: Ashes to Ashes, They All Fall Down—PHScott: "Ash trees (Fraxinus) are a major component of the northern woods. It's in the Olive family but, while the branching structure is opposite like others in this family, it has compound leaves. The tree range stretches south to my home in North Florida but it is not as common as it is up here near Lake Ontario. Species up here include White Ash, Green Ash, and Black Ash. The latter 2 are commonly called swamp ash since they favor wetlands."
Most Beautiful Place in the World—by James Wells: "Komo Kulshan, Great White Watcher."
Fish & Wildlife
The Daily Bucket--Fractured Fairy Tale—6412093: "Millienia ago, a barn swallow gave birth to a mutant, with a squared tail. All prior swallows had long V-shaped extensions on their tail feathers. The new fledging, however, had a tail with a squared off ending. Nonetheless, it could fly faster than its brother and sister swallows. Thus, this square-tailed swallow was cocky.
One day, as the square-tail was cruising for insects to eat. a watching crow approached.
'Hello, friend,' the crow began, 'Are you new in the meadow? I can tell you how to get along out here. I like those waxy red drops on your wingtips. Can I call you Waxy?' The square-tailed swallow puffed out its chest feathers. 'Who are you to speak down to me,' the swallow responded to the crow, 'I am pretty and streamlined, while you are drab and dark. Please call me the Adonis of the sky.' Truth be told, the swallow's feathers were a lovely blend of grey and blue pastels."
Massive Oregon Bee Killing Update: Pesticide Temporarily Banned, Memorial Service Planned For SundayMassive Oregon Bee Killing Update: Pesticide Temporarily Banned, Memorial Service Planned For Sunday—
ZhenRen: "A bee killing pesticide is banned in Oregon (albeit temporarily)! And sadly, a memorial service for the bee deaths (explained in detail below) is to be held today, Sunday, June 30th, 2013, in what is possibly the first in history to be held for the massacre of our friends, the pollinating bees. It is surreal that in our times we have come to this; that we now find ourselves saying farewell to 50,000 dead bumblebees killed by the hand of mankind. And it is time for us all to ask ourselves, are we not all complicit? Have we done enough to hold our elected officials accountable? Can we not stop the assault on our little friends who give so much to us?"
Gorgeous admiral, a great egret
Dawn Chorus: Las Aves de América Central, Pt. 1—
LaughingPlanet: "¡Bueno dias, bird lovers! (Don't worry; this post will not be a test of your Spanish.) I recently returned from several months south of the border. Over the weeks ahead I hope to dig myself out from under the pile of photographs I took on the trip. This work is, from my perspective, the primary downside of the digital photography revolution. I used to take a fraction as many pix when I had to pay to print them all. This installment of what may become a 3 part series will focus on my time in Mexico and Honduras."
The Daily Bucket: Unbearable cuteness of being a baby ground squirrel—
matching mole: "June 29, Bryce Canyon National Park, Utah. Dry and unusually hot. Baby Golden-Mantled Ground Squirrels are detected and their unbearable cuteness is documented for posterity and the advancement of science. I think this one is looking for Edward Snowden. The Golden-mantled Ground Squirrel, Spermophilus lateralis is widespread in the interior of western North America, mostly occurring in mountainous regions. It is mostly found in open coniferous forests and woodlands but can occur above treelike and down into sagebrush desert. The Smithsonian's Mammal Species of the World has some information and a link to a very complete pdf with detailed information. I also discovered that the rather sparse Wikipedia entry was copied verbatim from the Bryce Canyon page on these squirrels."
Remembering the Klamath River fish kill of 2002—by Dan Bacher: "To refresh people's memories, below is my article about the Klamath River adult salmon, published in September 2002. We cannot allow another big fish kill to take place this year under the Obama administration like the one that occurred under the Bush administration in 2002! aThe decision by the Bush administration to divert water to subsidized farmers in the Klamath Basin this year, in spite of legal challenges by the Yurok and Hoopa Valley tribes, environmentalists and fishing groups, has resulted in a massive, unprecedented die-off of a large portion of the fall chinook salmon run on the Klamath River. Nobody is sure exactly how many fish have died, but it is the worst fishery disaster to ever hit the Klamath watershed in recent memory, according to tribal representatives and recreational anglers. The salmon are apparently dying from disease caused by stress and warm water conditions reaching nearly 80 degrees."
Forests & Public Lands
Last Stop -- The Grand Canyon—by Michael Brune: "We have every right to be proud, as Americans, that we've permanently protected iconic landscapes like Grand Canyon National Park. And I'm proud that the Sierra Club and its volunteers have played an important role over the last century in making it happen. The Club's new Our Wild America campaign will continue that tradition. That's good, because as we learned during our trip, the job of protection is far from finished. Not only are some unique and irreplaceable landscapes still vulnerable, but many of the places that we have protected are under fresh assault from drilling and mining. During our first night camping in a Utah state park near Canyonlands National Park, from our tent we could actually see natural gas flaring from nearby oil wells. Harder to see—but just as disturbing—was what's happening at the Grand Canyon."
Eco-Related DC & State Politics
It's Past Time to Confirm EPA Chief Nominee Gina McCarthy—by Mary Anne Hitt: "Lack of progress in the Senate is nothing new. But this is starting to get ridiculous. We've been without an EPA administrator for 140 days, over a month longer than the previous record for a vacancy at this position. There's no disputing her qualifications: For 25 years, she has worked with both sides of the aisle on environmental issues, advising several governors in Connecticut and Massachusetts, including Mitt Romney. Gina McCarthy is smart, qualified, bi-partisan, and would be a true asset in the movement for real leadership on climate in Washington, D.C. The Senate's inaction on her nomination has nothing to do with Gina McCarthy's qualifications; it is simply a reflection of Republican stall tactics in the Senate."
Sen Jim Smith of Nebraska failed to disclose his lavish tour Lobbyist-pd trip to"Oil Sands Academy"—Bateach: "Sen Jim Smith of Nebraska failed to disclose his lavish tour of Canada's tarsands operation, sponsored by ALEC, the Canadian government, and possibly even TransCanada. Also the Nebraska state chair of the American Legislative Exchange Council, and author of unconstitutional bill LB 1161 that fast-tracked Keystone XL approval in Nebraska—Sen. Smith now faces an ethics complaint filed with the Nebraska Accountability and Disclosure Commission."
Rep Hanabusa "proud" of voting with GOP Against EnvironmentRep Hanabusa "proud" of voting with GOP Against Environment—Karen from Maui: "Many residents of Maui are extremely upset about her vote which was intended to allow Hawaiian Cane and Sugar (HC&S) to continue burning dirty Australian coal on Maui without stricter pollution control. The emissions (which are not even stack monitored because supposedly this coal-fired plant is "cogen" with sugarcane bagass) affect the health of the poorest of local kids in Kahului and Wailuku on Maui."
Climate change...bought and paid for by the Koch brothers—Persiflage: "The House of Representatives voted to slash the EPA budget by 27 percent, one of the biggest cuts since President Richard Nixon and the Congress created the agency in 1970. The Senate subsequently modified the severity of these cuts, and the budget was ultimately cut by nearly 16 percent. What is less known is that more than 100 House members—all Republicans, many tea party members - signed a little-known "pledge" (similar to the Grover Norquist no tax increase pledge) backed by the Koch brothers promising to not spend any federal money to fight climate change without an equal amount of tax cuts. Most of the pledge signers received campaign contributions from Charles or David Koch or Koch Industries."
President Obama's sorely needed new litmus test for voters—RLMiller: "The media quickly made the climate-voting connection. The Washington Post headlined: Obama frames climate change as make-or-break issue in how Americans should consider voting, and The Hill likewise led with Obama calls on voters to demand climate action at the ballot box. (A note: Obama's address goes further than Organizing For America's, and my 2010, work in identifying climate deniers. The President wants voters to consider only those candidates who act on climate, not those who pay lip service in accepting the science but then delay action. That's a welcome distinction.) Last Tuesday, President Obama gave a barn-burner of a speech, and he's backing it up with a detailed plan that's some things old and some things new, going as far as he can without Congress."
Climate Change
Rivers In The Sky, Mega-Floods Below—xaxnar: "Rivers in the sky is the description of a phenomenon written up in Scientific American, in January, 2013 in The Coming Megafloods (pdf file.) Most people have never heard of them - I hadn't, but I'm paying attention now. Atmospheric rivers are long streams of water vapor that form at about one mile up in the atmosphere. They are only 250 miles across but extend for thousands of miles—sometimes across an entire ocean basin such as the Pacific. These conveyor belts of vapor carry as much water as 10 to 15 Mississippi Rivers from the tropics and across the middle latitudes. When one reaches the U.S. West Coast and hits inland mountain ranges, such as the Sierra Nevada, it is forced up, cools off and condenses into vast quantities of precipitation."
BreathingEarth: A Battle Cry!—Boatsie: "It's not possible to bear witness to David Bleja's simulation Breathingearth. CO2 emissions, birth rate & death rate simulation without marveling at the sheer unjustness of it all. For when you observe a 'flat' Earth or even when you view the earth from a Hubble-eye view, is it possible to determine why one region thrives while others languish? Why should Bangladesh drown? Texas burn? Africa starve? Is it Nature? Nurture? Or just the luck of the draw ..."
It's the economy, stupid. (Climate Change Edition)—misneach: "This weekend, the Southwestern US is experiencing a record breaking heat wave. Just last weekend, Alaska experienced a record breaking heat wave. These are predicted symptoms of changing weather patterns due to climate change. Yet the 'debate' about climate change rages on, with no substantial progress being made. A 2012 poll by the Pew Research Center found that only 42% of Americans believed that the earth is warming due to human activity. While the poll also ascertained that a solid majority (67%) did believe the earth was warming, only 45% believed that there was a general consensus among scientists with regard to the planet warming due to human activity."
United Nations: Unprecedented global warming since 2000—VL Baker: "Our planet has warmed faster since the turn of the century than ever recorded, almost doubling the pace of sea level rise and exacerbating heat related deaths says a new report from the United Nations. 'The decadal rate of increase between 1991-2000 and 2001-2010 was unprecedented,' WMO Secretary-General Michel Jarraud said in a statement. 'Rising concentrations of heat-trapping greenhouse gases are changing our climate, with far-reaching implications for our environment and our oceans.'"
Increasing frequency of El Niños may be linked to Climate Change—Lefty Coaster: "In recent decades here along the West Coast we have become very familiar with the weather phenomena know as El Niño. Its a departure from our "normal" weather patterns lasting a year or more. Researchers studied 2,222 tree-ring records as proxies for temperature and rainfall over the past 700 years, the university wrote in an online statement dated yesterday. The records indicate the El Niño-Southern Oscillation weather phenomenon has been increasingly active in recent decades relative to the past seven centuries.The drought associated with El Niño’s warm phase can cause smaller rice crops in Asia and cut wheat production in Australia, while the rains can cause flooding in South America and weaker cold ocean currents reduce anchovy catches off Peru. Accurately forecasting El Niño is challenging because it varies naturally over decades and centuries, the university said."
Thoughts and Prayers for Nineteen Firefighters—RLMiller: "Climate change is hitting Arizona hard. A 2012 report on The Age of Western Wildfires spells out Arizona's recent past and its near future: fires over 1,000 acres have quadrupled since the 1970s. The burn season is two and a half months longer than 40 years ago. Rising spring and summer temperatures, along with shrinking winter snowpack, have increased the risk of wildfires in most parts of the West. The climate context behind Arizona's wildfires includes a current drought—3/4 of the state is in "severe" to "exceptional" drought—combined with the regional heat wave, creating extremely dangerous wildfire conditions. Since 1970, Arizona has warmed at a rate 0.72 degrees per decade, the fastest among the 50 states. It's easy to gloss over paragraphs filled with powder-dry statistics; harder to make the connection between statistics and tragedy."
Climate Change is making fires like Arizona's the new norm across the drought stricken West—by Lefty Coaster: "Drought is increasingly the new normal across the West.
'Twenty years ago, I would have said this was a highly unusual, fast-moving, dangerous fire,' said fire history expert Don Falk at the University of Arizona at Tucson, referring to the Yarnell Hill fire. 'Now unfortunately, it's not unusual at all.' Wildfires are chewing through twice as many acres per year on average in the United States compared with 40 years ago, U.S. Forest Service Chief Tom Tidwell told a Senate hearing last month. Since Jan. 1, 2000, about 145,000 square miles have burned, roughly the size of New York, New England, New Jersey, Delaware and Maryland combined, according to federal records. The risks and costs of our inaction on climate are escalating rapidly. With an area the size of New York, New England turned to charred wreckage we can't ignore the risks of inaction any longer. We should now see that continued inaction is the more costly path."
President Obama's Executive Order—Electric Generating Greenhouse Gases—LakeSuperior: As published in the Federal Register, July 1, 2013.
EPA sends revised greenhouse gas emissions rule for new power plants to the White House—Meteor Blades: "Faced with more than two million public comments to review and continuing objections from industry, the Environmental Protection Agency missed its April deadline for completing its proposed rule restricting emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions for yet-to-be-built power plants. But Monday, less than a week after President Obama made his first-ever speech devoted entirely to climate change, the EPA passed along the rule. It will now be reviewed by the Office of Management and Budget and other agencies before it is returned to the EPA for tweaking. The deadline for that is Sept. 20."
Carbon Capture Innovators vs the Status Quo Scientists—jamess: "I'm not comfortable with ... an ever warming planet due to the march of Climate Change.I'm not comfortable with ... an more ineffective Congress that denies the realities of Science."
Food & Agriculture & Gardening
Global food wars have begun—VL Baker: "Global food wars have begun, not with a shot heard round the world but with the now unsurprising news that multi-national agribusiness companies are investing in poor countries. Sure, it's under the guise of preventing world hunger but we know better. [...] As our land and water resources dwindle due to increasing population and consumption, and as climate change takes a big bite out of our agriculture productivity due to more extreme droughts and floods, the hands controlling the food purse strings will not be nations but the allegiance to profit global conglomerates. It doesn't have to be this way. Frances Moore Lappe, in her iconic book Diet For a Small Planet, states that we already produce enough food to feed the world. 'We feed almost half the world's grain to livestock, returning only a fraction in meat ... while millions starve.' We use an area the size of Africa for livestock grazing and for cropland to produce livestock feed."
Meatless Monday...Imagine Freedom From Oil—beach babe in fl a.k.a. VL Baker: "As July 4th approaches it's a good time to declare our independence and freedom from the tyranny of the fossil fuel industry. And the most rapid and effective way is by eliminating/reducing meat consumption. So today I'll share some recipes for having a healthy, Earth friendly July 4th celebration!"
Gertrude Jekyll Rose
Victoria's Rose Gardens—
Agathena: "Victoria is a city of roses; they must love the acid and sometimes clay soil, the sea breezes, the winter rains. They grow in gardens along the sea and the salt spray doesn't deter them. You will find rose gardens in the public gardens like Government House Gardens and Beacon Hill Park. There are 2,000 rose bushes in Butchart Gardens, north of Victoria (Greater Victoria). The Empress, the landmark Hotel in the Inner Harbour has a beautiful rose garden between the Empress and the Provincial Bus Depot. As a young artist I thought roses were clichés, overdone, the rose design overused. But when I had a large garden of my own where I inherited 20 rose bushes, their colours and fragrance cast a spell on me."
Saturday Morning Garden Blogging Vol. 9.20—by Frankenoid: "Here in Denver we ended June and started July with unseasonably cool weather. Last Sunday the high was only 77°, with the highs gradually rising through the week to get us back into the 90s by the end of the week. We've also been getting monsoon rain patterns: scattered, heavy downpours from thunderstorms, with other areas receiving, at most, a few sprinkles."
Energy
Tree falls on transmission line, shuts down Watts Bar Nuclear Plant—Sandy on Signal.
Fracking
Fact Checking Josh Fox / Gasland, 1st Posting—Lake Superior: ""Several specific points Fox stated in the interview set off my "BullXXXX Detector," including his claims about massive, uncontrolled methane emissions from oil and natural gas well drilling, well completion and production operations—claims which are not supported in EPA's background documents on air emissions from the oil and gas industry. But what really caught my eye was Fox's claim about the Society of Petroleum Engineers. Fox stated: 'Society of Petroleum Engineers says that 35% of the world’s wells are leaking'."
Keystone and Other Fossil Fuel Transportation
"Driverless" Crude Oil Train Explodes, Destroys Canadian Town—byZwoof: "We're not sure what happened, but the engineer did everything by the book. He had parked the train and was waiting for his relief ... somehow, the train got released,' vice president of marketing Joseph R. McGonigle told Reuters. 'There appears to be extensive damage in buildings, but we haven't got full report yet of injuries. But we understand that there likely are some,' he said. The rail tracks pass next to a bar popular with young people. Eyewitness Yvon Rosa said he had just left the bar when he saw the train speeding into the middle of the town. 'I have never seen a train traveling that quickly into the center of Lac-Megantic,' he told French-language broadcaster Radio-Canada, saying he watched as the train hurtled around a bend. 'I saw the wagons come off the tracks ... everything exploded. In just one minute the center of the town was covered in fire.'"
Tar Sands Coal Export Boom: Petcoke Exports Second Highest Ever in April—Steve Horn: "With many eyes honed in on the Powder River Basin coal export battle in the Northwest, another coal export boom is unfolding on the U.S. Gulf Coast. Although no coal production is actually taking place here, a filthy fuel with even more severe climate impacts than coal is leaving port bound for foreign power plants. Meet petroleum coke, or 'petcoke,' what Oil Change International described in a Jan. 2013 report as 'The Coal Hiding in the Tar Sands.'"
Two Major Lawsuits Filed Against ExxonMobil for Arkansas Tar Sands Spill—Steve Horn: "One is a class-action lawsuit filed by the Duncan Firm, Thrash Law Firm and Parker Waichman LLP on June 27. The other is a suit filed on June 13 by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in concert with the Arkansas Attorney General's Office, led by AG Dustin McDaniel. Collectively, both lawsuits lay out the damning facts of the second biggest tar sands pipeline spill in U.S. history, caused by a 22-foot gash in the pipeline, second only to Enbridge's 'dilbit disaster' in Kalamazoo, Michigan. The cases also call for the spill's victims—both people, government bodies and the ecosystem—to receive reparations."
Water
You Don't Miss Your Water—oldtom: "Until your well runs dry! My friends that's exactly what's happening here the ole US of A. The Great Ogallala Aquifer is being pumped dry by the Industrial Agriculture Corporations. When I think about this I keep ending up asking the same question, "How damn stupid can you be?" Here we a nation of seemingly half educated people and we are just standing by and watching these idiots drain the freshwater supply to grow GMO crops that are unfit for human consumption. Oh, technology will save us, we'll build desalination plants. Water that is safe to drink will become a scarce commodity. Only those with the resources to offered it will have access. They rest will have to do with what is left."
Sacramento River salmon spawning threatened by water over-allocation—Dan Bacher: "Sacramento River Chinook salmon this year are threatened by the relaxation of water temperature standards on the upper river combined with the violations of water quality standards in the Delta, the result of the over-allocation of water during a drought. The section of the Sacramento River where the water is cold enough for salmon to successfully spawn will be less than half of what is needed this year, violating water temperature standards set to protect salmon. Fishing groups say that the pool of cold water needed in Lake Shasta to cool the water is being drained to supply corporate agribusiness and other users south of the Delta, threatening the fall and spring run Chinook runs, as well as endangered winter run Chinook salmon."
Eco-Activism, Eco-Justice & Sustainability
Climate Change Turning Point? Your Chance to Make History—lil bird: "Something big is happening. It may prove to be a game changer in the fight against climate change. A turning point. Something your grandchildren will read about in history books. And you have an opportunity to help lead it. I'm talking about the nearly 66,000 people who have pledged to engage in civil disobedience to stop the Keystone XL pipeline from being built. [...] Those 66,000 people are ready to act to make sure this doesn't happen. Imagine regular people—grandmothers, office workers, homemakers - standing up together across the nation, peacefully but firmly, risking arrest to to save our future. This will be like nothing this country has ever seen. And it has the potential to change not only the mind of the President, but the national conversation on climate change."
Sustainable Real Estate Development is Good for the Economy and Other Growing Things—BruceMcF: "As a member of the WorldWide Transit Cabal (not to be confused with the Secret Worldwide Transit Cabal, since of course their membership is secret, though at times my blogging is as active as there's), I have long argued that development of sustainable transport will be good for the economy as well as other growing things (to paraphrase the National Lampoon). Recently, a study by Professor Gary Pivo has been released that demonstrates that this is not just a forward looking statement. Sustainable Transit-Oriented Development is presently good for home values and are associated with lower risk of foreclosure."
Journey of the Veterans Green Bus is just beginning—by gordonsoderberg: "The major focus of the Veterans Green Bus project is to demonstrate how the bus runs on used cooking oil and other sustainable energy solutions. Another aspect of the project is to teach veterans how document how sustainable energy can be used to power homes, heavy equipment, and entire businesses. To do this, we are shooting videos of the places we visit, interviews of the owners, installers and equipment operators to learn what it really takes to become sustainable and the jobs that are involved in the process."
Funding the Veterans Green Bus Mission—gordonsoderberg: "Funding the Veterans Green Bus so far has been done by myself and a small groups of individuals, veterans, friends on Facebook, Dailykos, and from in kind contributions from other nonprofits and businesses. I can account for $40,000 spent on Large Marge since I pulled her out of a desert in Arizona 5 years ago. United Peace Relief, Veterans Green Jobs, Team Rubicon USA, New York Cares, Friends of Rockaway, and the Robinhood Foundation, Fire and Police Department Staff, and VFW chapters, Small businesses, Roanoke Natural Food Coop, Full Circle Fuels, Sequential Biodiesel, WVO Diesel, PA BioDiesel, Roanoke Times, The Roanoke Red Sox, Colony Inn, Woods Towing, Rocky Mountain Truck Service, and Kents Custom Diesel have pitched in and helped with money and in kind contributions."
Transportation & Infrastructure
Don't Believe the Anti-Electric Vehicle Hype—sault: "While EVs might be a little expensive up-front and might not be the perfect car for everybody right now, they have manifold benefits for their owners and society as a whole. Owners can save 60% or even much more in fueling costs while the maintenance on EVs is practically nothing compared to all the wear-and-tear items on internal combustion-powered vehicles. Society has to deal with less geopolitical headaches, health problems / spending and premature deaths as more electric vehicles get on the roads. Oh yeah, and climate change is a real big problem too, but EVs can be a big part of the solution."
Eco-Philosophy & Essays
A Declaration of INTERdependence—citisven: "A Declaration of INTERdependence is no more than accepting the obvious, for no matter what we do, we humans cannot survive independently of each other and of the planet's ecosystem. We may think we are doing it all without anyone else's help by driving to the store, picking up some food, paying with our credit card at the automatic checkout scanner, driving back into our remote controlled garage, popping the food in the microwave, then eating dinner while being entertained by the television. But we're really just fooling ourselves. This seemingly simple process of getting food in our tummy depends on literally thousands of processes and interactions, from getting the oil extracted to fuel and build our cars, to growing and distributing the food we're buying, to powering the stove, dishwasher, and television. Not to mention all the things we do that have nothing to do with survival and are purely designed to entertain our minds that are increasingly unable to find meaning and purpose without material boosters. Almost every facet of our life that we take for granted is completely fossil-fueled, and thus dependent on a whole host of industrial processes we have no control over."
Declaring Independence from the Abilene Syndrome—James Wells: "My topic today is about a particular factor that causes many people to accept wasteful and ultimately unhealthy practices to go on, and on, with the appearance of consent from everyone involved. That factor is the Abilene Syndrome. When a group of people all agree to something they don't want, each believing they are pleasing the others in the group, that's the Abilene Syndrome. The term was coined by management expert and author Jerry Harvey."
What an Excessive Heat Warning Means When You Live in the Desert—Susan from 29: "When it gets hot, really hot, out here in the Mojave Desert, you can actually smell the heat. Or perhaps it is simply the absence of any distinct odor. As the air heats up, it becomes so dry that it seems the individual molecules cannot contain any hint of fragrance. The wind, even if only 4-6 mph, reaches deep into your skin and sucks out any moisture that may still be hiding there in that elusive search for balance. As the air warms under the unrelenting sun, the water in swimming pools quickly heats up. And while they are a great place to beat the heat, they can also fool people into thinking that dehydration cannot occur in a pool of water. It can. It does."
On Declaring Independence, Collaborative Consumption, and maybe a little Redemption—lehman scott: "A few weeks back I made mention of an initiative that I am helping to get started here in the Lansing area that will hopefully create a Mondragon-type worker-owned and -managed cooperative business enterprise (something I said that I would write a diary about and haven't yet got around to but will in the near future). As this project has gotten underway I have had the very fortunate opportunity to begin collaborating with a couple of young folks who have launched the Mid-Michigan Time Bank. Christian and Edge remind me of myself when I was their age. Full of piss and vinegar, these two recent MSU grads have eschewed a free ride through Graduate School and employment in Corporate America to instead forge a path that includes going door-to-door to recruit people into the MMTB. They are also working to start an eco-village outside of town with a group of like-minded friends. Their enthusiasm and optimism for creating a future that they might want to raise children in someday is inspiring; I wish that all Americans shared such commitment."
How It Would Feel To Be Free: The Climate Letter Project's Fourth Year—WarrenS: "It was three and a half years ago that I began writing letters to the editor on the subject of climate change. This daily "practice of conscience" has had its good impacts on my life: the ego boost of publication in a major or unusual venue; the satisfaction of a well-turned phrase; the honing of my craft as a writer; the occasional approbation of my colleagues and peers. It's also had its negative effects, mostly due to this regular ritualized immersion in dire news and the self-imposed discipline involved in summarizing and commenting on it. Carolyn Raffensperger accurately speaks to my condition in her essay, 'Moral Injuries and the Environment: Healing the Soul Wounds of the Body Politic.'"
Miscellany & Products
Oh man, no... an end to eight years of The Oil Drum—lehman scott: "This announcement has totally ruined my morning: An End to Eight years of The Oil Drum. For those of you who have made it a point to say abreast of current events related to Peak Oil, Energy Economics, and Climate Change, I'm sure this news will strike you with as much sadness as it does me. Over the last eight years, TOD has been the place to go to on these issues, not only for the high-quality articles and news items, but especially for the extraordinary comments. Regular commentors included a number of industry insiders with many years of first-hand experience in the oil fields. The extensive comments they posted as they were on their way back from the latest shale play in Texas or depleting oil well in Saudi Arabia provided technical information and perspectives that one could get nowhere else."
CARE and WWF help greenwash cyanide, heavy metal polluter—CharlesII: "CARE and the World Wildlife Federation were willing to help Goldcorp in its attempt to re-brand a heavily polluted Honduran mine into an ecotourism site. To its credit, CARE did not ultimately participate, but because it explored the possibility of doing so, its name was used in greenwashing. WWF accepted a large grant from Goldcorp to investigate the footprint of gold mining. The human cost of gold mining includes brain, nerve, and internal organ damage to children through lead, mercury and arsenic, as well as destruction of the land from cyanide used in the processing of ore."